The San Francisco Bay Area has dominated the tech industry for decades, from the early days of personal computers to the social media boom.
Now New research from the Brookings Institution The rise of generative artificial intelligence, fueled by the popularity of ChatGPT chatbots, suggests that the Bay Area’s dominance over tech could be further consolidated.
A report released Thursday by a Washington think tank said generative AI could expand the “winner-dominated” region of jobs. And so far the winners are San Francisco and San Jose, CA.
It may not come as a surprise, but Brookings’ report may help dispel the notion that smaller tech hubs like Austin, Texas and Miami will be home to the next generation of tech giants. Rather, it suggests that the Bay Area’s dominance of the tech industry could grow even stronger.
Brookings researchers found that a quarter of nearly 2,200 generative AI jobs last year were in the Bay Area in more than 380 metropolitan areas in the United States.
“This exciting new technology has the potential to further fuel clustering, which is an economic, demographic and social problem,” said Mark Muro, author of the report and senior fellow at Brookings Metro, a research unit focused on cities and public policy.
Job listings are following a frenzy of generative AI investments heavily skewed to the Bay Area. Nine of the most valuable startups in the generative AI space, including OpenAI, Scale AI, Anthropic, Inflection AI, Databricks and Cerebras, are based in San Francisco or Silicon Valley, according to PitchBook, which tracks startups, along with industry giants such as Google and Meta.
Job openings for AI jobs are less common than for other technology skill sets, and AI expertise has long been a popular and highly paid specialty. His AI researchers also flock to tech hubs outside the US, including Toronto and Cambridge, UK.
Brookings researchers analyzed U.S. job listing data collected by labor analytics firm Rightcast. A post was counted as a generative AI job if it contained at least one of his three terms: generative AI, ChatGPT, and large language models. Large language models are used to build generative AI software.
New York State ranked third for generative AI job openings. It’s home to the high-profile generative AI startup Hugging Face, and many of the big tech companies have their teams of AI researchers in the city.
A hub for many non-tech industries, New York may offer a glimpse of how technology spreads beyond the early efforts taking place in the Bay Area.
“Large financial, media, advertising and consulting firms are all busy figuring out how to adapt and leverage generative AI,” said Julie Samuels, executive director of the nonprofit trade group Tech:NYC. “And that’s what happens here every day.”
But while AI jobs are on the rise in New York, many of them well-paid, they can’t meet the challenge of democratizing technology across the country.
Other series of studies Generative artificial intelligence is the technology engine behind chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, which can write business reports, computer code, and poetry. This research focuses on the potential of generative AI to increase productivity, transform work, and automate millions of jobs.
Surveys Tracking Hundreds of New Technologies Decades of research have shown that pioneering hubs of development typically retain vast amounts of wealth and skills that have been generated from them. And the new Brookings report is essentially 2021 survey A study on the geography of AI raised concerns about AI-powered clustering of prosperity.
Still, a new report points to increased support and funding for “place-based industrial policies” that aim to boost economic prosperity in more places.
For example, under the CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed into law last year, the federal government provided an initial budget of $500 million for its establishment. 20 regional technology hubs. These hubs recognize investment in AI technology and training as a priority.
“We need to build innovation ecosystems in more communities across the country, especially those that have been historically overlooked,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimond said in an emailed statement.
The National Science Foundation has partnered with government agencies and companies to establish 25 AI laboratories across the country. His $500 million from the program will go into grants of $20 million each to AI programs doing basic and applied research in areas such as climate change, agriculture and education.
Grants go to university-based research institutions such as the University of Oklahoma, Ohio State University, Iowa State University, Washington State University, Georgia Tech, University of Buffalo, and University of California, Irvine.
Artificial intelligence has the potential to distribute wealth geographically more widely than past technologies.
“We’re just talking about information, bits, and you don’t have to be in the same place to work on bits,” said Michael Littman, Director of Information and Intelligent Systems at the National Science Foundation.
With the rise of AI, “we need as many people as possible to participate in this change,” Dr. Littman said.
The Brookings Report calls for the maintenance and expansion of these policies. “We are starting to see the realization that the geography of technology is critical to shaping opportunities in the United States,” said Muro, a co-author of the report.
