US AI Congress 2026: What We Heard, What We Launched, and What Comes Next
US AI Congress 2026: What We Heard, What We Launched, What Comes Next
The first US AI Congress is in the books, and the room told the story. For two days at the National Press Club, delegations from all 50 states and several foreign nations sat alongside federal agency leaders, governors' office staff, Fortune 500 executives, university researchers, startup founders, defense innovators, and policy makers.
More than 75 speakers across eight programming tracks. Working sessions that ran long because nobody wanted to leave the room. A National AI Accelerator inaugural cohort that walked in as project teams and walked out as a connected national network.
We set out to host a working session, not a conference. That distinction mattered, and it showed up in the energy on the ground. Here is what came through.
The Room
The US AI Congress was designed to bring the right people into the same room at the right moment in America's AI trajectory. The mix was the point.
Federal participation came from the Department of Labor, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Defense. The White House Presidential Innovation Fellows were in the room as co-conveners. State delegations from Ohio, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, and beyond brought economic development leadership and workforce officials. Industry was represented by NVIDIA, USAII, and a cross-section of the technology, cybersecurity, healthcare, manufacturing, and defense communities. And the inaugural cohort of the National AI Accelerator, the eight-track program ETA built to match real organizations with vetted advisors, partners, and implementation support, was finally together in one place.
That mix is what national convening is supposed to look like. It is also what the next year of American AI policy and adoption is going to require.
Five Themes From the Programming
If you were not in the room, here are the threads that ran through the two days.
Workforce is the constraint, not the technology
The single most consistent message across federal, state, and enterprise speakers was that the bottleneck on American AI competitiveness is people, not models.
Acting Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling framed it at the federal level, connecting the Department of Labor's Make America AI Ready initiative to the practical reality that AI fluency now belongs in every job category, not just technical roles. State leaders, including Payal Thakur from JobsOhio, brought the same message from the ground level, where AI Ready Ohio has been operationalizing what national workforce readiness actually looks like inside a state economy.
The grid question is the AI question
Every serious conversation about scaling American AI eventually became a conversation about power, data center capacity, and the grid. This is no longer a niche infrastructure topic. It is now the conversation.
Speakers across the Infrastructure and Energy track and the Economic Development track were clear: data center expansion, grid modernization, and sustainable energy for AI workloads are now economic development questions. Regions that can deliver power and water and skilled trades are the regions that will host the next decade of American AI infrastructure. Regions that cannot, will not.
National security and dual-use AI are mainstream conversations now
The National Security and Defense Innovation tracks pulled significant attention, and the cross-pollination with the commercial tracks was telling. Colonel Kristin Saling, Director of Innovation at US Army Recruiting Command, brought a real-world view of how the Army is adopting AI for one of its most critical functions. Speakers from across the defense innovation ecosystem connected commercial AI advances to dual-use applications.
State and regional AI readiness is where the work gets done
National policy frames the field. State and regional execution wins the game.
Dr. Kollin Napier represented the Mississippi Artificial Intelligence Network. Payal Thakur represented JobsOhio. Coalitions from Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, and Michigan joined the AI Ready America working sessions to align on AI education, enablement, and workforce readiness priorities. The pattern that has worked in Ohio, where state economic development, regional industry, university partners, and community coalitions are aligned around a single AI readiness framework, is now being studied and adapted by other states.
Quantum and AI convergence is closer than most leaders realize
The Quantum Computing track punched above its weight. Sessions on accelerating quantum computing education and research, and on the intersection of AI, cybersecurity, and quantum, drew engaged audiences who treated the topic as immediate rather than theoretical.
The National AI Accelerator Launch
On day two, the National AI Accelerator inaugural cohort gathered in one room for the first time. The Accelerator is built around eight organizational tracks (Startups, Small Businesses, Midmarket Businesses, Enterprise, Nonprofits, Government, Research Institutions and Labs, and Public-Private Partnerships) and three participation roles (Project Team, Peer Advisor, and Partner). The launch sessions moved from program orientation into initial matching, where project teams started connecting with peer advisors and partners around real initiatives they came to advance.
This is the part of the US AI Congress I am most excited about. The Accelerator turns the convening into a year-round structured program. Applications are open and rolling through the end of 2026, and the program re-launches and expands in 2027. The inaugural cohort is in. The next cohort is being matched now.
Thank You
The US AI Congress happened because a coalition of partners said yes early and showed up.
Thank you to the Enterprise Technology Association team, led by my co-founder and CEO Summer Crenshaw, who builds the operational reality behind every event we produce. Thank you to the White House Presidential Innovation Fellows and the Presidential Innovation Fellows Foundation, the Chief Architect Network, the National Artificial Intelligence Association, and the Institute for Education for co-convening with us. Thank you to our founding sponsors and partners, including JobsOhio, Nexigen, ENT.ai, USAII, RKCA, Big Kitty Labs, and the technology partners who helped power the experience.
A special thanks to the leaders who lent their voice and platform to this inaugural convening: Assistant Secretary Marc Andersen, Assistant Secretary Chris Pilkerton, Acting Secretary Keith Sonderling, Senator Marsha Blackburn, CIO Taylor Sonderling, and Air Force Chief Learning Officer Wendy Walsh. Your participation set the tone, and the room felt it.
Thank you to the federal agency leaders, state delegations, military innovators, researchers, founders, executives, advisors, and community builders who came to Washington to work, not just to be seen. The room knew what it was there to do.
What Comes Next
The US AI Congress is now a national platform, and the conversations that started in Washington continue immediately on the ground.
Cincy AI Week runs June 9–11 in Cincinnati. Columbus AI Week follows September 8–10, Tampa AI Week October 13–15, and Great Lakes AI Week November 10–12. State expansion is moving forward across Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Missouri, Indiana, and Kentucky under the AI Ready States and Regions initiative. And the US AI Congress returns to Washington in 2027.
If you came to Washington and want to keep the work moving, or if you watched from a distance and want in, the most important next step is the same.
Apply to the National
AI Accelerator
Eight tracks. Three roles. Rolling approvals through the end of 2026. Real organizations matched with vetted advisors and implementation partners around real AI initiatives. This is how we turn a national convening into national outcomes.
Apply Now →The first US AI Congress is in the books. The work is just getting started.
