AI in NYC
NYC: The Applied AI Capital of the World
New York City is a clear leader when it comes to the opportunities and applications for Artificial Intelligence (AI). With the largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies and second-largest concentration of AI companies in the nation, NYC exceeds San Francisco in number of AI-related job postings and is ranked number one for AI job roles.
The growth of AI in NYC is following the same trajectory as the early days of the tech boom, driving innovation throughout the incredible diversity of large industries that call NYC home—from Media to Finance, from Legal to Healthcare, and everything in between. The opportunities for Applied AI across NYC’s industries are undeniable.
AI by the Numbers
By The Numbers
40K
Workers in the NYC region with AI and AI-adjacent skills
By The Numbers
$21.4B
VC funding to NYC AI companies from 2018-2022, up from $3.8B in the previous 5 years
By The Numbers
11.3%
NYC’s share of nationwide VC funding to AI companies from 2018-2022, up from 7.7% in the previous 5 years
By The Numbers
$21.4B
VC funding to NYC AI companies from 2018-2022, up from $3.8B in the previous 5 years
By The Numbers
40K
Workers in the NYC region with AI and AI-adjacent skills
By The Numbers
11.3%
NYC’s share of nationwide VC funding to AI companies from 2018-2022, up from 7.7% in the previous 5 years
AI’s Home in NYC
Academia + Research
Established in 2012 with support from NYCEDC, the Data Science Institute at Columbia University has been advancing state-of-the-art data science and the responsible use of data to benefit society. Over 1,250 students have graduated with an MS in Data Science from the program with a 95 percent job or internship placement rate within three months of graduation. In May 2024, NYU announced the Global AI Frontier Lab in partnership with the Republic of Korea and KAIST to establish a major AI research center. NYU has also been home to the Center for Responsible AI since 2020 focused on accelerating responsible AI practices.
By the Numbers
400M
public-private investment in Empire AI to make NY the national leader in AI research
Announced in January 2024 and commencing research in fall 2024, Empire AI is a first-in-the-nation consortium to advance AI research for the public good. This $400 million public-private initiative will make New York a national artificial intelligence leader through the creation of a groundbreaking computational facility, where university researchers from CUNY, SUNY, NYU, Columbia, Cornell Tech, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute can collaborate—bringing together AI researchers, scientists, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and others to allow for greater efficiencies of scale through shared compute power.
By the Numbers
360K
people employed in the NYC tech ecosystem
Community
On the ecosystem front, Data Driven NYC, founded in 2011 and run by FirstMark Capital, is the world’s largest Big Data & AI community at over 20,000 members strong. Additionally, having completed its eighth year, the AI Summit has served as a hub for both the industry and practitioners showcasing tech leaders and the application of AI for commercialization use cases.
What I love about New York is that you have people from all over the world working on all aspects of AI in a very dense area. It's a common occurrence to go to an event and meet folks from academia, from pretraining startups, from bigger technical companies, and from art, journalism, and media. You get a sense of everyone's challenges and interests just from natural conversation in the environment itself.
Government
NYC is a place where AI can also be put to work. The City of New York issued the first-of-its-kind AI Action Plan in October 2023. Released by the NYC Office of Technology and Innovation (NYC OTI), this plan creates a blueprint for responsible AI use and identifies the opportunity for AI to improve services and processes across government. In the first year of the AI Action Plan being released, NYC OTI initiated and/or completed 30 of the plan’s proposed actions, and laid out the steps they will take in the second year to initiate and/or complete the remaining actions.
New York City staked its claim among global leaders on artificial intelligence governance with the release of its landmark AI Action Plan. As we continue to implement the plan, the knowledge and experiences of city government and industry experts will play an integral role in sharpening our thinking and efforts.
By the Numbers
2000
AI companies in NYC
Tech in NYC
Over the last decade, a revolution in NYC’s tech sector has turned the city into the number two tech ecosystem in the world. Tech companies want to be in NYC for the access to diverse and highly educated talent, to capital, and to consumers and customers.
The depth and diversity of talent and experiences that NYC offers is unparalleled. You're only ever a few subway stops away from industry-defining companies and the people behind them. The short feedback loop that NYC offers AI companies looking to move the world forward, is invaluable for rapid iteration.
A Tech Revolution
By The Numbers
467K
NYC residents with STEM degrees (87K AI-relevant degrees issued 2018-2023)
By The Numbers
32%
NYC tech employment growth, 2018-2023 (vs 3% overall employment growth)
By The Numbers
$200B
VC capital raised by NYC startups since 2011, as much as London, Singapore, and Hong Kong combined
By The Numbers
32%
NYC tech employment growth, 2018-2023 (vs 3% overall employment growth)
By The Numbers
467K
NYC residents with STEM degrees (87K AI-relevant degrees issued 2018-2023)
By The Numbers
$200B
VC capital raised by NYC startups since 2011, as much as London, Singapore, and Hong Kong combined
NYC AI in the News
NYC AI Meetups and Conferences
NYC AI Nonprofits
NYC AI Programs
NYCEDC is leading the way and building a strategy to foster the AI ecosystem in NYC. Want to get involved?