Data Centers Aren't Enough: The Real AI Infrastructure Is People
TechTarget, Tuesday, October 6th, 2026
The AI race is about chips and data centers, but workforce AI literacy, including in rural communities, is the real competitive edge.
In a TechTarget opinion piece, Vasileios Maroulas of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, argues that chips, data centers and models alone won't ensure ethical AI literacy and adoption, and that the greatest advantage will belong to workforces able to use that computing power.
AI is already helping law enforcement, attorneys, manufacturers, healthcare providers and farmers spend more time on judgment rather than replacing them, much as electricity and the internet transformed rather than eliminated work.
The biggest risk, he says, is failing to give rural and underserved communities AI literacy resources.