The communications technology landscape is increasingly unstable. The global race to harness agentic artificial intelligence, general AI, and quantum computing is emerging as the technology story of the decade (and, perhaps of the 21st century). At the same time, rapid innovation in radio spectrum and space-based communications is expanding connectivity’s frontier both on Earth and beyond. Together, these shifts promise to transform industries as – or more – profoundly as the internet revolution of a generation ago.

The benefits and harms of today’s technological changes, notably, are unevenly distributed. Emerging technology capabilities and a lagging regulatory framework create new divides. As AI advances, there are fault lines between regions, nations, and firms, as well as between those with access to computing power, data, and energy, and those without. There will be haves. And there will be have-nots.

These asymmetries raise urgent questions about access to advanced AI, big data, spectrum resources, and the privacy and security protections that accompany them. Scholarship and policy in recent decades have focused on the “digital divide.” But as the United States approaches universal broadband access, technology’s tectonic plates are shifting again. This new set of divides are global, structural, deeply complex, and only beginning to be addressed.

Silicon Flatirons’ 2026 Flagship Conference, entitled To Have and Have Not: Growing Asymmetries in Communications Technology, considers emerging gaps in technology access – and the impact of the collective regulatory landscape of local, state, federal, and international governance. The conference brings together scholars, policymakers, and industry leaders to discuss the challenges and opportunities in the regulation of advanced technologies.

Through a combination of expert panels, our annual debate, and keynote addresses, the February 1–2, 2026 Flagship Conference will evaluate how dynamic technology advance and lagging policy are creating a landscape of emerging winners, likely losers, and ever-growing asymmetry.

The Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship is an interdisciplinary research center at the University of Colorado Law School.