Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul participated in the Tech:NYC Primary NYC Summit Fireside Chat.
VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).
AUDIO: The Governor’s remarks are available in audio form here.
PHOTOS: View photos of the event on the Governor’s Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:
Julie Samuels, Tech:NYC: Thank you so much for being here, Governor Hochul. This is always such a treat. I am so lucky to have gotten to work with you on so many issues that are important to the venture community and to the tech community. You’ve been such a champion of so many things we’ve worked on and I’m excited to share that with this room today.
And I want to start with my favorite topic. My favorite project we’ve gotten to work on, which is Empire AI. You have just been, well, I’m going to just pass it to you and let’s talk a little bit about this first in the nation, public-private partnership and what the vision is to lead — to make sure that New York is the leader in AI going forward.
Governor Hochul: Well, Julie, one thing about New Yorkers is that we’re phenomenally competitive. Number two does not work for us in any space. And so as I had conversations with people, yourself and others in the industry, about what will set New York State apart from other states that are trying to lure businesses and claim the mantle of being the epicenter of all that is good about AI.
I said, “No, New York is going to own that mantle.” So it takes money, it takes a vision and a game plan and a very short time. And this idea came to me from a good friend of mine — in probably October of 2023 — and by January of 2024, I had put together the pieces. I said I will put $400 million of State money on the table or leveraged with other dollars from the private sector, public sector and academia because we want to bring in all of our major universities and the entire SUNY and CUNY systems to give our students and PhD candidates and our professors access to supercomputing power that right now is only in the hands of private companies.
And I thought if we can do that and set them loose on solving some of society’s greatest problems, whether it’s in trying to find innovative cures for diseases that have not been able to be solved or cured for a long time, or even projecting weather better than the National Weather Service, which who knows that they’re going to exist with the Donald Trump cuts. I mean, who knows?
We have to be better and stronger because of the loss of support from the federal government as well. So, this is what we did. And Julie, you’ve been to places I’ve been to and it’s working extraordinarily. I was up at the University of Buffalo this weekend. Kind of an important football game — any Buffalo Bills fan you’ve got here? Okay. Well, if you’re not, you should be. We’ll talk about that maybe another session, but extraordinary game, kind of late night, but great outcome.
But while I’m in Buffalo, I have to go visit the Empire AI Center. And again, it’s not just for the University of Buffalo, it’s just housed there. Why housed in Buffalo? Because I have plentiful, hydroelectric power there because we needed space and energy. But while I was there, Julie, I know you saw the same thing. This center, again, this was first talked about in January 2024, not passed until the budget was done and the money and the resources and the talent that is flowing already hiring over 200 people. And we’re about to launch Empire AI Beta, which is 11 times more powerful than what we have now, which is the most powerful in the country. So this is the area we’re heading into. And so Julie, you were a strong driver behind this — Tech:NYC was fully supportive.
We had to win over some reluctant legislators who don’t think it’s a good idea to give money to projects like these, but we had to be very persuasive that we’ll use AI for public good. And that’s exactly what we’re doing.
Julie Samuels, Tech:NYC: It’s amazing, and it really is.There’s nothing like it in the country — really, not in the entire world. It’s so incredibly exciting. We’re so grateful. I was also up at Niagara Falls actually this summer, which really had me thinking about the hydropower and it really had me thinking about the entire state. When we think about tech — and I think a lot of people in this room spent a lot of time thinking about what’s happening in the city because we’re in the city.
But you’ve done an amazing job and spent a lot of time thinking about how Empire AI is in Buffalo, but also thinking about other regions of the state and how we can lift up all of the regions. Obviously a prime example of this is Micron. And what’s happening in Syracuse once in a generation project, right? I think the largest private investment in State history. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about where that process is, what’s happening in Syracuse and if there’s any threat from the new administration to that project?
Governor Hochul: That’s a good question. We are all very anxious about this. Micron was looking for a state to host their next phase of semiconductor manufacturing and I was a brand new Governor. I learned about it and I said, “I’m not letting them go anywhere else.” And there’s another state that actually thought they had landed them until we interceded and aggressively promoted the quality of life in Upstate New York as well. Syracuse, where I went to school there. And also the plentiful power, which is necessary for them to operate, but also the workforce we have. We know New York City is the epicenter. I get it — a lot of talent here. But you also look at the university system. We have Upstate and there’s a lot of engineering programs — U of RIT, Syracuse, Cornell.
