Elected officials, UB leadership gather to tout Empire AI

Elected officials and UB leadership assembled Friday to throw their support behind Empire AI, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed statewide consortium that aims to put New York State at the forefront of responsible artificial intelligence innovation.

Empire AI and its state-of-the-art computing center — while still subject to approval by the state legislature — will be housed at UB, which is a SUNY flagship recognized for its decades-long leadership in AI and data science.

The consortium’s goal, according to UB and state officials, is to accelerate research and innovation in AI while driving sustained economic impact across the state. Equally important, they say, is Empire AI’s mission to tackle societal challenges in medicine, education, social justice, climate change and other fields while also serving as a trustworthy source of information as AI technologies evolve.

“UB is incredibly honored and very excited to be named the home of Empire AI, which will place New York State at the epicenter of AI research, innovation and education,” said A. Scott Weber, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.

State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes lauded the governor for her “vision” to invest in resources such as Empire AI to ensure that these advanced technologies are in “the hands of educators” who are committed to social good.

“It was [Hochul’s] vision to see this happen for UB — and not just UB, but for all of New York State’s higher education institutions,” she said.

Venu Govindaraju, vice president for research and economic development, addressed UB’s longstanding leadership in AI, which includes creating a pioneering handwriting-recognition system in the 1990s that has saved the U.S. Postal Service billions of dollars.

“With Empire AI, Buffalo can become an international hub for AI research for the public good. And UB can for New York State be what Stanford was for Silicon Valley. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity that New York needs to seize and UB will be proud to take the lead,” he said.

State Sen. Sean Ryan noted the handwriting-recognition work and the key role that Govindaraju had in developing it.

“University at Buffalo has been doing AI before anyone even called it AI. Venu, here, he’s the OG of AI,” he said.

He noted AI’s great potential for societal change and economic development in New York State, adding that “We want UB to be the hub of this. We want other schools to come onboard under UB’s leadership.”

The $400 million consortium comprises UB and fellow SUNY schools, the City University of New York, Columbia University, Cornell University, New York University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the Flatiron Institute, as well as philanthropic backers such as Tom Secunda and the Simons Foundation.

State Assembly Member Karen McMahon said Empire AI represents a historic opportunity, and that housing it at UB is an “extraordinary vote of confidence” in the university.

“As the premier institution of higher education and research in Western New York, and flagship university of the SUNY system, it is altogether fitting that UB be the home of Empire AI,” she said.

UB has more than 200 researchers exploring how to use AI and data science to advance cybersecurity, drug discovery, robotics, education, environmental science, transportation and other fields that are critical to the state’s and nation’s future.

Additionally, UB is No. 1 in the state among public and private research universities in securing cyberinfrastructure program funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). 

Mo Sumbundu, assistant director at Empire State Development, spoke on behalf of Hochul. He said the governor “chose UB for a very good reason. She knows UB has the higher-quality students, esteemed professors and intellectual competitiveness needed to win the AI race.”

Assembly Member Pat Burke noted that UB and the state’s commitment to using AI for the public good “makes me really comfortable and excited and so happy that it’s happening right here in Buffalo.”

Also speaking were Assembly Member Jon D. Rivera, who said that Empire AI is a “monumental, big, big, big deal,” as well as Marjorie Velázquez, vice president of policy at tech:nyc, who said that “our universities have a real opportunity to take the lead over AI’s future and ensure that it makes New Yorkers’ lives better.”

That includes projects such as the National AI Institute for Exceptional Education at UB, a $20 million project to develop AI systems to diagnose and treat young children with speech and language processing challenges, as well as the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science.

It also includes the Center for Information Integrity, which has received funding from the National Science Foundation to protect older adults from financial scams and frauds, which are often AI-driven.