03.17.25 Hochul expands AI initiative to support researchers at NYU, other state universities
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Empire AI initiative has expanded rapidly over the past several weeks, with three more New York colleges slated to join the consortium of research institutions — which includes NYU — if budgetary plans are approved. Amid ongoing efforts at NYU to expand programming in science and technology, the $400 million initiative bolsters artificial intelligence research at the university.
In October, Hochul launched the first stage of Empire AI with a center housing 96 advanced computer processors in upstate New York. The seven founding institutions — including Columbia University, the State University of New York and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute — along with other private partners, collectively invested $125 million in the initiative. In her proposal for next year’s budget, Hochul included $90 million in capital funding to support the inclusion of three more institutions into the consortium, each of which are set to invest an additional $50 million in Empire AI.