A category focused on emerging technologies, their societal impact, regulatory debates, and the shifting economic and political forces that shape innovation.

Tech

How Nepal’s Gen Z Used Discord to Elect a Prime Minister: Inside the World’s First Digital Power Transfer

When Nepal’s political system collapsed in 2025, no one expected that the leadership void would be filled not in parliament or a palace, but in a sprawling Discord server where thousands of young Nepalis debated, fact-checked, and ultimately voted for former Chief Justice Sushila Karki to lead an interim government. Now considered the world’s first mass digital election for a national executive figure, this article revisits how the “Youths Against Corruption” server became an improvised civic assembly, how its grassroots vote forced the state to recognise a digital mandate, and why global analysts continue to debate the implications for future governance.

In September 2025, Nepal became the first country in history to choose a head of government through a public vote on Discord. This retrospective examines how a youth-led digital movement filled a political vacuum and rewrote the rules of democratic legitimacy.

AI in 2026: The Year the Future Stops Waiting?

AI enters 2026 no longer as a promising technology but as a structural force reshaping economies, politics and everyday life. The US is pushing ahead with rapid deployment, the EU is tightening regulation to manage risk and the UK is positioning itself as a diplomatic bridge on AI safety. These diverging approaches highlight how global competition, education systems, labour markets and information environments are being transformed by increasingly capable artificial intelligence. With predictions of human-level and even superhuman systems this decade, governments are racing to balance opportunity and stability in a world where the pace of innovation now outstrips traditional policymaking.

As AI accelerates into 2026, the world’s major powers are scrambling to define their strategies. The US, EU and UK have taken sharply different paths, each reflecting contrasting philosophies on innovation, risk and geopolitical influence.