So there is an ecosystem of creating the talent that they were looking for as well. So we landed them and they are not the largest private investment in State history. They’re the largest private sector investment in American history — anywhere. $100 billion, 50,000 jobs. And it’s going to be four quads built out over the next 20 years. And I was at their new headquarters downtown and I will give so much credit to Micron for sharing the values that we have as New Yorkers. I said, “We’re going to help you substantially.” And this was also leveraged by the federal CHIPS Act, right? We made ours the Green CHIPS in Science Act in the State of New York. I had to get that through the Legislature as well, but combined under President Biden and Chuck Schumer doing what they could on the federal level, that didn’t mean they’d come to New York.
I had to meet all that and be just as competitive, but they’re also willing to make sure that everything is sustainable, that we’re using green energy and also values that we have about taking care of the workforce. I want to see more women in these workplaces. I just do. I walk in like, “Okay. We got some work to do here.” And as a mom and now a grandma, I know that. What I said to Micron — if you build an onsite childcare center, you’re going to have people banging down the doors — men and women. Guess what? They’re building onsite childcare. So that’s what I’m looking for from companies that I’ll invest money in, but share our values. And even what they’re doing in attracting a workforce, they’re going into the most impoverished parts of the city of Syracuse and recruiting young people to go into programs.
I mean, I love this. I mean, they’re giving them a chance to change the outcome for their families for generations by giving them a chance to get into a skills program, learning, working with the community colleges. And one last thing we’re doing — and we need to do this statewide — working with Michael Mulgrew, the Head of the Teachers Union here in New York City, and Randy Winegar and Melinda Person who runs the statewide teachers. We decided that what we can do to make New York more competitive than any other state is literally change the curriculum of what’s being taught in our elementary and high schools. So, as an experiment, we’re doing nine counties around the Micron area to teach students different skills because they’re not going to even start hiring for years, right? They’re building this out first.
So, looking at this as a generational opportunity for our students, we’re making our students smarter and more adaptable to innovation, the economy. So they’ll be ready for not just jobs at Micron, but anywhere. So I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the whole picture of this short term, long term, how we can take care of people and how we can make sure Micron is successful.
And I spent a lot of time speaking to their leadership and making sure that the federal government will not hurt them. If I can digress for one second, my first phone call with President Trump after his election was kind of laying out the ground rules. I’ll work with you when you’re helping New York. I’ll fight you and I think you’re hurting New York, so let’s just get that out there. That’s been our formula. I said, but I have to make sure nothing happens to Micron. He goes, “Oh, is that Biden CHIPS giveaway and all this science act?” I said, “Mr. President, you said you were going to get rid of it. If you get rid of it, you’re going to kill 50,000 jobs in your home state. So can we talk about this?” And after a series of conversations, they’re on board, Micron is safe. That money’s going to continue flowing. So, I feel good about that. And it’s the last part of your question. We’re good right now. I never know what to expect from this crowd.
Julie Samuels, Tech:NYC: It’s not boring. You don’t have a boring job. There’s a couple follow up questions I want to ask, and one is when you’re talking about how you think about education. Every conversation I have right now is — not every conversation. I’m having many conversations about how we’re thinking about education when the state of AI is so rapidly evolving. Both with regard to how we teach in schools, but also what skills we’re teaching for when we get out of schools. So there’s a couple things in here that are implicit in this question. One is I know you thought a lot about kids in schools — that’s something we’ve worked on together. You got the phones out, so thank you for that. That was so important.
Governor Hochul: No cell phones in schools in New York. I also said as a result of this, K through 12 bell to bell, we’re the largest state in the nation that’s doing this, and one of the early ones that are full, complete distraction free environment. I have three million New York students. They’re going to be smarter than all the other kids in the state. I said that, I walked into a classroom in Brooklyn the other day and I said, “You know what kids you don’t — you’re mad at me right now because you don’t have your cell phones. And I get it. I’m a mom. I’m used to being mad at my kids. But we’re going to be smarter and more engaged and make eye contact.
And when you emerge from your education in the State of New York, you’re going to be expected by employers to work in collaboration and on teams. And if you’ve gone through all these years of school, only be able to talk and look at your hand and not even make eye contact. You’re going to be behind.” So our students are going to be light years ahead.
