If you squint at today’s AI policy debates, you may see the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in the distance.

In this conversation, Matt Perault, head of AI policy, a16z, sits down with Adam Thierer, resident senior fellow, technology and innovation, R Street Institute, and Blair Levin, policy analyst, New Street Research and non-resident senior associate, Center for Strategic and International Studies, to revisit their first-hand experience tackling a similarly significant moment in tech policy: a small number of incumbents with entrenched market power, a messy patchwork of federal and local rules, and misaligned governing authority. The result then was federal preemption coupled with a comprehensive national framework for telecommunications—all through a bipartisan deal.

Topics Covered:

00:00: The Telecom Act’s “big bargain”

02:05: Competition as the heart of the deal

04:26: Telecom’s regulatory thicket and move to a national framework

07:39: Preemption, ambiguity, and the FCC’s role

11:58: How the Telecom Act got done: politics, persuasion, and public opinion

17:39: Terminating access charges and “regulating on behalf of” the internet

21:13: Federal vs. state authority and lessons for AI

26:09: Leadership, vision, and a new “constitutional moment” for tech policy

34:57: Institutional capacity and the missing expert home for AI

39:55: What a “Telecom Act for AI” might look like

Resources:

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Beyond Preemption: Lessons from the 1996 Telecom Act