Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Another event happening downtown is the Primary Venture Partner's annual
Speaker 2: New York City Summit, and this year, Bloomberg Tech co
Speaker 2: host Caroline Hyde is there and she is sitting down
Speaker 2: right now with the New York Governor, Kathy Hulkl. Caroline,
Speaker 2: I'll hand it over to.
Speaker 3: You, Scarlet.
Speaker 1: Thank you, and I can't think of a better person
Speaker 1: to be sitting down with about how AI is embraced
Speaker 1: by this state, by this city. Governor Hokel, thank you
Speaker 1: for being with us today. And I think of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four when you first announce empower AI, when you
Speaker 1: think about being at the forefront of transformational change that
Speaker 1: AI is going to bring, what is your answer for
Speaker 1: what New York's competitive edge is.
Speaker 4: This has taken us to a whole new level. This
Speaker 4: was important me. I'm a New Yorker, I'm compedive, I
Speaker 4: want to be number one. And so we saw the
Speaker 4: great potential from friends that I'd have in the industry.
Speaker 4: Tom Secunda and others brought an idea to me that
Speaker 4: we could have this incredible first of the nation partnership
Speaker 4: between academia, state government, and the private sector. So literally
Speaker 4: the idea was talked about over breakfast in October. I
Speaker 4: had in my state of the state three months later
Speaker 4: and was able to secure four hundred million dollars from
Speaker 4: the legislature. We had to persuade them that this was
Speaker 4: in the public interest, and I will tell you we
Speaker 4: now had another ninety million or over almost five hundred
Speaker 4: million dollars invested and has exceeded all expectations.
Speaker 3: And so it is.
Speaker 4: I put together an Emerging Technologies task Force that is
Speaker 4: co chaired by the CEO of IBM as well as
Speaker 4: the CEO of Girls Who Code, because I want to
Speaker 4: make sure that we're diversifying the workforce. I want to
Speaker 4: see more women. I want to seek of color, and
Speaker 4: that's why New York is such an attractive place all
Speaker 4: across the world. But in our AI space, I wanted
Speaker 4: Bill used to be the researchers, the thinkers, the innovators
Speaker 4: of solving some of the society's greatest problems. So I
Speaker 4: literally spent a day on this weekend up in Buffalo,
Speaker 4: my home, saw what they're doing there, and part that
Speaker 4: made me so proud was that we're about to announce
Speaker 4: in a few months our AI Beta, which is eleven
Speaker 4: times more powerful than what I already have now with
Speaker 4: our alpha we just we just launched, so we're already
Speaker 4: going to next level opportunities in a very short time.
Speaker 4: But they're also bringing in more people to our states,
Speaker 4: and this was important, more of the brilliant people the
Speaker 4: professors were attracting from other universities. They have so many
Speaker 4: students who want to become part of this, not just
Speaker 4: you be because this is for all of our universities
Speaker 4: across the state. They all want a piece of this
Speaker 4: because they can do their research and their PhD work
Speaker 4: with power that no other student in the country will have.
Speaker 1: About talent there, and you have lent in particular to
Speaker 1: the labor.
Speaker 3: That's needed, energies needed.
Speaker 1: How do we have to embrace fossil fuels and nuclear
Speaker 1: if we're going to have the resources for them.
Speaker 4: I have in all the above approach. But first of all,
Speaker 4: one of the reasons EMPIREI is housed up with the
Speaker 4: University of Buffalo is that I have enormous amount of
Speaker 4: supply of hydro electric power from the Niagara plant there
Speaker 4: that powers about twenty five percent of our energy. Another
Speaker 4: twenty five percent of our upstate energy is nuclear already.
Speaker 4: I want to add more nuclear. I'll be the first
Speaker 4: governor in a generation, and a very rare Democratic governor
Speaker 4: who says, I can't assume that we're going to have
Speaker 4: the power available now. I need sustainability, reliability, and affordability,
Speaker 4: and I'm going to do that. And we're also looking
Speaker 4: at you know, natural gas and other areas. But we
Speaker 4: have wind and solar.
Speaker 3: You vote for wind, I say winding, Yeah, say win.
Speaker 3: What did you say to President Trump's keep wind?
Speaker 4: I said that you have fifteen hundred people who just
Speaker 4: lost their jobs when you shut it down. This will
Speaker 4: power five hundred thousand homes of the clean energy in Brooklyn.
Speaker 4: But back to those those people who lost their jobs,
Speaker 4: mister president, a lot of them are from Long Island.
