New York expands ‘AI for good’ research consortium

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday announced that a state project designed to advance the research of AI technologies that further the public good has received $165 million in new funding and gained three new university participants.

The state’s Empire AI consortium received $90 million in new funding in the governor’s fiscal year 2026 budget, along with $25 million from the State University of New York System

and $50 in matching funds from its new members: the University of Rochester, the Rochester Institute of Technology and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The funds add to the more than $400 million in funding contributed by the state and other consortium members, announced last October.

Hochul said the new funding will allow the state to “substantially increase” the power of the Empire AI supercomputer housed at the University at Buffalo, and increase researcher access. The project aims to advance “responsible AI innovation,” according to its website, by supporting work on domains such as climate change, drug discovery, education, food insecurity, cybersecurity threats and health care diagnostics.

“The United States is in a race with China and the rest of the world in the global AI revolution, and with our first-in-the-nation Empire AI Consortium, New York is leading the way in research and innovation,” Hochul said in a press release last Friday. “With Empire AI, we are setting the standard for harnessing the power of AI for the public good and ultimately creating a better future for New Yorkers.”

According to the governor’s office, the project is driving “groundbreaking” research, including the development of new AI models that can analyze CT scans to help physicians diagnose lung cancer and technologies that could provide adaptive speech and language therapies to children.

Of the project’s participants — which also include SUNY, City University of New York, Columbia University, Cornell University, New York University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Flatiron Institute — the University of Rochester is the only integrated health system. According to a university press release, it includes eight hospitals, such as the University of Rochester Medical Center, which is researching how to use AI to support clinical operations.