Leaders say Pittsburgh can be "East Coast Silicon Valley" for AI
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Artificial Intelligence is changing life as we know it, and it may be the key to the future of the Pittsburgh region.
On Monday, hundreds of tech leaders from around the country descended on Pittsburgh's Bakery Square as organizers tried to unleash the potential of AI to transform the region's economy.
"AI is going to be the future. It always will be," Anthony Todora of Carnegie Robotics said. "Pittsburgh is going to be your East Coast Silicon Valley."
Monday's first-of-its-kind Pittsburgh summit brought together hundreds of AI leaders from around the country, linking upstart companies with computer scientists and roboticists from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh.
"We're trying to make sure people know that you can build companies here in Pittsburgh. You don't have to go to San Francisco or Boston or New York," Hellbender CEO Brian Breyer said.
Companies like Hellbender, which makes devices like AI-enabled smart cameras that can scan people in a room and generate real-time data on each. It's looking to double in the next year making those products here.
"Bring manufacturing and industry, not just software jobs, here into Bakery Square," Breyer said.
Organizer Walnut Captial believes the region's technological base, workforce and energy resources can provide the workers and the enormous power AI requires — the key ingredients to transform the regional economy.
"For folks in Beaver County and Washington County and Butler County, they're going to be every bit as involved as people here in Bakery Square," Rich Fitzgerald of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission said.
"I don't think it is possible to quantify the potential," Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said. "It is extraordinary."
Pittsburgh lost out of computer chip manufacturing to Ohio and New York, but Governor Shapiro says that will change.
"We didn't have an economic development strategy before I took over as governor," he said. "Now, we have one for the first time in 20 years. One of the five pillars of opportunity is around AI and robotics."
Organizers say the sky is the limit, but it won't happen by itself. Startups say they need government help and incentives to transform the economy.