CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte is competing with other top U.S. cities to be federally designated as one of the nation's tech hubs.
Applications with the U.S. Economic Development Administration closed Aug. 15 and only 20 cities will win the title. To win the bid, public and private partners are collaborating to pitch Charlotte as the future hub of artificial intelligence.
AI is the future of technology and Charlotte wants to be a global competitor in researching and developing it. When someone thinks of AI, ChatGPT may come to mind, but it's much more than that.
“AI is very good in recognizing faces and recognizing fingerprints," Bojan Cukic, Dean of UNC Charlotte’s College of Computing and Informatics, said. "AI is getting much better in knowing how to drive cars."
Cukic's lab researches AI and is now part of the bid with public and private partners to bolster its work.
"That cohesiveness, that ecosystem that is being proposed over here will be tremendously beneficial not only for UNC Charlotte and those of us over here who are lucky enough to have done AI for a long time, but also for the entire community," Cukic said.
Partners include the city of Charlotte, banking companies including Bank of America and Wells Fargo, tech companies including Carolina FinTech Hub, and Atrium Health.
The group, if Charlotte is designated as a tech hub, will create a plan to develop new AI software.
"That vision is everything from a [research and design] center for artificial intelligence that touches Atrium and The Pearl, and the new innovation district; touches all of our banks and fintech, touches the university for research," city councilman Tariq Bokhari explained.
Bokhari said if Charlotte wins the bid, then it will compete with the 19 other tech hub cities for millions of federal dollars to fund their innovations.
"I think we have really good odds, given the power of the members of our consortium, given the unique nature of artificial intelligence that we're going after," Bokhari added.
As Charlotte competes for the title, UNC Charlotte is also considering building a massive tech center in Uptown on North Tryon Street. Bokhari said the future Uptown center is part of the plans to designate Charlotte a national tech hub. Essentially, Bokhari explained, the North Tryon hub would be a physical location where work on AI development would take place.
Becoming a national hub will not only attract more business, but Cukic said the main benefit will be getting to set ethical and equitable boundaries around AI for social good.
Artificial Intelligence is extremely beneficial in many industries, but it also opens the door to privacy and misinformation concerns. Bokhari and Cukic said the goal is to set the United States apart from global competitors in AI development by instilling standards and parameters to protect people.
The EDA announces the top 20 cities this fall.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.