The internet was a success. For decades, the worldwide web of easy information flow has connected entrepreneurs and consumers to fill the most niche consumer demands. Starting a business has become easier than ever before. It created a wave of opportunity that has generated billions in consumer value every year since 1999.
Today, the next big wave is here. Artificial intelligence grows ever more capable every day, and users around the globe are using large-language models, just one form of the broader technology, to carve out a place in the market. If the right federal and state-level policies allow it to thrive, a new generation of entrepreneurs can harness this general-purpose technology to act on their big ideas and deliver new products and services to consumers.
Entrepreneurship isn’t easy; individuals take big risks to fill unmet consumer demands. But AI can take some of the load off. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), for example, students used AI tools to “accelerate their coding, draft presentations, learn about new industries, and brainstorm ideas.” These students also have access to an AI-powered app that helps them master the entrepreneurial process. AI is empowering more people to bet on themselves by teaching core principles and automating the sticky points like market research and administrative work.
AI-wielding entrepreneurs aren’t only found in MIT classrooms. According to a recent report by Anthropic, the most frequent uses for Claude.ai in the United States last year were to build new apps and websites and to assist with business strategy formation. AI users leverage the new tech in the marketplace every day to bring new products and services to consumers across America.
Now, federal and state-level decisionmakers have a chance to foster the next wave of American ingenuity. With the right policies, they can deliver a reliable business environment in which entrepreneurs can harness AI, driving better outcomes for consumers. With the wrong approach, they risk blocking countless ideas from ever making it to market. This all hinges on two key issues: AI policy and infrastructure.
Getting AI policy right is essential, and regulating businesses that, like the AI tools they depend on, cross state lines must happen at the federal level. Thousands of conflicting laws have been introduced in state legislatures in just the last two years, threatening to strangle AI-using self-starters with complex compliance costs and micromanaging what AI tools they can use and how they can use them. Congress can get ahead of this by crafting a national framework that supersedes discordant state laws.
When it does, Congress should remember that many concerning AI use-cases are already covered under existing laws, and that there’s still plenty about AI that simply remains unknown. One elegant answer to both ideas is that of regulatory ‘sandboxes,’ where supervised businesses can freely operate while flagging any new and unforeseen harms caused by AI. Startups often face disproportionate challenges as regulations are slow, expensive, and designed for old technologies. With a sandbox safe-haven to ease the immediate burden, and other solutions proposed in the recently released National Policy Framework, Congress can deliver predictable, easy-to-understand laws so everyday people can more easily launch new AI businesses that consumers would like to use.
As for the infrastructure, states have a larger role to play. It’s true that more tech-savvy users can run AI applications offline on their own hardware, but 84 percent of organizations rely on cloud-based computing—especially lean, new market entrants. For them, cloud computing is necessary to keep costs low. Since easy-to-use chatbots like Claude and ChatGPT require an internet connection, states should prioritize building internet infrastructure for the nearly 8 million Americans who still remain offline.
To start, states should rein in rogue localities that often delay projects and overcharge builders. This can be done by enforcing transparency and efficiency in the permitting process, especially in the newly contested arena of data centers. AI—but also modern life in general—depends on these facilities. Blocking broadband development harms the very communities that would benefit the most from new business creation.
America is a land of opportunity, and its entrepreneurs are leveraging powerful new technology to meet consumers’ needs. The challenge is making sure that policy in the United States enhances AI development and internet deployment. With the right approach, policymakers can bring a stable playing field in which business-minded individuals anywhere in the country can catch the new wave and leverage AI to carve out a place in the market. AI can be a powerful tool for go-getters—as long as America’s laws keep up.
Nate Karren is a Policy Analyst with the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization. Follow Nate on X @NateKarrenOnX.