NEWS: Senator Blunt Rochester Highlights How AI Will Impact Digital Divides

“This is the cost of doing business. This is the cost of our healthcare. This is the cost of even connecting to our neighbors.” Click here to watch Senator Blunt Rochester’s remarks. U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Media, today participated in a hearing on how artificial intelligence impacts communications systems. Senator Blunt Rochester’s questions focused on how reliable internet access is critical in an increasingly AI economy and questioned how the Trump administration’s funding cuts to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program will impact AI access and digital divides. Witnesses Include: Jonathan Spalter, President and CEO, USTelecom – The Broadband Association Dan Watermeier, Commissioner, Nebraska Public Service Commission Bob Everson, Chief Architect of Provider Mobility, Cisco Mr. Asad Ramzanali, Director of Artificial Intelligence and Technology, Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator Senator Blunt Rochester’s remarks can be found here , and a key excerpt can be found below: Senator Blunt Rochester : “The Trump administration has cut [BEAD] funding by about 74 percent. This disproportionately impacts rural communities like those in Kent County and Sussex County, Delaware. Looking ahead, how will lack of access to reliable high-speed internet impact Delawareans’ ability to participate in an increasingly AI-driven economy?” Mr. Ramzanali : “If we don’t connect those thousands of homes in Delaware that are not connected, it means that they’re missing out on the economic benefits of not just AI, but access to the internet. It means that when their kids have homework assignments that they need to access the internet or to use AI, they don’t have that access. It means when telehealth visits or being able to ask questions of various tools, they don’t have that access either. “So, these are real-world limitations that are being put on thousands of people in Delaware, but around the country, we shouldn’t accept that. We shouldn’t accept the state of the country where not every American is connected to high-quality networks.”