The Wi-Fi signal is weak outside the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site in Anacostia, a historic African-American section of Washington (DC) The abolitionist leader’s former home sits serenely atop a grassy hill in the otherwise bustling neighborhood. It is one of Monica Sanders’s final stops on an overcast December afternoon. Facing the property, she holds her iPhone out to measure Wi-Fi speeds. The readings flutter between single and double digits before settling on a final result: 10.8 megabits per second download and 8.23 Mbps upload. Much faster than dial-up, to be sure. But these speeds fail to meet the Federal Communications Commission’s minimum to qualify as broadband service, despite the multiple free municipal Wi-Fi access spots in the area. Sanders, an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University, isn’t just checking Wi-Fi speeds. She’s drawing connections between a host of indicators at the intersection of internet availability, environmental risk, and historical racial inequity. The findings will be added to a report that Sanders and her colleagues are assembling for the Undivide Project, a nonprofit she launched in 2022. The organization conducts research pro bono for communities to help them document evidence of the digital divide—the gap between areas with and without adequate internet access—as well as the root causes and linked effects of this discrepancy.  

On May 15, 2026, Pope Leo XIV issued an encyclical letter, Magnifica Humanitas (or The Grandeur of Humanity), which could be regarded as the most comprehensive statement yet from the Catholic Church—an institution with approximately 1.4 billion members worldwide—on the governance of artificial intelligence. The letter arrives at a moment when AI regulation remains fragmented globally, and debates over platform accountability, algorithmic transparency, data ownership, digital access, and autonomous weapons are active in legislatures and regulatory agencies around the world. Unlike prior Vatican statements on AI—including a January 2025 joint note from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for Culture and Education titled Antiqua et Nova—this encyclical is the highest form of papal teaching, addressed not only to Catholics but explicitly to "all men and women of goodwill." The scope of the letter is sweeping, addressing AI governance, digital equity and access, data as a common good, algorithmic accountability, AI in warfare, the dignity of work, disinformation, education, human trafficking enabled by digital infrastructure, and the crisis of multilateralism. The intended audience appears to include governments, technology companies, international institutions, civil society, researchers, and ordinary citizens.

Things are looking up for the telecommunications and cell phone industries. According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index Telecommunications, Cell Phone, and Smartwatch Study 2026, customer satisfaction with the internet service providerindustry increases 1% to a score of 73 (on a scale of 0-100), with both fiber and non‑fiber segments improving at the same rate. Fiber ISP satisfaction rises from 75 to 76, while non‑fiber ISP satisfaction inches up from 70 to 71. Other key highlights include: 

• For the second year in a row, the top-ranked fiber and non-fiber providers earn the same ACSI score as Verizon 5G Home Internet surges 3% to meet AT&T Fiber (up 1%) at 79.
• Among fiber ISPs, Brightspeed Fiber makes substantial gains, surging 8% to 78. Xfinity Fiber (up 3%) and Optimum Fiber (up 4%) also show strong improvement, climbing to 77 and 74, respectively. For non-fiber ISPs, Cox climbs 6% to 72, while CenturyLink improves 8% to 67.
• For the first time, the ACSI is reporting regional rankings among non‑fiber internet providers:
  • In the Northeast, overall satisfaction among non‑fiber providers improves 4% from 68 to 71. T-Mobile 5G Home Internet (up 1%) maintains a narrow lead at 79, while Verizon 5G Home Internet strengthens its position with a 4% increase to 77.
  • Satisfaction in the Midwest holds steady at 71, indicating a more mature and stable competitive landscape. Verizon 5G Home Internet edges up 1% to lead at 79.
  • The South posts a modest 1% overall improvement, with regional satisfaction increasing from 71 to 72. Verizon 5G Home Internet (up 3% to 80) and T-Mobile 5G Home (up 1% to 79) lead the way.
  • The West shows the strongest year‑over‑year improvement among non‑fiber providers, with average satisfaction rising 6% from 68 to 72. T-Mobile 5G Home Internet increases 3% to lead the region at 80, and Verizon 5G Home Internet makes a notable 5% gain to 79.