Asad Ramzanali

Artificial intelligence (AI) promises to find its way into every corner of our digital lives. The headlines focus on ever-bigger models, but the future will be determined by applications built on those models. Who builds those applications—the ones that will reshape medicine, education, software development, and mundane back-end enterprise services—has not yet been decided. Whether future applications will be determined by oligopolists or entrepreneurs depends on who controls the infrastructure those applications need.

Public concern about the level of AI investment is everywhere. While some compare today’s scenario to the dot-com bubble, the economy’s overreliance on AI investment, coupled with opaque financial engineering, means that a market correction could look more like the 2008 Great Recession, an economy-wide crash with systemic consequences. After such a crash, Congress will scramble to identify a reform agenda. In a rush, broader reforms that take time to formulate get shelved for quick action. It doesn’t have to be so.

Recently, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on states’ implementation of a “dig once” law that Congress enacted in 2018. Given our recent paper analyzing dig once requirements, we were thrilled to dig in (pun very much intended).

Millions of Americans struggle to access affordable, high-speed internet. A key reason is the lack of infrastructure: Fiber-optic cables, the technology most capable of supporting fast upload and download speeds, pass only half of American homes. In some cases, internet service providers can install new fiber-optic cables aerially on utility poles. But in most cases, ISPs choose to serve an area by installing cables underground.

Figuring out how to provide high-speed internet to all Americans has been an important public-policy goal for decades. As the coronavirus pandemic made painfully clear, broadband is crucial to full participation in society.