The following testimony was given before the House Small Business Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Supply Chains for a hearing titled “Empowering Rural America Through Investment in Innovation” on January 21, 2026. Watch the full testimony.
“A new digital revolution is underway as artificial intelligence (AI) is deployed across sectors. AI developers are investing billions to build and power the technology with the promise of it bringing new insights, innovations, and access to both companies and individuals.1 Its integration into everyday functions is likely to change the way we work, how we learn, and interact online, in addition to other transformative use cases, including speeding up the development of new drugs and better evaluating climate impacts. At the same time as this incredible level of support for AI, investment in rural communities is declining.2 Community leaders and entrepreneurs are struggling with access to capital, the lingering effects of economic shifts with outsized impacts on their areas, and a widening economic gap between rural and urban areas.3 This landscape highlights how imperative it is that investments in AI do not contribute to these challenges but instead empower rural communities by including them in the next digital revolution, making greater efficiencies accessible for all businesses, and increasing opportunities for rural workers, farmers, businesses, and governments—especially those currently closed out of the digital economy because of the digital divide.”
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Acknowledgements and disclosures
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Footnotes
- Munjal, Mayank and Vineet Sachdev. “Investment in AI is exploding.” Reuters, December 5, 2025. www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-ECONOMY/AI-INVESTMENT/gkvlqbgxkpb/.
- Mock, Marissa, Suzanne Edavettal, Christopher Langmead and Alan Russell. “AI can help to speed up drug discovery — but only if we give it the right data.” Nature, September 19, 2023. www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02896-9; “Harnessing the Power of AI for Climate Change Impact Assessment,” United Nations University, UNU-INWEH, August 27, 2024. unu.edu/inweh/article/harnessing-power-ai-climate-change-impact-assessment.
- Dumont, Andrew. “Changes in the U.S. Economy and Rural-Urban Employment Disparities.” Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, January 19, 2024. www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/changes-in-the-us-economy-and-rural-urban-employment-disparities-20240119.html.
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Commentary
TestimonySupporting rural communities amid the data center boom
Nicol Turner Lee's testimony to the House Small Business Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Supply Chains
January 21, 2026