Lila Shroff is a technology writer at The Atlantic who covers the political economy of AI and AI-related political conflict. She is the author of two essays written two months apart in 2026 that connect AI bubble dynamics to a possible popular backlash.
Essays
"Even Silicon Valley Says That AI Is a Bubble" (March 12, 2026) synthesizes the "good bubble" ideology that, per Shroff, Silicon Valley has converged on. The piece is anchored by Huber & Hobart's Boom: Bubbles and the End of Stagnation (2024). See Even Silicon Valley Says That AI Is a Bubble — Lila Shroff (The Atlantic, March 2026).
"The AI Backlash Could Get Very Ugly" (May 13, 2026) extends Veilleux-Lepage's CTC Sentinel framework on AI-driven political violence to a mainstream readership, names a "Bernie-to-Bannon" coalition, and cites Quinnipiac polling on income-divided AI optimism. See The AI Backlash Could Get Very Ugly — Lila Shroff (The Atlantic, May 13 2026).
Shroff links the two arguments: she contends that if bubble dynamics drive community displacement and a crash, the backlash worsens.
Positions and approach
Shroff's pieces draw on empirical research, citing Veilleux-Lepage, Carlota Perez, Howard Marks, Quinnipiac, Heatmap News, and the Soufan Center. They foreground distributional asymmetry: who absorbs the costs of a bubble crash, who bears data-center externalities, and which income brackets are AI-optimistic. The essays argue against tech-industry inevitability narratives without dismissing AI capability claims outright.
Relationships
- supports: AI Bubble Debate — primary "good bubble" exposition
- supports: AI-Driven Political Violence — primary mainstream-media bridge from Veilleux-Lepage framework
- supports: AI Political Cleavages — Bernie-to-Bannon coalition
- related: Matteo Wong — Atlantic colleague; Wong's data-center reporting underpins Shroff's externality arguments
- related: Rogé Karma — Atlantic colleague; same publication, complementary bubble-debate framing