The growing influence of AI in services was evident in 2026 Super Bowl ads, with nearly 25% either AI-focused or featuring AI-generated content. By comparison, beverage advertising, including beer and non-alcoholic drinks, accounted for about 15%–18% of ads, while cars and trucks accounted for about 7%.
The growing use of AI has raised complex yet necessary questions about governance, security and privacy. But for many people, the initial reaction concerns AI's supposed impact on labor markets. An often-repeated aphorism holds that "AI won't take your job, but the person who knows how to use AI will." Yet just as Mark Twain observed that reports of his death were greatly exaggerated, AI's transformative impact on the labor market will likely be less about job replacement and more about augmentation.
Research indicates that AI is having its greatest impact in areas where tools automate certain tasks while streamlining others. Doctors, for example, can use AI to manage medical records and appointments and to analyze vast data sets to support diagnoses and tailored treatment plans. Architects and interior designers can use AI not only to revise designs but also to adapt plans to environmental or other conditions. These uses do not eliminate the need for professionals. Instead, AI enables professionals to complete tasks more rapidly and with greater precision. The telecom industry stands to realize equally significant gains.
That perspective informed "AI Applications for Rural Broadband Providers," a report published last year by the NTCA Innovation and Business Opportunity Committee (IBOC). The paper demystifies AI, offers examples of it’s use in agriculture, education, and healthcare, and then builds on those accessible illustrations to explore telecom-specific applications.
The IBOC also recognized that while it could provide a comprehensive, multi-industry introduction to AI, other NTCA committees could lend their expertise to explore use cases in greater detail. Therefore, the IBOC invited the NTCA Marketing, Legal and Technical committees to contribute supplements that address their respective specialties. The result is a suite of materials offering everything from a broad overview of AI to template governance principles to step-by-step instructions for building custom GPTs for marketing.
In the coming weeks, we will dig into AI with the chairs of the NTCA committees that contributed supplements to the IBOC report, exploring how AI can refine workflows and improve efficiency across our industry.