AI Research

These California tech hubs are set to dominate the AI economy

Published

2 months ago

July 16, 2025

Despite suggestions it has been losing its edge, California is way ahead of others when it comes to the hottest technology right now: artificial intelligence.

The regions around San Francisco, San José and Los Angeles are among the top ranked in the country for AI, according to a report released Wednesday by the Brookings Institution.

The Washington think tank dubbed the San Francisco and San José metropolitan areas “superstars” when it comes to having everything in place to launch big AI businesses. Three out of the top 10 city regions most ready for AI are in California, according to the report. No other state has more than one region in the top 10. Texas had none in Brookings’ top 10. Austin was ranked 11th.

With tech giants such as Google, Meta and Nvidia headquartered in the area and OpenAI securing a record-breaking $40 billion in funding and teaming up with California universities to bring its AI chatbot ChatGPT to campuses this year, it’s no surprise that the Bay Area cities dominate.

“They really are in a class of their own, given the sheer scale, dominant big tech headquarters, massive research labs and venture capital,” said Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the metropolitan policy program at Brookings, who co-wrote the study.

Los Angeles, home to top-tier universities, film studios, defense tech startups, social networks and dating apps, is also a big AI contender. The Los Angeles metro area, which includes Long Beach and Anaheim, is part of the second-highest cluster of AI-ready regions Brookings calls “star hubs,” the report said.

The analysis shows how California metropolitan areas are among the most prepared for AI, technology with the potential to reshape industries as diverse as healthcare and entertainment. The San Diego metro area was also part of a cluster deemed more ready for AI. It was ranked 12th.

Brookings examined venture capital funding, AI job postings, the number of computer science degree holders, patents and other data. The information gathered about 387 metro areas provided insight about whether certain places have more or less AI talent, innovation and adoption.

After analyzing this data, the think tank clustered metro areas into six different groups, indicating which are the most AI-ready. The groups are superstars, star hubs, emerging centers, focused movers, nascent adopters and others. Two metro areas are considered superstars while 28 are star hubs.

The less AI-ready groups lagged behind when it came to major tech employers, computer science graduates, patents, contracts and other factors. Metro areas that included Stockton, Modesto, Visalia and Bakersfield in California were part of the “others” cluster.

Rural counties and small metro areas fell behind when it came to AI talent and innovation, the report said. The number of AI startups and venture capital funding were “virtually nonexistent” in these areas.

AI has the potential to create new jobs, but it could also displace mundane and tedious tasks, reshaping the job market. Making sure that AI doesn’t just put tech workers and other people out of work is one downside more AI-ready metro areas will have to watch out for, Muro said.

Mass layoffs in the tech industry, the release of AI tools that can code and do other tasks, and executive remarks have heightened concerns that companies will shrink their workforce.

Metropolitan areas that included New York, Boston, Washington, Chicago, Atlanta and Seattle were also deemed more AI-ready than other places. Several Texas metropolitan areas that encompass Austin, Dallas, Houston or San Antonio are part of the “star hubs” cluster.

The region around New York was ranked No. 1 for AI readiness for the sheer volume of talent, AI job postings and high-performance computing usage. But researchers also considered other factors such as a region’s density when coming up with clusters and wanted to highlight the Bay Area’s advantage.

The tech industry is growing in Texas, where Austin bears the nickname “Silicon Hills.” Some of the world’s largest tech companies, including Google, Meta and Amazon, have offices in Austin. And some entrepreneurs, including Elon Musk, have moved the headquarters of their companies to Texas in recent years.

The Austin area has a large pool of computer science, engineering and math graduates, but the San Francisco Bay Area still has more AI startups, venture capital deals, patents and U.S. worker profiles with AI skills, data from Brookings show.

The AI economy is massively concentrated on the West Coast, but cities throughout the United States are catching up. The Bay Area, Muro said, will probably remain a central AI hub in the future.

“They will likely not displace the importance of the Bay Area, but they will complement it,” he said.

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AI Research

Artificial intelligence, rising tuition discussed by educational leaders at UMD

Published

3 hours ago

September 6, 2025

Ella Schoeberl

DULUTH, Minn. (Northern News Now) – A panel gathered at UMD’s Weber Music Hall Friday to discuss the future of higher education.

The conversation touched on heavy topics like artificial intelligence, rising tuition costs, and how to provide the best education possible for students.

Almost 100 people listened to conversations on the current climate of college campuses, including UMD Associate Dean of the Swenson College of Engineering and Science Erin Sheets.

“We’re in a unique and challenging time, with respect to the federal landscape and state landscape,” said Sheets.

The three panelists addressed current national changes, including rising tuition costs and budget cuts.

“That is going to be a structural shift we really are going to have to pay attention to, if we want to continue to commit for all students to have the opportunity to attend college,” said panelist and Managing Director of Waverly Foundation Lande Ajose.

