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Forbes
21-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How AI Might Blur The Differences Between Small And Medium Enterprises
American small businesses are navigating uncertain waters. There are new opportunities provided by the tax benefits in the OBBBA. There will be integration of artificial intelligence into everything. There are also obstacles to navigate past, including potentially crippling tariffs and a potential recession. This macroeconomic uncertainty is forcing small businesses to become leaner, invest in technology and potentially diversify their products and services. For many American small businesses, tariffs present the greatest concern. It is estimated that every American will have to pay an additional $3000 a year for the same products as a result of price hikes related to American tariffs. Many SMEs (small and medium enterprises) can't raise prices or absorb additional expenses. Furthermore, retaliatory tariffs could close market access to critical parts of the supply chain or sales partners. Combined with interest rates that continue to remain high, businesses have to run lean. At the same time, the recent OBBBA legislation did codify an important initiative from the first Trump Administration – Opportunity Zones. According to the Economic Innovation Group, the premise of the OZ incentive is to encourage private investment in low-income and high-poverty areas. For small businesses, the new version of the program provides incredible benefits to investors and SMEs in rural areas and blighted urban districts. US Senator Edward Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, speaks during a press conference on "Youth vs. ... More Oligarchy Day of Action" to discuss cuts to social programs in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Donald Trump recently singed into law, outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, July 17, 2025. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images) Far from Washington, DC, American small businesses are already investing in artificial intelligence. According to Bessemer Venture Partners and Bain Consulting, AI adoption is accelerating, with 60% of private companies reporting that AI is becoming a larger portion of their overall budgets – driven in large part by solutions developed for them by tech companies and other vendors. Large companies are switching to AI-based procurement systems, which will benefit small businesses. Even the adoption of the most mainstream AI tools, like ChatGPT, is improving SME performance in areas like proposal writing and marketing. One company that has been helping SMEs for a long time to manage their IT operations and security is Electric. Founded in 2017, Electric supports SMEs in every aspect of their information technology needs, from procuring and provisioning new hardware to automating IT onboarding and offboarding, compliance, application permissions and cybersecurity. For growing SMEs and startups, the potential of companies like Electric could be game changing. Now, instead of allocating resources to a technology department, SMEs can shift those resources to more engineers or sales staff. Electric represents an important trend in enterprise technology. Instead of multiple software and SaaS solutions, AI is allowing companies to develop more comprehensive solutions that can be used across verticals. Similarly, in a world of changing regulatory and compliance requirements, and sometimes dramatic changes, like in the United States, AI can more quickly keep companies updated and in compliance. Electric boasts hundreds of clients around the world who use its AI platform for mission critical tasks like security monitoring and compliance. Ryan Denehy, CEO of Electric Recently, Electric announced a partnership with Justworks, an HR technology solutions company, to create a partner API where clients can seamlessly integrate their Justworks and Electric accounts together. SMEs perennially under invest in HR departments. With the growth of remote work, HR departments are often tasked with IT-related tasks, such as securely buying, tracking, and retrieving laptops. People-led teams often aren't well-equipped to handle these tasks, but AI-driven startups like Electric and others can simplify, evaluate preferred pricing and integrate with existing workflows. In addition, HR departments are using AI for workforce planning across geography and skills sets. Lastly, SMEs are looking for integrated solutions, like the Electric and Justworks partnership, that allows them to more efficiently onboard and offboard employees, providing a better employee experience and less cost, while also getting access to cybersecurity solutions should they need it. For a small business with anywhere between 10-500 employees and only 1-2 IT and HR employees, these tasks can swallow up executives' time and distract from mission-critical activities. Suddenly, small businesses can act like medium-sized businesses. According to Qamar Saleem, Global Head of the SME Finance Forum at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), SME's make up 90% of businesses in the world and generate nearly 70% of employment. Overall, SMEs contribute about 50% of the global GDP. Yet, the total global SME financing stands at just $4 trillion — a fraction compared to the $700 trillion global GDP. This gap symbolizes the urgent need for innovative, inclusive, and scalable finance solutions to support the backbone of our economies worldwide According to Saleem and the World Bank, one of the biggest barriers for small businesses to secure financing is strong internal processes and management practices. With AI, and tools like Electric, SMEs become more bankable, efficient and cognizant of their operations.
