Hochul has made funding for AI research and incorporating AI into the curriculum of the state university system a huge priority for her administration.
On Thursday, she visited an AI supercomputer at the University at Albany, while on Friday, she visited the University at Buffalo, which will one day house a new supercomputer center for the Empire AI Consortium that is being funded with $250 million from the state and $25 million from the SUNY system. Another $125 million in private donations is also funding the project.
"If you think about it, it's like a heart beating in a body, pumping technology and future through its veins," Hochul said during a Friday morning event in Buffalo.
AI is slowly taking hold in the United States, although it needs more computing power and massive amounts of data and sensors to teach its systems how to make decisions on their own.
UAlbany recently installed a $16.5 million supercomputer on its campus that utilizes 24 NVIDIA servers, each with 192 NVIDIA Tensor Core computer chips. NVIDIA is one of the leaders in chip design for AI, artificial reality and gaming systems. The NVIDIA supercomputer helps power UAlbany's AI initiative called AI Plus.
UAlbany received $75 million in 2023 from the state budget to build its new supercomputer and finish its new engineering school building that is tied into the Albany NanoTech complex on Fuller Road.
"This new AI supercomputer is a major step forward for the University at Albany, for our faculty, for our staff, for our researchers and especially for our students," UAlbany President Havidán Rodríguez said at Thursday's event. "Even more important than the technology is how we intend to use it — to help people."
Companies across the world are embracing AI, but Hochul believes that New York and other states — and their research universities — should be taking a leadership role to ensure AI is used for the common good, not purely for profit and eliminating human decision-making.
"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 said. "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."
UAlbany has also created a new AI Institute, and UAlbany is in the process of hiring 27 new AI-focused faculty, called the largest "cluster hire" in the university's history. More than $5 million in SUNY funding was allocated for the new hires.
"The world is in the midst of one of the most important races in human history," Hochul said Thursday at UAlbany. "It's a race for knowledge, wealth, prosperity and power. The race to become the global leader in AI will be one of the defining competitions of our lifetimes as we seek to unlock and control technology that could transform the future that we're heading into."
Hochul's office said a request-for-proposals for the new AI computing center in Buffalo will be announced soon, allowing contractors to make bids to build the facility.
The Empire AI Consortium is being underwritten with $125 million in private funding from philanthropic groups like the Simon Foundation, a charity started by Long Island hedge fund trader and mathematician Jim Simons and his wife, Marilyn.
Simons, who died in May, specialized in quantitative investing that used mathematical models to guide investment decisions and was one of the richest men in the world. Marilyn Simons attended Friday's event. The Simons Foundation focuses on funding science research and is supporting the Empire AI Consortium.
"She would be here with her husband, Jim, but we lost him a short time ago," Hochul said. "The two of them (were) a powerhouse couple."
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