Last year alone, the University of Minnesota system was hit with a 3% budget cut on top of a loss of $22 million in federal grants. This resulted in a 6.5% tuition increase for students.

Even with changing resources, the panel emphasized helping students prepare for the future, which they said includes the integration of AI.

“As students graduate, if they are not AI fluent, they are not competitive for jobs,” said panelist and University of Minnesota President Rebecca Cunningham.

Research shows that the use of AI in the workplace has doubled in the last two years to 40%.

While AI continues to grow every day, both students and faculty are learning to use it and integrate it into their curriculum.

“These are tools, they are not a substitute for a human being. You still need the critical thinking, you need the ethical guidelines, even more so,” said Sheets.

Following the panel, UMD hosted a campus-wide celebration to mark the inauguration of Chancellor Charles Nies.

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AI startup CEO who has hired several Meta engineers says: Reason AI researchers are leaving Meta is, as founder Mark Zuckerberg said, “Biggest risk is not taking …”

Published

4 hours ago

September 6, 2025

TOI Tech Desk

Shawn Shen, co-founder and CEO of the AI startup Memories.ai, has stated that some researchers are leaving Facebook-parent Meta due to frequent company reorganisations and a desire to take on bigger risks. Shen, who left Meta himself last year, notes that constant changes in managers and goals can be frustrating for researchers, leading them to seek opportunities at other companies and startups. Shen’s startup, which builds AI to understand visual data, recently announced a plan to offer up to $2 million compensation packages to researchers from top tech companies. Memories.ai has already hired Chi-Hao Wu, a former Meta research scientist, as its chief AI officer. Shen also referenced a statement from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg who earlier said that the “the biggest risk is not taking any risks.”

What startup CEO Shen said about AI researchers leaving Meta

In an interview with Business Insider, Shen said: “Meta is constantly doing reorganizations. Your manager and your goals can change every few months. For some researchers, it can be really frustrating and feel like a waste of time. So yes, I think that’s a driver for people to leave Meta and join other companies, especially startups.There’s other reasons people might leave. I think the biggest one is what Mark (Zuckerberg) has said: ‘In an age that’s evolving so fast, the biggest risk is not taking any risks. So why not do that and potentially change the world as part of a trillion-dollar company?’We have already hired Eddy Wu, our Chief AI Officer who was my manager’s manager at Meta. He’s making a similar amount to what we’re offering the new people. He was on their generative AI team, which is now Meta Superintelligence Labs. And we are already talking to a few other people from MSL and some others from Google DeepMind.”

What Shen said about hiring Meta AI researchers for his startup

Shen noted that he’s offering AI researchers who are leaving Meta pay packages of $2 million to work with his startup. He said: “It’s because of the talent war that was started by Mark Zuckerberg. I used to work at Meta, and I speak with my former colleagues often about this. When I heard about their compensation packages, I was shocked — it’s really in the tens of millions range. But it shows that in this age, AI researchers who make the best models and stand at the frontier of technology are really worth this amount of money. We’re building an AI model that can see and remember just like humans. The things that we are working on are very niche. So we are looking for people who are really, really good at the whole field of understanding video data.”He even explained that his company is prioritising hires who are willing to take more equity than cash, allowing it to preserve its financial runway. These recruits will be treated as founding members rather than employees, with compensation split between cash and equity depending on the individual, Shen added.Over the next six months, the AI startup is planning to add three to five people, followed by another five to ten within a year, alongside efforts to raise additional funding. Shen believes that investing heavily in talent will strengthen, not hinder, future fundraising.

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AARP warns of “Grandparent Scams”

Published

5 hours ago

September 6, 2025

Emma Ellis

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – While artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming our world, a troubling trend shows scammers using it to steal from seniors, specifically grandparents.

You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘seeing is believing’ your whole life. But in an age of artificial intelligence, the turn of phrase doesn’t exactly stand the test of time. When it’s in the wrong hands, this new technology can make our senior citizens, who didn’t grow up in the digital age, a vulnerable population.

“One of the ways we see that being done is with what’s known as the grandparent scam,” Jamie Harding, AARP of Alabama Communications director, said. “The grandparent scam is basically, it usually happens late at night, they’re asleep, and someone calls them purporting to be their grandchild, they’re in trouble, they need money immediately.”

However, it isn’t actually their grandchild on the other end of the phone. Scammers have used AI technology to replicate the sound of their grandchild’s voice to try to take money.

“These are very sophisticated international crime rings, and they have access to a lot of very sophisticated technology,” Harding said.

To protect your family from these scams, Harding suggests having a code word that every member of your family knows so you can be sure it’s actually your loved one calling.

She also advises you not to answer phone calls from unknown numbers and to keep your personal information off the internet.

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