Gov. Kathy Hochul, Empire AI servers and a digital lock for cyber security.

Empire AI Projects at UB Showcase Our Commitment to Realizing AI for Good

Responsible AI Innovation

University at Buffalo Consortium member

Launched in April 2024 by Governor Kathy Hochul, Empire AI is a bold partnership of New York’s leading public and private universities coming together to establish a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence computing center, housed at SUNY’s University at Buffalo. Empire AI is already facilitating statewide innovation, research, and development of AI technologies.

Learn more about NYS initiative

Explore Empire AI Projects at UB

All AI and Business AI in Education AI in Environment AI in Health and Medicine
AI data interlaced with vegetable crops for sustainable farming.

AI for Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Solutions

Harnessing vision‑language technology to tackle agricultural and environmental challenges

This project is developing a large vision-language model (LMM) tailored for the agriculture and climate sectors. Existing multimodal AI tools can converse across many topics, but they often miss domain-specific details in emerging, specialized areas. By training the model to recognize nuanced agro-climatic concepts and link visual data with complex climate and farming questions, the research aims to create a digital assistant that supports decision-making in sustainable food production and climate resilience.

The supercomputing center of Empire AI, located at UB, will provide academic researchers in New York State with unprecedented computing power. Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki.

Empire AI

UB researchers are tapping the incredible power of Empire AI.

The $500 million statewide consortium — which Gov. Kathy Hochul announced last year, including its supercomputing center located at UB, a SUNY flagship with decades of leadership in AI and data science — aims to harness AI for the betterment of society and drive innovation in New York State.

Empire AI News Highlights

Empire AI logo with computer servers in the background.

PRESS RELEASE: Empire AI & University at Buffalo Partnering to Decarbonize North Campus

03/05/26

"Empire AI was designed from the start to prove that world-class computing power and climate leadership can go hand in hand,” said Kiran Keshav as Director of Research Computing for Empire AI. “By turning the heat from advanced AI research into a clean energy resource for the campus, we are using the same electrons twice – once to drive scientific discovery, and again to keep buildings warm. It is a powerful example of how shared infrastructure can deliver both scientific and environmental benefits for New York State."

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WIVB4 screenshot interview with UB researcher Thomas Grant.

WIVB4 | Buffalo Brief: Empire AI/Thomas Grant, PhD.

03/05/26

UB researcher Thomas Grant featured for creating AI tools to speed up drug development.

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  • Harnessing AI for the public good
    3/24/25

    With Empire AI, UB is helping people with ALS, improving medical imaging, boosting mental health resources and much more.

  • Empire AI comes online
    10/14/24

    The consortium’s initial computing power will be housed on the Downtown Campus while a permanent home is built on North Campus.

  • Scouting sites for Empire AI data center
    7/31/24

    Members of the Empire AI consortium joined UB leaders to tour possible sites on the North Campus for the consortium’s new supercomputing center.

  • Elected officials, UB leadership gather to tout Empire AI
    3/25/24

    The proposed statewide consortium aims to put New York State at the forefront of responsible artificial intelligence innovation.

  • Hochul names UB home for Empire AI consortium
    1/26/24

    The designation includes construction of a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence computing center at the university.

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