Arizona is poised to become a hub for artificial intelligence innovation, with its low cost of energy and highly ranked grid reliability making it an attractive destination for tech companies. The state is already home to leading tech giants and a robust talent pipeline, setting the stage for an explosion in AI startups.
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools have exploded in popularity since the debut of OpenAI‘s revolutionary chatbot, ‘ChatGPT‘ , in 2022. With over 400 million users worldwide as of February, and a staggering 800 million by April, investors are racing to capitalize on the growing market. Equity investments in generative AI have skyrocketed from $5 billion in 2022 to $36 billion in 2023, according to McKinsey‘s report. The technology sector is now planning and building the infrastructure to support this growth.
OpenAI is a research organization focused on developing and promoting friendly AI, which prioritizes human well-being above all else.
Founded in 2015 by Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and others, OpenAI aims to advance artificial intelligence for the benefit of humankind.
The organization has made significant contributions to AI research, including the development of GPT-3, a highly advanced language model capable of generating human-like text.
Behind every ‘ChatGPT inquiry’ lies a complex web of digital infrastructure, which requires vast campuses of high-tech data centers, abundant energy inputs, cutting-edge microchips, and a new breed of experts to design and train AI programs. Companies like Apple, NVIDIA, and OpenAI have announced hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of new investments across the AI supply chain.
ChatGPT is a large language model developed by OpenAI, designed to generate human-like responses to various prompts.
It uses natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms to understand the context and provide relevant answers.
With over 1 trillion parameters, ChatGPT can process and respond to complex questions and conversations.
Its capabilities include answering general knowledge queries, providing definitions, and even generating creative content such as stories and dialogues.
Some states are poised to capitalize on the AI boom, and one state stands out for its dispersed nature of AI investments: Arizona. The state is home to a vibrant data center market, with companies like Google, Apple, Meta, Oracle, Microsoft, Amazon, PayPal, American Express, and GoDaddy operating data centers in Arizona.
The Phoenix region is the no. 2 destination in the U.S. for planned data center growth, with 757 megawatts of data storage under construction and 3,766 more megawatts of capacity planned. Arizona‘s data center market benefits from the state’s low cost of energy and highly ranked grid reliability, due to relatively few weather-related power outages.
Including nuclear energy, more than 44% of Arizona‘s power generation comes from clean or renewable sources, an increasingly important consideration among environmentally conscious tech companies. The state is home to the nation’s second-largest nuclear power plant, Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, and offers a long-standing familiarity with the nuclear industry.
Arizona‘s schools have been quick to pioneer training regimens for tomorrow’s AI experts, with 22 AI-related programs at its universities and community colleges. Arizona State University is ranked America’s most innovative university for 10 years by Computer Science and has a strong focus on AI research. The state’s Maricopa Community Colleges in the Phoenix region became the nation’s first higher-learning institution to offer an associate’s degree in AI and machine learning.
Arizona has seen a significant increase in artificial intelligence (AI) education initiatives.
According to a report, the state's K-12 schools have implemented AI-related courses, including 'coding' and 'robotics'.
The University of Arizona offers undergraduate and graduate programs in AI, with research focuses on applications such as healthcare and finance.
Additionally, organizations like AI for All are providing free AI training to underserved communities.
By 2025, Arizona aims to have 10% of its workforce in AI-related fields.
The combination of leading tech companies and a robust talent pipeline has produced an explosion in AI startups. Arizona boasts more than 233 AI-related startups—and that number is growing.