This is the last generation that’s even going to know. You could have had a cell phone or an iPad to play games on in school and watch TikTok dance videos. So our teachers are happy. Some parents aren’t so sure about cutting the umbilical cord, but. It’s good to do. Parents, it’s hard. I know. I still remember crying my eyes out when kindergarten started, but I got over it. My kids survived. And yours will as well.
Julie Samuels, Tech:NYC: Yeah, we’re so grateful for that. I mean, we fundamentally feel, and something I think we really agree on is you can support the growth of the tech sector across the state. You can ensure that New York is the best place to build and grow this sector and also understand at the same time that kids shouldn’t have phones in class. We’re super, super grateful for that, but also as the technology is so rapidly involved, evolving, and there’s so much talk about how we balance investment and regulation and safety, and, of course, the Legislature’s been active on that. I just wanted to get a sense of how you are thinking about ensuring that the technology is safe, but also that it is being built here and what we can do as New Yorkers to kind of thread that needle.
Governor Hochul: It’s an interesting balance because you can go really hard on industries. And then guess what? You don’t have those industries. They’re in another state. But I also think that if there is something that requires a solution to emerging challenges, it may not have been known at the advent.
AI is evolving so quickly. We weren’t even talking about the dangers of chatbots a short time ago; what it’s doing to some of our students and these companions and relationships and how destructive some can be, some can be positive. This is all brand new. But what would make a lot more sense for these companies is if there’s federal solutions. Now, I’m not holding my breath, I’m a former member of Congress and they’re not really capable of getting much done. But that is really the place because that levels the playing field. If there’s a regulation that is universal across all 50 states, then I’m not doing something that puts my state at a disadvantage.
But knowing that’s not likely to happen, when ideas in our Legislature emerge on how to do something to solve a problem, I always go to the industry and talk and say, “Is this something that you think you can do? Do you want to do it voluntarily first? Can you make some alterations? Is there a solution that doesn’t require us to be the heaviest on you?” And we have had some cooperation in some areas, like addictive algorithms on students. This was not widely received at first and we just powered through it. I know some other states have tried and failed, but back to our kids in schools and even at home, I don’t want them bombarded with these addictive algorithms all day long. Some of them take them to dark places and they should have control, and parents should have say over this.
So I think, Julie, there’s not a clear cut answer. I look at all legislation very thoughtfully. My question is, who are we hurting when I see a piece of legislation. Who’s being hurt by this? And that’s what I’ll be doing continuing as I look at legislation on my desk.
Julie Samuels, Tech:NYC: We appreciate that. And also, when we think about the growth of the tech sector, one of the things that I think has — really in the past five years or so — really shifted here, is that the issues we used to care the most about were always what you think of as tech issues, tech policy issues. But increasingly, the companies here care a lot about quality of life issues because, of course, the people who work at the tech companies are New Yorkers. And the issues that impact them impact all New Yorkers.
Obviously, we’ve worked closely and supported many things you’ve worked on, congestion pricing is a great example, housing, public safety, these are things that the companies — the technology companies will go where the people they want to hire are, so it’s incumbent upon all of us to ensure that people want to be here. So I would just love for you to share with the room a bit about how you’re thinking more broadly about these quality of life issues: how we’re making sure that New York is an attractive place for the young dynamic tech talent to want to be.
Governor Hochul: Excellent question. I go to bed at night thinking about public safety and affordability. I wake up the next morning thinking about public safety and affordability. And I just literally left taking a subway ride before I came over here and doing a press conference to talk about how, as I became Governor four years ago, we had a subway system that was in chaos. We had just come through the pandemic.
This is the primary way that particularly our young people who work in the city get to their jobs. And if that subway system was unsafe, people would not take it, people would not come into their jobs and we would not have this sense of energy and activity that we now have. So I’m proud to report that we’ve seen a 20 percent decline in subway crimes.
We are the safest big city in America by far. Crimes overall are dropping. Now what I have said — thank you. Tell your friends, please. Anybody work at the Post? Just tell everybody.
