By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
Last week, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell announced the opening of AI House, a first-in-the-nation AI hub, focused on entrepreneurs, startups, investors, and community leaders building the next generation of AI technology in Seattle. Located at the historic Pier 70 on the Seattle Waterfront, this new space, established in partnership with AI2 Incubator, and Ada Developers Academy, will serve as an “AI Town Hall,” offering co-working space, event venues, and collaborative tools to support local the growth and development of local AI-focused companies.
“In all seriousness, Seattle is where ideas come from,” said Harrell. “Our region is nationally respected for our ability to think and be innovative. We look at some of the tech giants that we are known for, Microsoft, Expedia, Amazon, and more than 13,000 other tech firms across the region that this AI house will play a pivotal key role in attracting, growing, and retaining top-notch AI talent.”
Through a $210,000 investment from City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development (OED) to support programmatic needs and $400,000 from the Washington Department of Commerce for real estate, this public private partnership moved from concept to reality, as a space that will allow AI entrepreneurs to collaborate and accelerate their innovations.
Seattle’s AI House aims to foster not only technological advancements but also inclusive workforce development. A key partner in this effort is the Ada Developers Academy, which trains women and gender-expansive adults for careers in software development, with a particular focus on people of color and underrepresented communities in tech.
“In our 10 to 11-month tuition-free training program that includes a collaborative learning environment with individual support and applied learning through internships, we have trained over 1300 software developers, most of them being from historically excluded communities,” said Tina-Marie Gulley, CEO of Ada Developers Academy. “Our goal is simple, to dismantle barriers to opportunity through workforce development programs, and now as AI reshapes industries, economies, and the daily life, our mission has never been more urgent.”
“Through this collaboration, we are creating unique programming together, providing over 300 plus students and alumni with clear pathways,” added Gulley. “We typically see a graduation rate of over 90%, with an average salary of over $100,000 which is about 203% higher than their salaries before entering the program,” Gulley continued.
Another key player in the AI House ecosystem is the AI2 Incubator, which supports AI-first startups. Each year, AI2 Incubator brings together world-class engineers and successful entrepreneurs to create new opportunities together and help founders come up with ideas, validate their vision, incorporate the latest AI techniques into their technology, and much more. Currently, 15 AI startups are based at AI House, all of which have received investment from the incubator.
“We continue to graduate 7 to 10 companies per year, and once renovation is complete, we will have 1000 desks for rent to AI startups,” said Yifan Zhang, Managing Director of AI2 Incubator. “The benefit of working daily alongside other active AI builders is clear, and we hope that many more AI founders will come and join us.”
“Seattle has one of the highest concentrations of AI jobs per capita in the world, but talent alone is not enough,” added Zhang. “We need to do more to build a culture of gathering in person without expecting immediate return.”
Many may question what exactly will come out of the AI house? Harrell said that the AI House will help Seattle redefine ourselves by working on projects that touch on some of the challenges that our city faces.
Harrell believes that the hub, which is already showing great promise, will spur innovations that will continue to transform society.
“When we look at what we are trying to do here in this particular space, we are trying to bring the best minds together and put Seattle on the map in terms of the AI space,” said Harrell. “In this building right now, there are founders working on projects that will literally save lives through better healthcare monitoring, reducing false alarm burnout, and ICU nurses.”
“One founder is working on detecting and reducing retail theft in corner stores, keeping us safer and helping small businesses reduce loss of work. Now, how critical is that? Incredibly important,” continued Harrell. “Another is making it easier to buy a home by working a mortgage underwriting tool that helps lenders close on homes quicker and reduce the cost of the loan to the home buyer. This kind of synergy, these kinds of ideas, and what we are doing is quite frankly what it is all about.”
Gulley believes that this collaboration is a testament to the shared belief that AI, when shaped by diverse voices, can transform the world for the better.
“[AI] can diagnose diseases, combat climate change, and reimagine education,” said Gulley. “But let’s be clear: AI is not a mutual force. Its impact will disproportionately affect women, people of color, and other marginalized communities. Studies have shown that AI perpetuates hiring healthcare and criminal justice biases, and without intervention, AI can deeply have inadequate displacement of workers while also concentrating power at the hands of very few.”
Given the concern of AI potential to negatively impact underserved communities, this collaborative partnership will not only play a crucial role in strengthening Seattle’s workforce, but as technology continues to shape our world the partnership will be essential to consider how we prepare the next generation for the challenges and opportunities that come with it. “Programs like ours aren’t just about training coders. It is about building architects and equity by embedding AI literacy into our curriculum. We prepare our students to use AI tools and to ask those questions of who is being benefited in represented data,” says Gulley. “It is about, how do we design programs and systems that repair rather than replicate injustices?”
Harrell, who was the only mayor during the Biden administration to serve on the Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board, says that the new AI house will boy only spur innovation, but will provide a blue print on how cities across the country invest and support AI in a responsible way.
“When you are here in this AI house, I think that is what is going to happen. You will see different needs and opportunities; you will act responsibly, and that is when the magic will happen,” Harrell said. “I am excited for this work, and I can’t wait to continue our partnership.”
“We are positioning Seattle as the leader in AI innovation. This technology has the power to dramatically change our world, and we want Seattle to be at the forefront of shaping it to help solve some of our most complex and vexing challenges,” said Markham McIntyre, Director of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development.“AI House will be Seattle’s nexus of our innovative ideas, talented people, and business acumen. It’s an incredible partnership effort to expand access to economic opportunities in the AI field.”