Governing the AI transition: Lessons from the 1996 Telecommunications Act
Governing the AI transition: Lessons from the 1996 Telecommunications Act
Publish Date: 2026-02-09 16:31:00
Source Domain: www.brookings.edu
There are more than 300 bills related to artificial intelligence (AI) that have been introduced in the U.S. Congress and approximately 1,200 in state legislatures.
Legislating in the midst of a technology transition is both important and risky. It is important because protecting the public interest requires rules and expectations rather than an absence of rules that allows companies to act unilaterally in their own interest. It is risky because lawmakers tend to define tomorrow in terms of what is known today—a reality that inhibits the agility necessary in an environment of fast-moving innovation.
The last time Congress attempted to legislate in the midst of a technology transition was the Telecommunications Act of 1996, signed into law by President Clinton on Feb. 8, 1996. The new law updated the Communications Act of 1934. A 30-year look back can help inform today’s discussion about a national policy for the destabilizing effects of artificial intelligence.
Thirty years ago, the destabilizing event was the shift from analog to digital technology. The effect was to collapse long-established business categories and scramble market structures. In a prescient move that informs today, the new act did not seek to predict the path of technology but focused on the market structures that would determine that future.
To oversee this competitive focus, Congress empowered the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to identify and address chokepoints that could thwart effective competition—many of which were controlled by the established companies. In the period following passage, the FCC conducted over 100 rulemakings and other actions to implement this mandate.
Today, as AI reshapes the economy and society, a new wave of destabilizing technological forces has returned. The ’96 act is not merely a story about “telecom”—it is a case study in governing a technological…