But I also admitted, I said, “It is safer.” Even just a year ago — crimes are dropping on the subway and on our streets. We’re tackling the homelessness problem. We have a thousand people who lived on the subways and are now in supportive housing, taking people to get the care they need. We’re laser focused on this. LED lighting in every station. These stations are too damn dark. They’re scary. LED lighting in every station by the end of this year. Every single train has a camera on it watching everything you do, so behave yourselves on the trains, they’re watching you. So all these measures have taken root now. But I always said — and I’m going to walk out of here and there’s going to be a horrific crime that’s committed and everybody’s going to think that these statistics don’t mean anything. A lot of smart people, you know the statistics tell the story, but it’s also an emotional story. So I’m focused on public safety. We’re making real progress.
Affordability — people have to be able to afford a place to live. At some point, our young talents, and they’re all coming here, they’re going to get a little tired of staying in a house with five or six other people and want their own bathroom and their own windows someday. I get that, and they deserve that. I really feel for this generation. No fault of their own, the young people getting out of college in particular, are now facing the worst job prospects that they have had since the last recession, when my own kids were trying to find a job out of college. So I’m sensitive to that as a parent and as a leader of a state that wants them to be here. So we have to build more housing. Literally, there was a complicated issue. It’s more nuanced than people need to know, but I took a strong stand yesterday.
Julie Samuels, Tech:NYC: I’m so glad.
Governor Hochul: To say we can no longer have this pocket veto of projects and building housing with one person says no, and the city needs it. So I’m proud to stand up on that. The City of Yes supported that by a billion dollars. So it’s about giving — you could increase supply. It’ll help with affordability and that’s what’s driving what I do, putting money back in needle’s pockets. Don’t know if any of you consider yourselves middle class. It’s kind of a funny number in New York State where the middle class actually is. But we have the largest middle class tax rate cut in 70 years. So I’m putting money back in needle’s pockets as well as her parents.
So, Julie, I think about this all the time because I want everybody who ever dreamed of coming to New York or being born here, educated and wants to stay here. Having that chance because it’s an exceptional experience and I’m more excited about New York than I’ve ever been in my lifetime. And other states are seeing this and companies are seeing this, that this is where people want to be. My job is to keep them safe and allow them a high quality of life that they could afford.
Julie Samuels, Tech:NYC: One of the things that stood out to me about many of the things you’ve been talking about is that a lot of these solutions are common sense. Getting the phones out of schools, common sense. Cameras in the subway, common sense. Building more houses, common sense. But when you work in politics, when you work in government, it can be really hard to get what might seem like common sense solutions through and I think for a lot of people in tech, they look at these problems and they’re like why is this so hard? And then they get frustrated. So if you could talk a little bit about how you think about getting through some of that chaos. I want people in the room and people who are hearing this to think about ways that they could also get involved and they shouldn’t feel so discouraged.
Governor Hochul: No, we don’t tolerate discouragement. I mean, New Yorkers are resilient, we’re tough, we power through anything. So do not let that emotion take hold of you at all, I never do. As far as what I’m doing and keep staying the course. I am viewed as a moderate with a big heart, a big progressive heart, but I’m also very pro-business.
I’ll tell you a quick story on why this matters to me is that my dad worked at the Bethlem steel plant up in Buffalo. His dad did, everybody did. It’s how you lived a good middle class life. My dad actually was a risk taker, like all entrepreneurs ultimately are and when he was 30 years old, he had this opportunity to join three other guys who had just left their jobs at IBM to start a small tech company in Buffalo in the sixties when everybody else was working at the steel plant making good money.
My dad with a whole bunch of little kids left the job, people thought he was insane to do this. You’re going to be, and he struggled. It was a tough, tough time. And I remember being a little kid, I’d go into this room with him on Saturdays and he’d let me color on the punch cards or put them in the machines. Look it up in your history books — yea big gigantic computers. But my dad went on to be wildly successful leading a company. About 3,000 employees and took it global. Spinoff is where my sister and brother started a company and it’s wildly successful. They’re doing multiple versions. I mean they’re serial entrepreneurs. I come out of that culture okay? I don’t accept no for an answer. because I always know that if you, the business community thrives on that risk taking gene that pushes them harder and harder — and it’s something New Yorkers have in particular.
