INCOMPAS President Speaks on USF at Competitive Carriers Show

Last week, INCOMPAS President Angie Kronenberg had the opportunity to speak on a panel entitled "Looking (Back) to the Future: The Universal Service Fund" at the Competitive Carriers Association Mobile Carriers Show in Palm Springs, Calif. 

As an industry expert, Angie discussed the dire need to address the financial stability of the Fund, why it's critical the FCC does not forebear on Section 254(d) in the Net Neutrality proceeding, and the best way forward to lower costs for consumers and put the program on a sustainable path. Angie was joined on the panel by Chris Champion, Vice President Government Relations for C Spire and an INCOMPAS Board Member; Jessica Gyllstrom an Attorney at Telecommunications Law Professionals PLLC; Rebecca Murphy Thomspon, Vice President of Government Affairs for USCellular; and Deena Shetler, Chief of Staff to FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez. The panel was moderated by Monica Alleven, Executive Editor of FierceWireless.

The dialogue surrounding USF has been bubbling up over the past months, with the Congressional USF Working Group going through a process to address the program and this week's Net Neutrality vote. INCOMPAS has been involved in both of these efforts and will continue to uphold our long-held advocacy of promoting pro-consumer, pro-competition values in the USF. 

Broadband Nation Launched to Address Labor Shortage Gap

The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and Questex joined forces to launch Broadband Nation – a new digital platform that is designed to help attract, train and deliver the next generation of broadband workers to build and upgrade communications networks that will conquer the digital divide across the country.

Several major government-funded broadband grant projects, including the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program are either already underway or will begin being implemented this year. Facing a workforce gap of over 200,000 qualified employees needed to build, upgrade and maintain communications networks, Broadband Nation is designed to help highlight the broadband technician profession, attracting a new vibrant and diverse generation of recruits to the workforce to fill this void.

Broadband Nation will utilize a multi-dimensional approach to reach its intended audience, including:

• Career development website featuring training and job opportunities, lifestyle stories, resources and scholarships
• National brand promotions featuring typical lifestyles of broadband technicians and multi-media marketing campaigns
• Academic partnerships featuring awareness campaigns, educational webinars/road shows, train the trainer and onboarding programs
• By helping to address the workforce challenge, Broadband Nation will expedite the deployment of high-speed internet to the unserved and underserved across the country, while enabling the industry to broaden and diversify its pool of employees

Senators Introduce Bill to Ensure U.S. Leads in AI Innovation

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and Sens. Todd Young (R-IN), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO), members of the Commerce Committee, introduced the bipartisan Future of AI Innovation Act, which lays the foundation to maintain U.S. leadership in the global race to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies.

The legislation promotes strong partnerships between government, business, civil society and academia to advance AI research. It authorizes the U.S. AI Safety Institute at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to promote the development of voluntary standards, and creates testbeds with national labs to accelerate groundbreaking AI innovation for the benefit of future economic growth and national security.

As foreign adversaries and competitors invest heavily in AI, it’s critical the U.S. maintains leadership and this bill builds on CHIPS and Science Act investments to support key private sector innovation in AI. This legislation also builds upon Sens. Cantwell and Young’s original FUTURE of AI Act, which created the National AI Advisory Committee (NAIAC), a committee of outside experts who would make recommendations to the government on AI. Provisions in the Future of AI Innovation Act were drafted based on recommendations from NAIAC reports.

The Future of AI Innovation Act:

• Authorizes the NIST AI Safety Institute to Develop AI Standards: Formally establishes the AI Safety Institute at NIST to develop voluntary guidelines and standards with the private sector and federal agencies to promote robust long-term innovation in AI. The Institute will develop performance benchmarks, evaluations and clear transparency documentation standards for AI systems, while helping companies and consumers better understand and use AI tools.
• Creates New AI Testbeds with National Laboratories to Evaluate AI Models and Make Discoveries that Benefit the U.S. Economy: Creates testbed programs between NIST, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy and the private sector to develop security risk tools and testing environments for companies to evaluate their systems for capabilities and limitations. This bill also authorizes public-private partnership testbeds to create new materials for advanced manufacturing and testbeds to make new scientific discoveries by using AI integrated with emerging technologies, such as quantum hybrid computing and robotics.
• Creates Grand Challenge Prize Competitions to Spur Private Sector AI Solutions and Innovation: Grand challenges elevate and expedite high-priority projects and engage researchers across the country for the benefit of the nation’s competitiveness. The grand challenges would prioritize finding AI solutions through the integration of advanced AI technology and emerging technologies like quantum computing. Grand challenges are aimed at overcoming barriers to the further development of AI and computing, microelectronics, advanced manufacturing and other economic priorities like breakthroughs in maritime vessel propulsion systems and border security, including fentanyl and illegal drug detection.
• Accelerates AI Innovation with Publicly Available Datasets: Directs federal science agencies to make curated datasets available for public use to accelerate new advancements in AI applications, including solutions to global challenges in agriculture, medicine, transportation, manufacturing and more. Unlocking datasets will help make discoveries in AI and benefit small and medium businesses that often don't have access to as much data.
• Creates International Alliances on AI Standards, Research and Development: Forms a coalition with U.S. allies to cooperate on global standards and creates a multilateral research collaboration between scientific and academic institutions across the world to spur AI research and innovation. This collaboration is based on a NAIAC recommendation.

Senators Unveil Framework to Mitigate Extreme AI Risks

In a letter to the Senate artificial intelligence (AI) working group leaders, Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Angus King (I-ME) unveiled the first congressional framework to deal exclusively with the extreme risks posed by future developments in advanced AI models. The Senators’ framework would establish federal oversight of frontier model hardware, development, and deployment to mitigate AI-enabled extreme risks from biological, chemical, cyber and nuclear threats.

As Congress considers how to approach new technology developments, the senators’ framework aims to prioritize the national security implications of AI while ensuring our domestic AI industry is able to develop and maintain an advantage over foreign adversaries. This framework is limited to frontier models—the most advanced AI models that are still yet to be developed.

The Romney, Reed, Moran, King framework would establish federal oversight of frontier AI hardware, development, and deployment to mitigate AI-enabled extreme risks—requiring the most advanced model developers to guard against biological, chemical, cyber, or nuclear risks. An agency or federal coordinating body would oversee implementation of new safeguards, which would apply to only the very largest and most advanced models. Such safeguards would be reevaluated on a recurring basis to anticipate evolving threat landscapes and technology.

Responses from stakeholders and the public should be submitted by May 17 to framework_responses@romney.senate.gov.

A summary of the framework includes the applicable frontier models and oversight authorities.

Local Governments Urge Congress to Sign ACP Bill

The National League of Cities (NLC), United States Conference of Mayors (USCM), National Association of Counties (NACo) and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) sent a letter urging all Members of Congress to sign H.R.1119, a discharge petition filed by Rep. Clarke in support of H.R. 6929, the Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act of 2024, to ensure quality and affordable internet access for all Americans.

NTIA Digital Equity Webinar to Discuss Impact of High-Speed Internet Access on Incarcerated, Justice-Impacted Individuals

The NTIA plans to host a webinar on Thursday, April 25 at 2:00 p.m. ET that will provide a look at how accessing high-speed Internet in correctional settings can serve as a conduit for incarcerated individuals to receive vocational and technology training programs and set them on a path to success.

This webinar will highlight state and local examples of how leaders in this space are creating economic development opportunities for justice-impacted individuals and how they are defining their digital equity baselines, indicators and goals, as well as tools they use to measure success.

Register for the webinar.