Hochul’s Proposed $250 Million AI Consortium Faces Scrutiny

New York lawmakers are raising concerns about Gov. Kathy Hochul’s bid to allocate $250 million in the state budget to create a hub for artificial intelligence research despite the lack of an official plan.

The Democratic governor in her Jan. 9 State of the State address floated a challenge to California leadership in developing the technology by creating a partnership with universities and private philanthropies. She then included $250 million for the AI project in the $233 billion draft state budget a week later, but it didn’t include extensive details of the proposal.

The purpose of the consortium, according to ...