So I want to make sure that I foster that environment, that we make sure that people aren’t going to be successful. And I’ll keep at it, so I’m not daunted by any challenge. The easy problems my staff can solve, bring me all the big ones. Like make sure that the Long Island Railroad doesn’t shut down in a week. This is when I go to bed like, okay, how are we gonna make this work team? How are we gonna make sure that we can address Donald Trump and the Republicans who’ve now left 1.8 million New Yorkers vulnerable of losing their healthcare? We found a path to take care of 1.4 million, I still have 400,000 people who are going to lose their healthcare. That’s what I’m waking up to today to try and solve. But somebody has to do it. I’ve been battle tested. I relish the challenges of it, and all of the people who want to get involved, be aware of these challenges and support people you like for office and or invite them to your workplaces and get them.
I’m always touring businesses, always. I get so much energy from doing that and whether it’s advanced manufacturing. Yesterday I was up in Plattsburgh looking at where they’re building buses and subway trains that are going to be servicing us here, up in Plattsburgh. Welcoming a company from Quebec saying, “We actually love Canada. Please ignore the people in the White House because we love Canada. Companies from Quebec, keep coming and investing.”
So to me, I feel like all that comes together with my desire to make sure that people know this is the greatest state in the nation, that the quality of life is second to none, and we’ll keep fighting for people.
So voting, supporting candidates, bringing people to your office. Be aware of issues, getting on social media, supporting positions you believe in. There’s a lot of worry. This is what you do too, Jill. You’re a master at this. You have a lot of influence in our Capital. because you have credibility as well. When you bring us data, we know we don’t have the question. I think that’s important too.
Julie Samuels, Tech:NYC: Thank you. We only have a couple minutes left and I don’t want to end on a negative note but the budget hole that’s coming is real and I think people are — don’t quite realize the magnitude. So if you could just spend a second on, on what people should be paying attention to and how we should be thinking about ensuring the long term economic health of this state in uncertain times.
Governor Hochul: This is a huge challenge for us. Donald Trump signed into law the Big Ugly Bill on July 4th. I called it worse than that. I was watching my language here today. The Big Something Ugly Bill. But it was really declaring war on stakes like New York. It really was, as I mentioned, healthcare is foundational. I mean, people deserve to be able to take care of themselves and their little kids when they get sick.
And so, I just described what is probably the biggest financial challenge, not just for the state, but for our hospitals and healthcare providers. It’s about a $13.5 billion loss in money for us. So there’ll be layoffs in hospitals. Even if you’re not on Medicaid and you want to go to a hospital and they’ve had severe cuts or other parts of the state where they’re literally closing hospitals, you’re going to be affected as well. This does not just affect the poor people. Some say, “Well it doesn’t affect me. I’m not on Medicaid.”
Guess what? If there’s no hospital or the wait lines, now quadruple you are affected. So that’s my biggest concern. Eliminating nutrition programs for kids. I mean, we’re now covering free breakfast and lunches in schools for the first time in history because I don’t want little kids to have their stomachs growling when they’re trying to learn, and I want it to be an equalizer. So no child has the stigma of being the kid who has to get the subsidized meal.
I’d think those are our two big hits right now. But if they start doing things like the contracts on offshore wind, I mean, that was brutal. We have 500,000 homes in Brooklyn that will be powered by clean renewable energy from offshore wind next year all set to go a decade in the works. A $5 billion project from Ecuador, Empire Wind. And guess what? In March they turned it off. Like why? Well, I called the President and had a lot of conversations. They’re worried about the birds.
They’re all naturalists now. They really love the environment, the animals, the marine life. So I had to grab at that pretty hard, and it was very testy because the company was ready to walk out the door. They said, “We can’t keep losing this much money. We’re done.” I said, “Give me one more week. Give me one more week. I’ll get this done.” And it was hard and we got it done.
And I said to the President, “That’s 1,500 jobs you just killed. Mostly Long Island Construction.” As I’m looking at the color of Long Island, I think most of them probably voted for you. So you just killed the jobs of your supporters. Not good.
So we are able to get back on track, but then he’s hurting offshore wind in other states. But we’re holding firm right now. So I would just say, I don’t know what’s happening tomorrow. I don’t even know what’s happening an hour from now. Like, what’s he doing to us now? So I spend an enormous amount of my time playing defense now.
I’d rather play offense and just go through things, but it’s a combination of a very complicated game, but I’m the quarterback of the State. I know how to play the game. I know how to win.
Julie Samuels, Tech:NYC: Thank you. Well, we’re grateful for all the work you’ve done to support the state and particularly the growth of tech here. We feel very lucky for that. Thank you so much.
Governor Hochul: Thank you.