The Empire State Development Board has approved $40 million to launch the second phase of the state’s Empire AI initiative, a consortium of seven of New York’s leading research institutions tasked with developing an artificial intelligence computing center, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday.
Known as Empire AI Beta, this second phase will be 11 times more powerful than current capacity, which the governor’s office said will allow hundreds of researchers from the now 10-member institutions to continue to advance AI research. It will allow the Empire AI consortium to purchase the equipment needed to power the second-phase supercomputer, housed at the University of Buffalo. Empire AI Beta will use NVIDIA’s state-of-the-art Blackwell AI supercomputing platform.
“With Empire AI, New York is leading in emerging technology and ensuring the power of AI is harnessed for public good and developed right here in this great state,” Gov. Hochul said in a statement. “The launch of Beta will supercharge our efforts to advance responsible AI development by some of our brightest minds at research institutions focused on purpose, not profit.”
Empire AI is now backed by over $500 million in public and private funding, including up to $340 million in state capital funding.
“With the launch of Beta, Empire AI is unleashing a game-changing level of computational power to serve researchers across New York. From cancer diagnostics to climate modeling, this system will accelerate innovation across fields — while putting New York at the forefront of responsible AI development,” Empire AI Interim Executive Director Robert Harrison said in a statement.
Source: https://spectrumlocalnews.com/
