To Win the AI Race, America Must Close the Digital Divide

On its march towards an AI-driven future, our federal government has stopped prioritizing whether all Americans can get online. This retreat is not just harmful to people; it’s contrary to the administration’s goals to “usher in a new Golden Age of American Innovation.”

After releasing an AI Action Plan last summer designed to “achieve [U.S.] global dominance” in AI, the White House followed up with a policy framework this March charging that “American workers must benefit from AI-driven growth, not just the outputs of AI development, through youth development and skills training, the creation of new jobs in an AI-powered economy, and expanded opportunities across sectors.” Yet, while the government is putting so much effort into accelerating the nation’s adoption of AI, it has halted or cut funding meant to close the digital divide—undermining its stated interest in winning the race for tech supremacy. 

The divide between those who do and do not have reliable internet access is an issue that affects urban and rural areas, Tribal lands, red and blue districts, and those young and old. While the impacts of this gap are felt on an individual basis, the responsibility must fall to federal, state, and local governments, as well as businesses and educational institutions, to address it at scale and enable the nation to become truly competitive in the AI space. 

Communities across the country are having difficult conversations about the appropriate role for AI in schools, doctors’ offices, and beyond. This form of community-driven oversight requires a common foundation of technological access and literacy. This goes beyond just basic familiarity with AI tools or the risks that consumer-facing AI poses. It also requires equipping people with the tools to shape AI policy outcomes—whether that’s how AI is used in classrooms, how chatbots affect mental health, or how the construction of a data center impacts their community.

Conversations around the digital divide are also happening at a national scale, as it remains a persistent and inequitable obstacle to our economic health and national competitiveness. According to the Pew Research Center, 20 percent of veterans, 22 percent of people with disabilities, and 22 million Americans over the age of 65 lack an internet connection, cutting them off from basic services and opportunities. When schools were shuttered in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 30 percent of students—15 to 16 million total—lacked the internet access or devices to sustain learning from home. Research indicates that students without online learning earn less over their lifetimes, representing a potential total GDP annual loss of $22 billion to $33 billion. 

Even as the digital divide persists, U.S. policy is now undermining efforts to address it. The last year has seen numerous federal proposals to withhold funding for closing the gap, or worse, to hold these efforts hostage. In October, Arielle Roth—the administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), responsible for overseeing the $42.5-billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program—announced that states with broadband affordability laws might lose billions in federal funding for broadband infrastructure. Roth’s ultimatum, coercing states to choose between enforcing their own laws to help low-income folks get affordable internet service or using BEAD to expand internet access, is built on legally dubious grounds and effectively prioritizes internet service provider profits over access to an essential service. 

At the same time, the administration has also halted Digital Equity Act programs specifically meant to support state programs that help communities get online. Meanwhile, NTIA has introduced uncertainty as to whether states will be allowed to spend BEAD funds on some of the eligible uses that Congress named, including digital upskilling, digital adoption, and affordability programs. 

Similarly, the White House tried repeatedly in 2025 to force states into not passing or enforcing AI laws or regulations that the administration deems “onerous,” under penalty of losing part of their BEAD funding for getting people online. These efforts push another unnecessary rock-and-a-hard-place decision onto states: protect their residents from potential AI harms or help them gain the tools and skills necessary to benefit from the internet. This ultimatum is unpopular with state residents and state governments, and could hobble states’ abilities to create and enforce AI safeguards if a similar requirement persists in future legislation.

Even as AI continues to spread, with the U.S. barreling full speed toward implementing technological and AI solutions for its own operations and for constituents’ interactions with the government, nearly 33 million Americans can’t access those services because they don’t have a computer. 

U.S. businesses and institutions are already incorporating AI in the workplace and accelerating its use in classrooms. Access to and adoption of the internet and digital tools are a pre-condition for AI literacy. As AI evolves, laws and regulations that protect the public interest will be vital for consumer trust and continued American economic competitiveness. 

Most importantly, AI literacy is necessary for the future of our democratic structures. To serve the public interest—rather than the profit motives of large entrenched technology companies—we must have a technologically conversant and skilled population to help set guardrails and principles for the AI ecosystem. We all need to understand AI better if we’re going to both harness its power for good and prevent potential harms. 

The push to accelerate national AI development while kneecapping programs to bring people online limits the future prospects of the communities most in need, and self-sabotages our economic growth and competitiveness as a nation. However you define winning, it’s only by getting more people meaningfully connected that we ultimately win the technological race. If America is to succeed, Americans must be equipped to succeed.