Speaker 4: I think a lot of them voted for you. So
Speaker 4: why don't you tell them that we'll lift the stop
Speaker 4: work order, stop this poor company from heriaging fifty million
Speaker 4: dollars a week, get them back going again, and we
Speaker 4: are successful. But I also said I'm looking at all
Speaker 4: the above approach to energy. So work with me, find
Speaker 4: a faster way to get me nuclear too, mister president.
Speaker 4: Because seven of the ten years that it takes to
Speaker 4: get nuclear approvals is at the federal government level. He said,
Speaker 4: I'll look at my streamline processes, you streamline yours, and
Speaker 4: let's get this done sooner.
Speaker 1: What's interesting is you're putting people first, and you've been
Speaker 1: very vocal about the safety element of AI.
Speaker 3: I want to go back to what's on your desk
Speaker 3: at the moment the RAYS Act? Are you going to
Speaker 3: sign it off?
Speaker 1: Because this is about protecting foundational models and ensuring that
Speaker 1: they're secure and their security.
Speaker 4: Right right, it's I'm looking at I have to be honest.
Speaker 4: Our policy is and when there's a bill on my desk,
Speaker 4: we don't talk about it until I'm ready to sign.
Speaker 4: I have over nine hundred bills or on my desk.
Speaker 4: They have to be signed by the or vetoed by
Speaker 4: the end of the year. So it's obviously we're looking
Speaker 4: at dead seriously. But we have been leaders in protecting
Speaker 4: our shouldn't in particular from AI chatbots and making sure
Speaker 4: that when someone starts to talking about suicidal thoughts that
Speaker 4: the platform will provide them resources and support, and just
Speaker 4: trying to find different ways because this is the whole
Speaker 4: new front here, right It's hard to know what the
Speaker 4: challenges and the problems are going to be when.
Speaker 3: You're just starting out.
Speaker 4: But we have to be that forward thinking. I have
Speaker 4: to protect New Yorkers as well as our businesses. But
Speaker 4: let the tech industry know this is the place you
Speaker 4: want to be. We're innovative, we're smart, we have the talent,
Speaker 4: and I'll make sure we break down barriers to your success.
Speaker 1: Is they're a worry from those foundational LLM creators, the
Speaker 1: likes of open AI.
Speaker 3: About that regulation, well.
Speaker 4: I think people prefer I have a federal regulation. I mean,
Speaker 4: think about the responsibly of the federal government. I mean,
Speaker 4: these companies don't know boundaries. I mean they're all over
Speaker 4: the plannet, so it's hard when one state has a
Speaker 4: set of rules, another state does another state. I don't
Speaker 4: think that's a model for or inspiring innovation. But a
Speaker 4: lot of companies should be adopting these internal controls themselves.
Speaker 4: That's always one step they can take to assure people
Speaker 4: in government that they've done what is necessary. But in
Speaker 4: the absence of that, Doteral Garnment needs to be looking
Speaker 4: at these policies as well.
Speaker 1: These startups, these foundational and M model creators and big
Speaker 1: business also really care not just about regulation but about taxation.
Speaker 1: And with the new bill coming from President Trump, there
Speaker 1: might be.
Speaker 3: A hole coming here the next year or so.
Speaker 1: How are you thinking about that landscape for the people
Speaker 1: we want to come.
Speaker 3: Here and build AI for the empire? Right right?
Speaker 4: I am very sensitive to competitiveness with other states. I've
Speaker 4: said I don't want to raise income taxes on high
Speaker 4: net worth people. I want them to know that New
Speaker 4: York is a place where we want to foster innovation.
Speaker 4: Be open to your success, because your success means you're
Speaker 4: hiring more people, you're putting more human wor up, and
Speaker 4: to the extent that you're willing to seek out future
Speaker 4: employees in some of the neighborhoods that have been underserved,
Speaker 4: Like this is what Micron is doing as part of
Speaker 4: our deal to get the largest semiconductor of manufacturing facility
Speaker 4: investment in American history and one of great realu is
Speaker 4: right out of Syracuse. I landed that my early days
Speaker 4: as governor. I said, I'm not losing this one. But
Speaker 4: part of it is they have to have a green
Speaker 4: energy policy, sustainability, and they're also looking for talent and
Speaker 4: changing curriculums in the schools around Syracuse, some of the
Speaker 4: neighborhoods that your kids would never have a chance to
Speaker 4: have these jobs and Micron because there are a lot
Speaker 4: of strong sense of social responsibility, they're partnering with us
Speaker 4: to help that. So companies that show that kind of
Speaker 4: enlightenment to me will open a lot of doors for them.