New York Times
18-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Conservatives Get the PBS and NPR Cuts They've Wanted for Decades
They tried under Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. Newt Gingrich gave it a go when he controlled the House, and Bob Dole did, too, when he held power in the Senate. But for five decades, Republicans failed time and again to choke off federal funding for public broadcasting. Some were afraid of being accused of avicide (for 'killing Big Bird' of 'Sesame Street'), while others appreciated their local public stations (and the airtime they personally received) — always stopping the party short of turning their threats against PBS and NPR into law. That they have finally been able to do it now, voting on Friday to claw back $1.1 billion in public broadcasting funds, on one level speaks to the power of President Trump. His threat to support primary challenges against any Republicans who might try to block the cuts all but guaranteed they would go through this time. 'Republicans who supported public media for their entire careers are voting to kill it, and there is only one reason: Donald Trump,' said Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, who has been at the center of efforts to protect public media for decades. 'When Trump sets a loyalty test today, Republicans fall in line.' Mr. Markey argued that Mr. Trump's moves against PBS and NPR were part of the administration's larger campaign to undermine mainstream journalism. It is in line, he said, with the president's lawsuits against the major broadcast networks and suggestions that the Federal Communications Commission might punish their stations over accusations of liberal bias. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Euronews
01-07-2025
- Business
- Euronews
US Senate says no to deregulating AI in 99-1 vote
US senators defeated a proposal that would ban states from regulating artificial intelligence (AI) companies. The US Senate voted 99-1 on Tuesday to get rid of the provision from President Donald Trump's big bill of tax breaks that would've banned any AI regulation for 10 years at the state level. Under the original proposal, states that wanted federal AI investment would have to 'pause any enforcement of any state restrictions, as specified, related to AI models, AI systems, or automated decision systems' for a decade. Republicans tried to save the provision by bringing it down to five years but that was later abandoned when Republican senators Edward Markey, Maria Cantwell and Marsha Blackburn introduced a late-night motion to scrap the entire proposal. 'Massive bipartisan opposition' State lawmakers and AI safety advocates argued that the rule is a gift to an industry that wants to avoid accountability for its products. "Congress will not sell out our kids and local communities in order to pad the pockets of Big Tech billionaires," Senator Markey said in a statement after the vote, noting that the provision to strip AI regulation is "dangerous". Max Tegmark, president of the Future of Life Institute, said in a statement that the "overwhelming rejection" to the amendment "underscores the massive bipartisan opposition to letting AI companies run amok". "The CEO's of these corporations have admitted they cannot control the very systems they're building, and yet they demand immunity from any meaningful oversight," he wrote. Those in President Trump's camp like argue that a patchwork of state and local AI laws could hinder the country's progress in the industry and could hurt its capability of competing with China. Earlier this year, a report from Stanford University found that the US is still in the lead, followed closely by China, in the global race to become an AI leader. World leaders say that winning the race is critical to national security, developments in health, business and technology. What do US Big Tech companies think? Big Tech companies are split on how far AI regulation should go and who should be enforcing it. OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, said in its submission for the US AI Action Plan that it favours a "regulatory strategy that ensures the freedom to innovate," which would include "voluntary partnership" between government and the private sector. Google advised lawmakers to "preempt a chaotic patchwork of state-level rules on frontier AI development," by focusing on the existing regulations that are already in place. In its submission, Meta quoted US Vice President JD Vance who said earlier this year that "excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry just as its taking off". Meta specified that it considers regulations that impose restrictions on AI models "based on obsolete measurements," or impose "onerous" reporting or testing would "impede innovation in the US". Along with changes to state AI legislation, Meta also asked the Trump administration to "reduce barriers to AI infrastructure investment," such as permitting barriers for data centre investments. What has Trump done so far on AI? In one of the first acts of his second term, Trump released an executive order that called for the end of "AI policies and directives that act as barriers to American AI innovation," so the country can retain "global leadership". Trump also removed a 2023 executive order from former president Joe Biden that increased the federal government's capacity to "regulate, govern and support responsible use of AI". Trump has also introduced another executive order to enhance the use and teaching of AI systems in US schools, revised government procurement laws so agencies can adopt AI and launched an AI action plan that is currently under review.
