Will AI Replace Governments? | Lord Krish Raval & Shekhar Natarajan on Democracy, Power & the Future of Humanity

**Krish Raval** (0:00)
The dark side of having AI, replacing government, is very much this perpetual hegemony that then predicts what you're going to do, or thinks it knows what you're going to do.

**Shekhar Natarajan** (0:24)
Is the government running the world? Or does it look like the government is running the world, but the Silicon Valley is running the world? Is algorithm is going to colonize us?

**Krish Raval** (0:37)
When you have oligarchies that are extractive and steal, that's called a plutocracy. And I'm happy with democracy being replaced by plutocrats.

**Shekhar Natarajan** (0:52)
Poverty is not like, you know, your stomach growling. Poverty is the fact that you exist, you sit there, but no one sees you.

**Krish Raval** (1:03)
We're in that state right now, where we have this power that we don't understand, and actually creates, it destroys everything.

**Shekhar Natarajan** (1:41)
I'm super excited here that I have Lord Krish Raval. He's one of my personal favorite when it comes to politicians. I've known Lord Krish Raval for almost two years now.
Super inspired by every conversation I had, super influenced by all of your thought. What a great man you are, an amazing story. And so I'm here with Tomorrow Today, and Lord Krish, you're actually joining the show and we've actually clocked 500,000 subscribers as of today. And we've been just doing this podcast for the last three months or so. Incredible honor to have you. I know I've been chasing you for a long time now. So super excited to have the conversation. And we're going to focus today on your life in general.
We're going to focus in terms of policy, decision making, the role of a nation, and the role of technology, and like how it actually transforms governance in the future. So we're going to cover a lot of like topic. Excited to have you. Welcome to the show today.

**Krish Raval** (2:48)
Well, I'm honored to be here and we're honored that you're here in London. Thank you for making the journey.
Shekhar is also very mutual. Two years ago when I was at the award ceremony where, I forget the award ceremony, but you won the Lifetime Achievement Award. You were dressed in your Indian attire, and you spoke about the story of how you grew up in a village, and then conquered California and Silicon Valley and all of that. That journey was inspiring in itself, but then you spoke about morality and ethics and spirituality, and the combination of human and transpersonal factors that can define where we're going from, and that drew me to you. So I hope that you'll allow me to interview you as well. So it won't be just about my life. I hope you'll allow me to, because I'm a biographer at heart. So that was the compelling reason for this conversation is you. So yeah, I'm delighted to be here.

**Shekhar Natarajan** (3:54)
Excited to have you. So a lot of people envy the position that you are in. You are basically a politician who actually can create rules of the game. And people think about the role of technology, but actually have to always come back to the governance side of it. So do you feel that the current structure is something is as good as it gets? Or can it be better?
And what are your thoughts about it?

**Krish Raval** (4:26)
So you mean the current structure of governance or rule making?

**Shekhar Natarajan** (4:30)
Rule making.

**Krish Raval** (4:31)
So no, nobody will say it's perfect. So it's evolving. And if you look at the context, it's not perfect. But I have to say, in all reality, it's better than it was a hundred years ago.
Nobody, if we were having this conversation in 1920, I have two kids, there was a chance that one of them would, you know, die because infant mortality was very, very low. Hot showers were not existing. Disease was prevalent.
So if you're measuring in those terms, I think something about the system here has worked. But whether it will, it's sufficient to be sustained, to be sustaining, is the question I have, because all of it, I'm very aware, is dependent on, you know, exploiting the resources, the common assets of humanity and the planet. And this is why what you represent with the world of AI and this new technology, it could, if handled and stewarded properly, help society rather than hinder it. But what do you think to your own question?

**Shekhar Natarajan** (5:50)
So I...

**Krish Raval** (5:50)
And where does it come from? Where does that question come from?

**Shekhar Natarajan** (5:54)
See, like, you know, when I... There's always a constant conflict between the innovator and the regulator, right? Like, you know, the innovator, all these things that the regulators are there to block their progress.