Buffalo News Another Voice: Don’t put stumbling blocks in the way of AI-driven economic growth
September 2nd, 2025
September 2, 2025
JUSTIN WILCOX – Read online.
Artificial intelligence will be as revolutionary as the printing press and the combustion engine.
With the University at Buffalo now offering the country’s first AI-specialized degrees, New York has positioned itself to play a leading role in that transformation. Coupled with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Empire AI consortium, these initiatives signal that New York is serious about building an AI-ready workforce and positioning itself at the center of the global tech race.
Microsoft recently featured TechBuffalo on its global platform, highlighting the nonprofit’s “K-to-gray” approach to opening tech career opportunities, which included Family Code Nights, a hands-on learning program for adults and children.
In health care, AI is enabling earlier detection of diseases, monitoring for heart attacks and strokes in real-time. For small businesses, AI tools are reducing costs and allowing local entrepreneurs to compete against national brands. The Brookings Institution reports that upstate cities are poised for an AI-driven economic boom.
In the fall, University at Buffalo students will be able to enroll in academic programs that combine the rapidly evolving field of AI with traditional academic disciplines, including communication, economics, geography, language, logic and policy analysis.
To capture these benefits, policymakers must support innovation while giving developers the clarity needed to build responsibly. Unfortunately, Congress has yet to move forward with a national framework for AI. States, including New York, are rushing to fill that vacuum, creating a patchwork of potentially conflicting laws . A balanced federal approach will guide developers while ensuring the United States remains the global leader in AI.
A big push will continue to expand artificial intelligence initiatives and curriculum at State University of New York schools like the University at Buffalo. The state is increasing its investment in Empire AI, which was started last year on the UB campus, and increasing AI and AI-related academic programs that are now being offered in nearly all 64 SUNY schools.
To maintain that leadership, we also need to attract and retain the top talent in the world. Unfortunately, policies developing in Washington – restricting visas and cutting research funding – are eroding that edge. Student and Exchange Visitor Information System data shows that international student enrollment in the United States is falling. Meanwhile, Canada, the U.K., and China are attracting record numbers of international applicants.
The consortium will kick off research this fall, thanks in part to a philanthropic contribution by the Simons Foundation, said Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Hochul is charting the right course for New York. Her investments in AI education and infrastructure are creating a foundation for growth that other states should emulate. However, without federal action, those gains will be undermined.
Washington should rethink its response to the global competition for top talent and state legislators must back away from their well-intended but misguided innovation squashing laws. The question is not whether AI will transform the economy and our daily lives — it already is. The question is whether that future will be built here or in another country.
Justin Wilcox is executive director at Upstate United.