Fiber for Breakfast Week 31: AI Usage Driving Network Evolution, Plus Hope & Fear

The demand Artificial Intelligence (AI) is putting on networks is “dramatic” and is already changing the way individuals and businesses use broadband today, according to Roger Entner, Analyst and Founder, Recon Analytics, with serious implications for the fiber industry and society at large.

“If we go back a couple of years, between 95 and 93 percent of the network traffic was downloaded, and 7% with upload,” Entner said on the August 5, 2026, Fiber for Breakfast podcast. “With AI, this is shifting significantly into the teens, if not higher. It sounds small, but that’s like double.”

The increase in broadband usage is driving “insane” consumption between data centers and network usage, with new build construction being equipped with multiple 800 Gbps connections to the rest of the world and some operators already planning to go to 1.6 Gbps connections. At the metro network level, network providers are upgrading from 100G to 400G connections because of increased capacity being driven by AI workloads.

But how do people feel about AI and its impact on their daily lives? Recon Analytics runs over 6,000 in-depth surveys every week focused exclusively on the AI ecosystem, the largest and most current first-party syndicated data set for the AI market to support its AI Pulse market intelligence service.

“A lot of research says everybody thinks AI will end the world,” said Entner. “If you ask this as one question, the fears dominate and what we see is that the fears are universal. Hope is not. The more you use AI, the more hopeful you become.”

Entner said that more “intense” AI users are more hopeful because they know how to use AI as a beneficial force in their lives and make it shape what they can do. He cited his own experiences applying AI at his research firm, creating a system that connects and analyzes Recon Analytics’ own data with more than 250 government databases to find insights in hours compared to what used to take him months of time and research.

Using AI also enables Recon Analytics to codify observable behavior patterns of executives, enabling the firm to predict what firms will do. “Numbers and facts don’t make decisions,” said Entner. “People make decisions and if you understand the people who make the decisions, you can figure out what’s going to happen.”

Speaking of observed behavior, Recon Analytics has seen there’s more AI usage on fiber networks than on cable, with the desktop a much more productive AI experience than other devices. “A quarter of Americans are using AI every day using their cell phone, but what they do is relatively light chatbot-type of analysis,” said Entner. “I would not write a report with AI on my mobile device, but on my computer, where I can visualize things, work very intensively. You need a proper setup, and you need a proper connection. People on a fiber connection [are] moving so much more data at high speeds with low latency, it’s a much more rewarding experience when you’re not waiting.”

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