The Future of Connectivity: Cisco Testifies Before Senate Commerce Subcommittee on AI-Native Networking

Artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping the landscape of global connectivity, acting as a catalyst for a new, sophisticated connectivity fabric. Cisco is building the secure, American-led infrastructure for the AI era. On Thursday July 30, Cisco's Bob Everson, Chief Architect for Cisco's Service Provider Mobility team, testified before the Senate Commerce Telecom Subcommittee, highlighting how AI is redefining networks, how the U.S. should lead through balanced spectrum and American-led tech stack, and how we can define American economic strength and national security for decades to come. AI is fundamentally altering the behavior of data on our networks. Cisco projects that AI-driven campus and branch traffic will surge by 209% over the next three years. Unlike traditional applications, which are largely optimized for downstream content consumption, AI workloads are heavily uplink-intensive and require more complex, two-way communication. The rise of autonomous AI agents is placing significant strain on legacy infrastructure. Cisco's internal testing revealed that AI agents generate 450% more traffic per task than human users. To manage this load efficiently, edge computing will play an increasingly vital role. Managing and securing modern, distributed networks requires leveraging agentic operations—using AI to monitor and manage infrastructure in real time. By identifying faults, predicting threats, and automating responses, this approach allows networks to self-heal and operate at machine speed. Cisco's deep network models can distinguish legitimate AI traffic from anomalies, help predict and isolate threats, identify vulnerabilities, and guide operators in deploying patches. Everson offered three policy priorities: accelerate the U.S. AI-native stack (including AI-WIN collaboration with NVIDIA, MITRE, T-Mobile), modernize permitting and infrastructure, and maintain a balanced spectrum policy.