Quello Center and MSU @ TPRC54

• Nelly Aghaei, Johannes M. Bauer, Jean Hardy, The Economic Impacts of Data Centers in Rural Communities: A Narrative Review

  As data centers increasingly move into rural communities, they are often promoted as engines of job creation and local economic growth. Our narrative review finds a more complicated story. Construction can generate substantial employment, but these jobs are temporary and often filled by workers from outside the host community, while permanent employment remains relatively limited. Broader employment gains appear more likely around hyperscale facilities and clusters of data centers than around the single-site developments more typical of rural communities. Tax revenue is a more reliable local benefit, though generous abatements can reduce it. More broadly, rural communities are increasingly hosting infrastructure that supports national digital and AI industries, while many of the broader benefits accrue elsewhere. We close by outlining policy approaches—including greater employment transparency, independent economic impact assessments, limits on tax abatements, and community compensation—that could help rural communities capture a more meaningful share of these benefits.
  

• Ruth Shillair, Avoiding AI Fear Responses: Turning FOMO and FOBO into Democratically Driven Dynamic Use 
   
  

  Much of the public response to AI seems to be fear-driven, swinging between rapid, uncritical adoption (FOMO: Fear of Missing Out) and reflexive avoidance (FOBO: Fear of Becoming Obsolete). These reactions dominate conversations about AI policy across sectors. But how can policymakers move past these reactive, fear-driven responses? Would it be beneficial to build stakeholder-informed governance that enables strategic, contextually appropriate, and democratically accountable AI integration? Little is known about whether people adopt AI chiefly out of fear of missing its benefits, or whether their hesitation to use it reflects fear of falling behind or becoming obsolete. 

  This research examined AI-conducted interviews with 1,250 individuals who use AI in some capacity, analyzing their discussions for evidence of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and FOBO and how these constructs shape AI use. The analysis found that FOMO and FOBO were significantly and positively correlated, often co-occurring as participants folded AI into their workflows, frequently with little official guidance or training. Notably, those with higher self-efficacy in AI use made more deliberate, strategic choices about how they applied it. These findings support policies that inform and train users in the safe, ethical use of AI. Democratic, informed, user-centered policy offers a path toward more purposeful and strategic AI use.

• Johannes M. Bauer, Angie Nam, Elizabeth Mack, Boram Lee (Quello Center); Colby Humphrey, Lexi West (Broadband Access Initiative, The Pew Charitable Trusts), BEAD and Beyond: An Assessment of the Restructured Program, its Early Implementation, and Metrics to Guide States Forward
  
  After years of planning and restructuring, the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program is in its implementation stage. In this paper, we critically examine the current state of BEAD and paths forward. The work is organized around two main research questions. First, the paper analyzes how the long planning process has affected the baselines from which states are now starting to close the remaining access gaps. Second, it explores the requirements of a system of empirical metrics that can assist researchers and State Broadband Offices (SBOs) in reliably assessing progress toward BEAD goals and sustainable broadband universal service. We show that these modifications have created some benefits but also created new challenges that undermine the ability of states to achieve sustainable universal broadband connectivity.  

• Ganchimeg Namsrai, Johannes M. Bauer, Ruth Shillair, Civil Society and Agility in AI Governance

  This paper discusses the role of civil society participation and agile methods to the governance of artificial intelligence (AI conceptually and empirically. Drawing on policy reviews and case vignettes from the U.S. and global contexts, it explores how civil society participation in AI governance is organized in practice. It also considers how agility and adaptivity have been translated into institutional designs and examines examples that have shaped the current discussion.Civil society organizations have the potential to contribute to more adaptive governance by bringing knowledge and values into governance processes and providing monitoring and feedback that enable learning and adjustment as AI evolves. However, many limiting factors are in play, and the influence of civil society organizations is contingent on the broader institutional arrangements

In addition, Morgan Vigil-Hayes will present her research, co-authored with Srichandana Julakanthi, on Maps Without Witnesses: Closing the Participation Gap in FCC Mobile Broadband Challenges. Elizabeth Mack and Johannes M. Bauer will participate in a panel discussion on Whither Telecommunications Policy? Future Directions for a Maturing Research Field.