Op-Ed: Empire AI Will Boost Tech Leadership, Protect Public's Interests

ALBANY, N.Y. (March 12, 2024) — Hype about what AI can do and hysteria about how that might go wrong might make headlines. But at UAlbany, researchers are showing important, practical and helpful uses for AI – including weather prediction, disease research and genetic fingerprinting.

“AI is about much more than complex algorithms and the latest hardware,” President Havidán Rodríguez wrote in an editorial published in the Times Union on Monday. “At its core, it is a powerful tool that enables other groundbreaking scientific discoveries and creative activity.”

Rodríguez said that Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed $275 million investment in the Empire AI consortium, will ensure that AI is developed responsibly and ethically, to benefit all New Yorkers.

“In SUNY’s four research centers — Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo and Stony Brook — New York has deep expertise and computing infrastructure,” Rodríguez wrote. “UAlbany and UB, for example, were both recently named members of a U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute consortium charged with developing pathways to safe and trustworthy AI.”