No-one knows how AI will impact our communities, workplaces and society at large. It’s difficult to predict how AI will affect jobs. Many workers and local governments are left to read tea leaves in order to understand and adapt.
The new The Brookings Institution released an interactive report today to map the embeddedness of AI companies and jobs in different regions in the United States. This will allow policymakers to prescribe solutions to those who are struggling to keep pace.
AI advocates believe that AI will transform the work in all industries, including tech hubs such as San Francisco and Boston. The report uses a variety of proxy measures for what researchers call “AI ready” to show how unevenly the transformation is occurring. Here are four charts that will help you understand the importance of this.
1. AI development is still heavily concentrated in tech hubs.
Brookings divides US Cities into five categories, based on their readiness to adopt AI-related industries. It looked at the local talent pool, innovations in local institutions and adoption potential by local companies.
The AI Superstars above are, as expected, parts of the San Francisco Bay Area. They are such outliers, that they have their own category. The “Star AI Hubs” include large metropolitan areas that are known for their tech work. These include Boston, Seattle, and Miami.
2. The concentration of workers and startups are also highly centralized.
Data shows that most people who work with AI and start-ups focused on AI cluster in the tech hubs listed above. The report found that nearly two-thirds (or 67%) of workers who advertise their AI skills are located in these hubs, and more than 75% of AI startups are founded there. Another significant share of the pie is taken up by the so-called “Star AI Hubs” from New York City, Seattle, Columbus, Ohio and Boulder, Colorado.
There’s no doubt that the majority of AI developments are concentrated in large cities. This pattern can continue to repeat itself. The report states that “AI activity has spread across most regional economies in the country”highlighting the importance of policy that encourages AI growth without sacrificing other parts of the country.
3. Emerging AI centers show promise, but they are lacking in some way.
Brookings claims that beyond the obvious tech-hubs, there are 14 regions which show promise for AI development and worker involvement with AI. These include cities that surround academic institutions such as the University of Wisconsin, Madison, or Texas A&M University, College Station, as well regional cultural centers such Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Nashville. Brookings says that these cities are lacking in one way or another, which limits their growth. Take Columbia, South Carolina as an example. The report states that despite a large regional population of 860,000 people, and the University of South Carolina located right there, this area has struggled to develop talent. Few students graduate with degrees in science and engineering, and few have AI skills listed on their job profiles.
On one hand, the Tampa metropolitan area struggles to innovate, in part due to the low productivity of the local universities. The majority of regions Brookings studied struggle with adoption. This is measured in the report primarily by company engagement with AI related tools such as enterprise data and cloud service.
4. Emerging Centers tend to focus on either government or industry contracts, but not both. Funders are taking notice of these promising emerging centers. The report uses federal contracts for AI development and research, as well as venture funding deals to measure innovation and adoption.
When you look at how these emerging centers are collecting data, it appears that they are specializing in federal research centers, such as Huntsville, Alabama, and places for VC firms scouts, such as the Sacramento area in California.
While VC interests can lead to more VCs, and the same is true for government, it may be a good indication of where there is room for growth. Mark Muro, an author of the report, says that “university presence has a huge influence on success in this area.” Fostering the relationship between industry and academia could be the key to improving the local AI eco-system.
