A modern renaissance: Building America’s future in the age of AI

Washington, DC (July 31, 2025) - Connected Nation's experts are closely monitoring the development and expansion of AI-related technologies.  That includes analyzing how a new plan focuses our national vision on winning the "AI race."

“Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan,” released by the White House on July 23, presents artificial intelligence as the engine of a new American era — one defined not just by innovation, but by sweeping changes in how we build, communicate, and create.

It frames AI as the driving force behind three major transformations: an industrial revolution in how we make things, an information revolution in how we learn and connect, and a renaissance in the arts and sciences. AI also introduces a critical new dimension of national security.

This optimism is compelling, and it justifies an ambitious push to embrace AI progress — even amid disruptions. The opportunity before us, the plan notes, is “both inspiring and humbling.” A skillful journey into the AI future will require continued innovation, infrastructure investment, workforce development, and interagency coordination.

While the plan outlines dozens of federal initiatives, its real power lies in the big picture it paints: what the AI-powered future might look like, and how the United States is organizing to help build it. Though not a law or funding bill, the plan sets expectations, knits together federal roles, and catalyzes cooperation across sectors. It helps America imagine — and begin building — the future that AI has made possible.

While some are reluctant to embrace AI, the plan emphasizes that the United States is now in an international AI race, and that it’s important for America to maintain its lead to “ensure that frontier AI protects free speech and American values.” AI has a role to play in war-fighting, and it will be increasingly critical in shaping the global climate of public opinion. By encouraging domestic AI adoption, the plan seeks to help America maintain its current technological lead against China.

I. An industrial revolution for the AI era

Imagine a construction site where robots coordinate in real time. A manufacturing system that learns from its own errors. A logistics network of autonomous vehicles and drones, engaged in split-second decision-making as they move goods and people with unprecedented efficiency. The AI-driven industrial revolution is already underway — and its demands are as physical as they are digital.

The plan calls attention to the nuts and bolts:

• Data centers are the factories of the AI era, mass producing virtual cognitive power.
• Electric grids must scale to match AI’s hunger for energy.
• Talent pipelines for electricians, HVAC technicians, and systems engineers are as critical as coding bootcamps or Ph.D. programs.

Federal agencies — including the Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Labor (DOL), Department of Commerce (DOC), and National Science Foundation (NSF) — are directed to coordinate on permitting, workforce development, and infrastructure deployment.

Highlights from the plan:

• Permitting for speed: Streamlined environmental and zoning approvals for data centers, fiber deployment, and energy projects.
• Energy infrastructure: Modernizing the grid and supporting clean, dispatchable energy sources like nuclear and geothermal plants.
• Workforce development: Competency-based training for high-demand roles in data operations, networking, and energy systems — especially trades essential to AI buildout.

These moves reflect a simple truth: AI can’t live in the cloud alone. It requires wires, cooling, land, power — and people — to build and maintain it. And its impacts will spill out into the real world as robots work and drones fly.

Future planning should also attend to the telecommunications infrastructure through which people access AI models. While universal broadband has become a national goal since the COVID-19 pandemic, gaps remain. A successful rollout of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, aimed at deploying future-proof connectivity, will be vital to ensuring AI’s benefits reach all Americans.

Meanwhile, AI is beginning to define performance expectations for broadband itself — especially low latency, which is critical for applications like robotics, drones, and autonomous vehicles that require fast reflexes.

And in a time of rising international rivalries, the plan emphasizes the need for federal agency partnerships to harden critical AI infrastructure and improve the cyber-resilience of AI systems.

II. An information revolution in motion

AI is reshaping how we access knowledge, make decisions, and communicate — just as the printing press, telephone, and internet once did. But unlike those earlier revolutions, this changes not only how we share information, but what information is.

Think of tools that summarize court records, generate lesson plans, translate real-time speech, or assist with medical diagnoses. These aren’t hypothetical — they’re already appearing in schools, hospitals, small businesses, and public agencies.

Supporting a smarter public:

• Education and training: AI-related curricula are being embedded in high school career and technical education (CTE) programs, community colleges, and apprenticeships. The Department of Education and DOL are coordinating on rapid training models.
• Lifelong learning: Clarifying tax rules to make employer-sponsored AI training tax free, encouraging on-the-job upskilling.
• Public-sector adoption: Federal agencies are encouraged to use AI themselves — to review applications, streamline service delivery, and boost administrative efficiency.

These efforts aim to build a society that is not just informed by AI, but fluent in using it — and confident in managing its risks. And they will help to establish U.S. leadership in global AI standard-setting for economic competitiveness and geopolitical leverage.

III. Toward a renaissance: Discovery, creativity, and exploration

Perhaps AI’s most exciting potential lies not in doing the same tasks faster — but in unlocking ideas we’ve never had.

The AI Action Plan presents this moment as a national renaissance — a chance to spark new achievements in science, medicine, and the arts.

The renaissance starts with science and research, with AI-powered discovery accelerating progress in fields from materials science to drug design. Federal support for open-source tools and data will make advanced AI resources available to more researchers, including at under-resourced institutions. And the new Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI), housed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will help lead global efforts in ensuring models are safe, fair, reliable, robust, secure, and suitable to foster international cooperation that favors ongoing U.S. leadership.

The plan also briefly mentions the arts and humanities: where AI is enhancing creative potential only briefly and helping artists and educators push boundaries with AI tools. What’s built today will shape how expressive, inclusive, and transformative AI-enabled creativity becomes.

AI and the workforce

The plan balances its optimism with attention to labor disruption. It emphasizes “high-paying jobs for American workers” while acknowledging that AI will “transform how work gets done,” demanding a serious response to help workers navigate the transition.

Key references include:

• Executive Order 14278: Expands registered apprenticeships to support skilled trade careers aligned with AI-era infrastructure needs.
• Executive Order 14277: Promotes AI education from an early age to demystify the technology and inspire new generations.

There’s also a strong push for better labor data. Agencies like the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics are tasked with updating surveys and launching a new AI Workforce Research Hub to track how jobs are being lost, gained, or transformed.

AI will change work — but in what ways, and where? The answers will guide policy, investment, and retraining strategies for years to come.

What comes next: Institutions and imagination

The plan is federal, but the future it sketches will be built by states, schools, local governments, businesses, and individuals. Good public planning can facilitate private-sector progress — by organizing expectations, signaling priorities, and helping diverse actors work in sync.

That means building institutional capacity — not just new rules. The plan implies or directly recommends:

• Workforce training centers for trades and tech roles
• Improved labor market data systems
• Streamlined permitting offices with AI-literate staff
• Durable interagency coordination bodies

Federal agencies are expected to implement the plan using existing funding streams and programs. But doing so effectively will require more than routine. Public institutions must embrace innovation, focus on results, and move beyond excessive caution. Bureaucracies need not be flashy — but they must not be risk-averse when the moment demands action.

The public sector has a major role to play in accelerating progress — not simply regulating AI but helping it serve the common good.

A new chapter, already underway

Mass AI adoption is here. The government is right to try to see around corners — and help the country do the same. The AI Action Plan is worth reading for anyone invested in shaping the future. It offers not just a list of goals but a vision of what national transformation could look like when met with purpose, curiosity, and care.

If the Industrial Revolution gave us machines to move the world, and the Information Revolution gave us networks to connect it, the AI era may help us understand, reshape, and even reimagine it.

This plan, then, is more than a strategy — it’s an invitation to accelerate the exploration and exploitation of the space of technological possibilities. Done well, it could open the door to a golden age of human flourishing.