This article examines how U.S. artificial intelligence and tech policy excludes rural communities through structural urbanism—where policy design, not just demographics, creates disadvantage. By analyzing the Broadband Equity, Access, and Development Program, the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, and the Senate AI Roadmap, the study demonstrates how current governance frameworks continue to ignore rural needs and calls for active community participation in policy creation.
Structural Urbanism Analogy. The author applies public health's concept of structural urbanism to tech policy, arguing that infrastructural decisions—not just demographic factors—actively drive rural technological disadvantage.
Critique of Major Policy Frameworks. The study analyzes three prominent U.S. initiatives (BEAD Program, Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, and Senate AI Roadmap) to demonstrate systemic neglect of rural concerns.
Expanded Governance Model. The paper moves beyond the traditional "digital divide" framework to advocate for direct, active community participation in AI policy decision-making.
McNealy, Jasmine, 'Rural Inclusion in AI Policy: Rural Disadvantage in Policy Participation' (20 Mar. 2025), in Margaret Hu, and Charlton McIlwain (eds), Governance, in Philipp Hacker (ed.), Oxford Intersections: AI in Society (Oxford, online edn, Oxford Academic, 20 Mar. 2025 - ), https://doi.org/10.1093/9780198945215.003.0098, accessed 6 Aug. 2026.
