Daily data refresh: policy wave, AI net-jobs math, Anthropic wet lab
Today's AI-economy briefing, verified and folded into the data. The Policy Tracker grows 16 → 19: Maryland's executive order creating a single ≥25 MW review process, a task force, a monthly public dashboard and an NDA ban — plus a push to repeal the 2020 tax exemption that cost the state ~$22M in forgone revenue in 2026; Illinois' planned Power Act (bring-your-own-energy, closed-loop water) headed for the November veto session; and the bipartisan federal bill barring Chinese optical transceivers (Eoptolink, Innolight named) from sensitive systems, with a 5-year phase-out. Labor math: The Economist estimates AI has created ~1M US jobs vs ~200K AI-attributed layoffs since mid-2023 (~5:1), though customer-service and admin roles fell 10-15% and Challenger counts 116,175 AI-cited cuts through August. Healthcare: Anthropic's life-sciences push — a Bay Area wet lab for preclinical research, a Novo Nordisk R&D partnership, a CRISPR-like enzyme system Claude found autonomously, and a free clinical tool for ~100 lower-income countries.
See the full changelogImpact Suite
Mapping the AI buildout as a market — who builds, who funds, who pays, and what changes for people over the next decade.
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The AI data center buildout: the power edge
What the buildout is actually doing to power — traced three orders deep, every figure sourced. Not a pitch; the data.
The five largest tech firms spent $400B+ in 2025 and are set to raise it ~75% in 2026 — most of it AI infrastructure. [11] IEA
This spending builds the data centers that consume the electricity above — and drives the price spike below.
From $28.92 to the $333.44 cap in three years; the grid's market watchdog pinned ~63% of the jump on data centers. [12] RTO Insider [5] Utility Dive
This cost gets passed to electricity bills — that's where regular people start paying for the AI buildout.
Thousands to build (~800–1,200 at peak); ~25–50 to run it. Billions of capex, dozens of permanent staff. [8] Brookings
The construction boom is real but temporary — and it pulls workers from housing and other projects that also need them.
Every figure sourced · who wins & who pays, three orders deep · as of September 2026