Power To The People

Special thanks to Julie and Charlotte for their input and empathy, ‘the foremost evolutionary advantage’ (‘Disclosure Day’, movie, 2026)

In the early twentieth century, American utilities understood that connecting homes to electricity was only the beginning. They also had to demonstrate what it could do. Through advertising and educational campaigns, they presented electric appliances as the route to a better life.

The grid needed a place in people’s imagination. Refrigerators put it there.

There is a lesson for the AI industry. Pew finds that 52% of Americans are more concerned than excited about AI, up from 37% in 2021. Gallup reports that 71% oppose AI data centers in their local area, strengthening the political case for regulating new capacity, as noted in 'AI, In Full' (2026).

That resistance deserves empathy. AI reaches households as anxious headlines about job losses, deepfakes, environmental strain, cultural erosion, and electricity bills, rarely as something useful on a Tuesday evening. The disruption is overwhelming and personal; the promised benefits appear to accrue elsewhere.

By pledging billions for academia and workforce training, AI labs and software companies have not been idle. Now, as in the case of the grid, the opportunity is to extend such efforts further into everyday life, reaching households, the self-employed, and small businesses.

Practical education for a broad public would spark interest in everyday uses of AI, spur engagement, enhance employability and business competitiveness, and give people a stake in the technology.

A first idea is public demonstration. A ten-minute TV segment before the evening news could show how to compare quotes for a new kitchen, create a budget for a vacation, or draft a complaint about an incorrect bill. In the 80s, the BBC’s Computer Literacy Project combined TV with practical learning.

A second idea is to create places where people can find assistance. Libraries, community centers, and adult education providers could host regular AI clinics nationwide.

A third idea is to reach a broader workforce through trade unions and chambers of commerce, with training about specific tasks: a shopkeeper comparing suppliers, a tradesperson preparing quotations, a self-employed worker filing a tax return.

As part of a stakeholder engagement strategy, the entire AI industry – from hyperscalers and chipmakers to the suppliers of equipment and services to data centers – could collectively sponsor these national and local efforts. Independent educators would retain control of the content, in coordination with municipalities and governments keen to build a competitive advantage.

A broad education approach to AI might not lower anyone's electricity bill, nor settle every legitimate concern. But it can give more people the practical experience to weigh AI’s benefits alongside its costs. Broader participation could also spread the gains more widely, thereby easing redistribution and political challenges.

Like utilities a century ago, the AI industry must combine power with empowerment.