Speaker 4: You take care of my people will take care of you.
Speaker 3: And you're thinking about that from a whole state perspective.
Speaker 1: But some of the founders and CEOs I speak to
Speaker 1: you here in the city, Well, they're worried about the
Speaker 1: next leader of the city. They're thinking about the mayoral candidate.
Speaker 1: They're thinking about Mabdaney in particular, and he's we've got
Speaker 1: high tax ideas. How are you convincing them to stay
Speaker 1: here in the state.
Speaker 4: Well, they need to know. One thing is that the
Speaker 4: City of New York, as powerful and mighty as it is,
Speaker 4: it's still a subdivision of the state. So any tax
Speaker 4: increase has to come across my desk first. So I
Speaker 4: will work with whoever the mayor is as long as
Speaker 4: they want to help foster my policies, which is pro growth,
Speaker 4: pro business, and if it's Mandami. I will work closely
Speaker 4: with him to help him understand that when we want
Speaker 4: to solve society's problems, and there are many, that we
Speaker 4: also have the resources to do it. And so that
Speaker 4: means letting people know that we appreciate you being here.
Speaker 4: You're building companies, you're creating wealth, you're hiring people, you're
Speaker 4: supporting our cultures and our philanthreyes, and that we welcome
Speaker 4: you to be here and know that this is your home.
Speaker 4: So I'll continue on that effort, but we do have
Speaker 4: a lot of challenges on affordability. I think he hit
Speaker 4: a nerve. He hit a real nerve, which is why
Speaker 4: people want at this point in the polls are showing
Speaker 4: an inclination towards supporting him. Is because he's talked about
Speaker 4: what I've been talking about for a long time, is
Speaker 4: that people feel like they're just not getting ahead.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, a sensitive question.
Speaker 1: And I know you say time and time again you
Speaker 1: don't want to influence the vote, but would you lend
Speaker 1: him your endorsements?
Speaker 4: I'm having conversations about all kinds of because there are
Speaker 4: a lot of very strong philosophical differences. I am a
Speaker 4: staunch capitalist and so I need to know that people
Speaker 4: can have a certain philosophy, but you got to govern
Speaker 4: in reality. And the reality is that this is the
Speaker 4: financial center of the world. We want to make sure
Speaker 4: that this is known as the tech center of the world,
Speaker 4: the innovation capital, and I want to make sure we
Speaker 4: inspire people to come here. Where I do have fear
Speaker 4: is that the policy is out of Washington with Donald Trump.
Speaker 4: He's going to stimy that because forty seven percent of
Speaker 4: new startups in the tech space are founded by people
Speaker 4: who are foreign born. So if those students stop coming
Speaker 4: to our universe cities and we stop attracting people who
Speaker 4: are the most brilliant in the world, they don't feel
Speaker 4: that there's an open door for them to be here
Speaker 4: in the state of New York. Well, they're welcome here,
Speaker 4: but not in our country, and there's barriers to that.
Speaker 4: That's something we have to overcome, and I'm really fearful
Speaker 4: about that long term effect of that on our ability
Speaker 4: to remain competitive with the rest of the world. When
Speaker 4: these people are being recruited, people who are already here
Speaker 4: to go to other countries upon graduation or not come
Speaker 4: here in the first place, how do we overcome that
Speaker 4: and that's what troubles me greatly.
Speaker 1: Very briefly, a way you could drive revenue casinos, would
Speaker 1: you have one hand in Manhattan.
Speaker 4: I am not allowed to have my thumb on the scale,
Speaker 4: and that the way it's set up, there's all sorts
Speaker 4: of prohibitions, but it will drive money. I think it's
Speaker 4: going to be a real boost for tourism as well
Speaker 4: in the right place. So there'll be three of them,
Speaker 4: and so I'm looking forward very much to welcoming those dollars.
Speaker 1: It's about tourism, it's about talent, it's about MPII.
Speaker 3: It's been wonderful having you.
Speaker 4: Thank you very much. I appreciate that.
Speaker 3: Govna Hookel. Back to you, Scarlett in the studio.
Speaker 2: All right, thank you so much. Bloomber Tech co anchored
Speaker 2: Caroline Hi for that conversation with the New York Governor
Speaker 2: Kathy Hokel.