The National
30-06-2025
- Business
- The National
AI and taxes: How Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' could reshape the global tech landscape
Although President Donald Trump 's much touted "big, beautiful bill" largely revolves around tax cuts – particularly for the wealthiest Americans – it could also shape artificial intelligence developments for decades to come. Tucked into the legislation that has already passed the House of Representatives but still needs approval from the Senate is a provision that would limit the ability of all 50 US states to enact laws that regulate AI, at least temporarily. Within the current form of the tax bill endorsed by Mr Trump, states would be unable to obtain federal funding for various projects provided in the legislation of they passed any laws limiting AI in the next 10 years. It's not unusual for large tax and spending bills to include parts that might seem unrelated to the central intent of the legislation, but the AI provision has sparked backlash from both sides of the aisle. 'Make no mistake, we can have an AI revolution while also protecting the civil rights and liberties of everyday Americans," said Massachusetts Democratic Senator Edward Markey several weeks ago, blasting the provision that limits the rights of states to regulate AI. Far-right Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has also spoken against the inclusion of AI stipulations in the proposed tax bill, saying that it unnecessarily burdens rural and conservative leaning parts of the country by potentially penalising them for enacting AI laws. She pointed out in a post on X that 40 state attorneys general had written a letter to Congress against the proposal. "It's not too late for the Senate to take it out," she added. According to the Cato Institute, as of 2024, at least 40 states had considered and at least 31 have passed various forms of laws to put guardrails on AI. Yet during his 2024 campaign for the presidency, Mr Trump came out swinging against what he saw as onerous AI regulations. "We will repeal Joe Biden's dangerous Executive Order that hinders AI Innovation, and imposes Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology," the official 2024 Republican National Convention platform, largely composed by Trump campaign staffers, read. "In its place, Republicans support AI Development rooted in free speech and human flourishing." The proposal has likely been met with applause from various US technology majors as they pump billions into AI development to try to dominate what has already become a lucrative market. Yet public officials, labour groups and even some proponents of the technology have expressed concern over the potential for AI to cause unemployment, create user data security problems and prompt an energy crunch. Those anxieties have led to regulations passed at a local level to try to blunt any inadvertent impacts of AI. Many in Silicon Valley, however, remain concerned that if regulations become too burdensome, the US could lose its competitive advantage in the AI space to China and other countries deemed adversarial. To some extent, these concerns about regulation have already been acted on by the Trump White House as it seeks to ease AI chip export policies enacted by the Biden administration. If Mr Trump's "big, beautiful bill" passes with the current AI stipulations in place, proponents say it will guarantee US dominance in the AI sector and create a cascade effect where US technology is used for the technology's implementation around the world, potentially creating more allies and wealth. "This isn't federal overreach," said Neil Chilson, former chief technologist for the Federal Trade Commission during the first Trump administration and current head of AI policy at the Abundance Institute, a non-profit organisation that supports emerging technologies. "It is a pragmatic, limited measure to slow the patchwork quilt of fifty state AI laws from becoming a wet blanket on federal legislation." However not all tech entrepreneurs are on board with limiting local and state ability to enact AI regulations. "A 10-year moratorium is far too blunt an instrument," wrote Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei in an opinion piece for the New York Times. "Without a clear plan for a federal response, a moratorium would give us the worst of both worlds – no ability for states to act, and no national policy as a backstop." He added that local legislation often seeks to identify the dangers of AI and help fix it, therefore improving it in the long run. Mr Amodei, who is also a proponent of the technology export controls enacted by the Biden White House, recently warned that the fast-development