{"id":267690,"date":"2026-06-08T16:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T20:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/08\/steve-rao-the-ai-revolution-must-include-main-street-wral-com\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T16:10:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T20:10:14","slug":"steve-rao-the-ai-revolution-must-include-main-street-wral-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/08\/steve-rao-the-ai-revolution-must-include-main-street-wral-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Rao: The AI revolution must include Main Street :: WRAL.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wral.com\/business\/technology\/ai-small-business-steve-rao-june-2026\/\">Steve Rao: The AI revolution must include Main Street :: WRAL.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wral.com\/business\/technology\/ai-small-business-steve-rao-june-2026\/\">https:\/\/www.wral.com\/business\/technology\/ai-small-business-steve-rao-june-2026\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-06-08 16:05:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"www.wral.com\">www.wral.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Throughout my years in<br \/>\npublic service, economic development and technology advocacy, I have believed<br \/>\nthat North Carolina&#8217;s greatest strength is our ability to bring people together<br \/>\naround big ideas.<\/p>\n<p>This energetic spirit<br \/>\ncreated Research Triangle Park more than six decades ago. Visionary leaders<br \/>\nsuch as the late Governor James B. Hunt<br \/>\nbuilt upon the foundation established by the state&#8217;s early innovators and<br \/>\nchampioned a long-term vision that transformed North Carolina from a largely<br \/>\nagricultural economy into a global center of innovation. Their leadership<br \/>\nhelped attract world-class companies, universities, entrepreneurs and talent.<br \/>\nToday, we stand at another transformational moment: the rise of artificial intelligence. <\/p>\n<p>North Carolina has an opportunity not just to participate in the<br \/>\nAI revolution, but to lead it.<\/p>\n<p>We already know that AI<br \/>\nis transforming our economy every day. Countless conferences, summits,<br \/>\npodcasts and panel discussions remind us of this fact almost daily. At some<br \/>\npoint, however, the conversation must move beyond simply talking about AI and<br \/>\ntoward helping businesses, entrepreneurs, and workers harness its benefits in<br \/>\npractical and meaningful ways.<\/p>\n<p>The real question we<br \/>\nshould be focused on is whether small businesses and entrepreneurs will be<br \/>\nempowered to benefit from this transformation, or whether the advantages will<br \/>\naccrue only to the largest organizations.<\/p>\n<p>For years, I have written<br \/>\nabout the importance of supporting small businesses, which remain the backbone<br \/>\nof North Carolina&#8217;s economy. From our downtown retailers and family-owned<br \/>\nmanufacturers to professional service firms, restaurants, startups and emerging<br \/>\ntechnology companies, small businesses&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wral.com\/business\/technology\/ai-small-business-steve-rao-june-2026\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Steve Rao: The AI revolution must include Main Street :: WRAL.com https:\/\/www.wral.com\/business\/technology\/ai-small-business-steve-rao-june-2026\/ Publish Date: 2026-06-08&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":267692,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.wral.com\/288ff94b-c76b-4906-905f-eab8bd629537?w=1200&h=630","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[66,62],"class_list":["post-267690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-emerging","tag-innovation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267690"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267690"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267695,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267690\/revisions\/267695"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}