Mears is a division of Quanta that provides construction services for fiber broadband deployment projects. Mears Group President Trent Edwards says the construction costs for a fiber deployment will account for about 70 percent of the total deployment cost. He said that percentage has been historically true and continues to be accurate as scores of companies gear up for Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) funds that will support new fiber projects across the US. He also warns that it’s really important to engage with construction companies early to ensure that projects stay on schedule and on budget. Edwards said there are a lot of people getting involved in this “Great Build” that is about to take place that have never historically been involved in building broadband networks. Among the novices, he includes many of the folks who have only recently been placed in roles at state broadband offices, along with the small staff at local permitting offices who may not realize what’s about to hit them. “I’m absolutely concerned about labor,” said Edwards. “That’s an issue. The workforce that’s currently out there it’s obviously going through its maturation. It’s not sexy work. We’re spending a lot of time recruiting and training. That’s our answer, and we think that should be everybody’s answer.”

As businesses and governments race to make sense of the impacts of new, powerful AI systems, governments around the world are jostling to take the lead on regulation. Business leaders should be focused on who is likely to win this race, more so than the questions of how or even when AI will be regulated. Whether Congress, the European Commission, China, or even US states or courts take the lead will determine both the speed and trajectory of AI’s transformation of the global economy, potentially protecting some industries or limiting the ability of all companies to use the technology to interact directly with consumers. In the US, multiple actors are jostling to lead the regulation of AI. First, there’s Congress, where Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is calling for preemptive legislation to establish regulatory “guardrails” on AI products and services; Second, there’s the Biden Administration, where there is some competition among federal agencies to implement a White House blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, which was introduced last October 2022; Then, there are more provincial efforts: AI-related legislation has already been introduced in at least 17 states. So far, there are few specifics in any of these proposals, with the kinds of hypothetical harms from AI falling into existing categories, including misinformation and copyright and trademark abuse. In any case, regulators will likely have little impact on the technology’s development in the short term. However, limitations suggest that major regulation is more likely to come first from outside of the US.

[ Blair Levin is currently a Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Brookings Institution and Policy Advisor with New Street Research. Larry Downes is a co-author of Pivot to the Future:  Discovering Value and Creating Growth in a Disrupted World.]