of AI could "wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs". While Mr Amodei is in the minority among tech entrepreneurs, he is finding allies among media activism organisations like Common Sense, which describes itself as being "dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information". The group said that more than 60,000 people have signed a petition to protect states' rights to pass AI laws. "Senators should pay careful attention to the rising discontent over the proposed 10-year ban on AI safety laws and should strip it from the budget bill," said James Steyer, chief executive of Common Sense. "Banning state AI safety laws is not a budget matter and has no place in a budget bill." He described the 10-year-ban as "irresponsible and indefensible", in terms of how it leaves consumers and children "vulnerable to AI threats". The "big, beautiful bill" is still awaiting a vote in the Senate, and Republican leaders have said they are aiming to have it on the President's desk by Independence Day on July 4.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Markey wants answers from Verizon over lead in old phone lines
SPRINGFIELD — U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey D-Mass., wants to know where Verizon's old lead-sheathed telephone cables are and what the legacy phone company is doing to protect its workers and the public. A sediment sample collected by federal inspectors from a telephone worker manhole under Central Street in Springfield in January was found to be 3% lead. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Prevention Health Hazard Evaluation Program and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health said the muck had lead concentrations of 30,000 parts per million. A dizzying number given that the Environmental Protection Agency lowered last year its acceptable level of lead in soil from 400 parts per million to 200 parts per million. A 2023 Wall Street Journal investigation documented a sprawling nationwide network of legacy lead-sheathed cables. Phone companies used lead up until the 1960s when they switched to plastic. In Western Massachusetts, John Rowley Sr., business manager of IBEW Local 2324, has also been investigating lead contamination on behalf of members who were exposed. Demonstrating a classic symptom, some workers reported headaches so bad they had to go home for the day. Markey, a Democrat on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, also took up the lead cause. In February 2024, he visited Chicopee and watched as researchers found lead in front yards on busy Montcalm Street. Its lead that had falen from overhead wires. Today, Markey sent a letter to Verizon, one of the successor companies to the old Bell System that used lead sheathing. Verizon has declined to comment on lead. In the past, it had issues with the Wall Street Journal's reporting and has called for more research. Verizon wrote a New York congressman in 2023 saying 'soil lead levels near Verizon's cable are similar to lead levels in the surrounding area (i.e., background levels) and do not pose a public health risk to your constituents.' Markey wants to know, by July 9, the answers a number of questions: What is the status of Verizon's efforts to mapping all known and suspected lead-sheathed cables it owns or for which it is responsible? What steps has Verizon taken since the publication of the Wall Street Journal investigation to: Identify and monitor worker exposure to lead from lead-sheathed telecommunications cables? Notify and protect workers in or near areas with lead-sheathed cables? Inform the public, especially in environmental justice communities, about risks posed by lead-sheathed cables, and field and respond to concerns? Test for and remediate environmental contamination around legacy infrastructure? Provide medical monitoring, treatment, or compensation for lead-exposed workers? What is the status of any investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice, the EPA or Occupational Safety and Health Administration into Verizon's handling of its lead-sheathed cables? Markey also wants Verizon to implement all the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommendations, including conducting routine blood lead level testing and retrofitting hygiene and personal protection protocols. Rowley is concerned that with federal cutbacks to agencies like the EPA, OSHA and NIOSH, no one is left to monitor, research and enforce rules. Trustees reopen William Cullen Bryant Homestead in Cummington for tours New name in play for MassMutual Center in Springfield Commission OK's more casino mitigation money, but the well may be running dry Read the original article on MassLive.
