BUFFALO, N.Y. — Gov. Kathy Hochul of Friday announced that New York’s “first-in-the-nation,” Empire AI consortium will begin research this fall.
“New York is writing the next chapter of human history with our historic Empire AI initiative — putting innovation, research and technology at the forefront of our investments,” Hochul contended. “Empire AI is centered in the public interest, and this step brings us closer to using this technology to shape a better future for New Yorkers.”
Empire AI consortium members will leverage the initial research capacity, starting this fall, to advance research aimed at addressing major societal challenges for the public good, according to the governor. These efforts will focus on critical areas such as climate change and resilience, health disparities and interventions, accelerating drug discovery, democratizing education for all populations, and tackling global food insecurity and urban poverty.
AI and the high-performance computing offered by Empire AI will seek to play a key role in solving other complex issues, including sustainable-energy solutions, cybersecurity threats, advanced health-care diagnostics, equitable economic development, and optimizing infrastructure for smart cities.
The New York City–based Simons Foundation made a philanthropic contribution of initial computing power and expert staffing, allowing Empire AI to jumpstart its research.
Housed at the University at Buffalo, this initial phase of Empire AI represents “some of the most robust computing power in the nation,” Hochul’s office said. On behalf of the Consortium, the University at Buffalo has also launched a request for proposals to advance the permanent home of the full-scale, state-of-the-art artificial intelligence computing center.
Additionally, the Empire AI consortium has been formally incorporated as a New York nonprofit corporation and taken steps to ensure governance and accountability, including adopting bylaws and key policies. The computing capacity provided by Simons Foundation will provide researchers in the consortium the opportunity to begin advanced research immediately while the larger facility is being built.
Hochul also announced that Stony Brook University’s Robert Harrison has been appointed as interim executive director to lead the consortium, while a national search is conducted for the consortium’s inaugural permanent leader.
Hochul also announced an Empire AI board of directors that will include representatives from the state and from the consortium’s higher-education partners — the City University of New York, Cornell University, Columbia University, New York University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the State University of New York.