♪♪
-Welcome to the AI House.
My name is Markham McIntyre.
I'm the Director of the Office of Economic Development
at the City of Seattle.
And I have the pleasure of welcoming you
to this official grand opening here on Pier 70.
Today you'll hear from the mayor.
You'll hear from myself.
You'll hear from Yifan and Tina-Marie
about the AI House,
the partnership that brought us here,
the economic benefits and how important this is for Seattle.
So to kick us off, I'll welcome Mayor Harrell.
-Thank you, Markham. Thank you.
All right, let me get my logistics straight here.
And I didn't bring my reading glasses.
All right.
Thank you for all of the work that's being done here,
for using your creative ideas and your intellect to make --
to once again put Seattle on the map in terms
of what we're trying to do in the AI space.
I want to thank Markham for his incredible leadership,
Yifan Zhang, of course,
and Tina-Marie Gulley with Ada Developers Academy.
Incredible partners for the City of Seattle.
I usually try to recognize other elected officials,
particularly council members
when they come since they seem to hold the checkbook
for the city, but I don't see them here.
But we will wish them well wherever they are right now.
If I could ground this in a quote,
a quote by Sarah Ban Breathnach,
who many of you know is a bestselling author,
and philanthropist, and public speaker.
"The world needs dreamers, and the world needs doers.
But above all, the world needs dreamers who do."
And that's what we're trying to do here in this incredible work.
We know Seattle. First of all,
the only thing about Seattle is one of the cities
where you could have a beautiful blue sky, 72 degrees,
and then the next day it's a tornado warning.
But in all seriousness, it's also where ideas come from,
solution creators, innovators.
Our region are nationally and internationally
respected for our ability to think, build, innovate.
Indeed, we were put on the map in 1962
as the city of innovation.
So when we look at what we're trying to do here
in this particular space with the incubator,
we're trying to bring the best minds together.
And I'm going to, when I close,
talk about the responsibilities we have as well.
But we try to bring the best minds together,
and we look at some of the tech giants that we are known for.
You know them by name.
I'll hum a few bars, Microsoft, Expedia, Amazon,
and more than 13,000 other tech firms across the region.
That this AI House will play a pivotal role,
a key role in attracting, growing,
and retaining top-notch AI talent,
many of whom are in this room.
AI companies homegrown here in Seattle.
And quite candidly, that's what it's all about.
That is why the City of Seattle,
with our Department of Commerce,
I didn't see Joe Nguyen if he was here,
but I'm going to give him a shout-out.
He follows everything on social media,
so he's probably watching me right now.
So I'm going to give all of the folks
at the Department of Commerce,
and then we have some folks at OED, Anissa and Vin,
that are just doing some incredible work.
So here in Seattle,
and that's why I'm so proud to be a part of this,
is we are redefining ourselves.
Now, there's a few ideas that -- I ask the question,
particularly when we're looking at investment strategies,
what kinds of things can come out of this work?
So one founder's working on detecting
and reducing retail theft in corner stores.
Keeping us safer,
and helping small businesses reduce losses at work.
Now, how critical is that? It's incredibly important.
Another is making it cheaper and easier to buy a home.
They are working on a mortgage underwriting tool
that helps lenders close on home loans quicker
and reduces the costs of a loan to the home buyer.
Incredibly good work of machine learning and AI.
In this building right now,
there are founders working on projects
that will literally save lives through better time,
health care monitoring
and reducing false alarm burnout of ICU nurses.
Now, that -- this kind of synergy,
these kinds of ideas and what we're doing is,
quite frankly, what it's all about.
It's not just about monetizing an opportunity,
which when I said I'm going to come back to it,
I'm going to come back to it now.
I think many of you know I was the only mayor that was
-- the Biden-Harris administration put on
the safety and security board for AI.
And we develop policies here
that I shared with other mayors of major cities on an AI policy
and how it can be run responsibly.
Right now, the world of regulation is in flux.
I think we all can agree on that.
But I believe here in the AI House and with this partnership,
we will know how to use it not only responsibly,
but always using our North Star on doing what's right.
And that's why I think this is sort of cool.
So I'm proud of our city's investment
in building this AI community here at the AI House
and supporting an industry that is actively changing the world.
Once again, I have to tell you, -- I was once asked,
where does innovation come from?
What is the spirit of innovation?
How is creativity nurtured? Quite honestly,
I always think when I'm around other people
that see things differently than I do, and I recognize that.
And so when you're here in this house,
I think that's what's going to happen.
You will see needs, opportunities,
you will act responsibly,
and that's where the magic will happen.
So thank you very much for doing this work,
and I can't wait to continue our partnership.
Thank you very much.
[ Applause ]
-Thanks so much, Mayor, for your support for this effort.
The Office of Economic Development's purpose
is to shape the future of Seattle's economy
by making investments and leading projects
that open up access to economic opportunity.
And right now,
AI technology clearly represents an incredible chance
to shape not just the future of Seattle's economy,
but the global economy.
But to do that,
we really do need to position Seattle as the epicenter of AI
in the United States.
And that's a huge idea,
and no huge idea can be accomplished
without strong partnership.
And we have this outstanding partnership
that we've built right here between the City of Seattle,
AI2 Incubator, Ada Developers Academy,
and the State Department of Commerce.
I'll echo the mayor's shout-out to Joe Nguyen.
He can't be here today,
but he was a critical part in this early-stage partnership.
We all know and agree
that Seattle has the right ingredients
to lead this technological revolution.
We have the brainpower.
As the mayor said, we have the values,
and we have the resources.
So we all came together with this common goal
of activating downtown Seattle by creating a town square
to unite the AI researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs,
investors, and other talent into one collaborative space
where we can share support and resources
and encourage equitable opportunities into this sector.
I want to note that we're the first in the country
to have such a public-private partnership
that focuses on creating such a collaborative space.
And we know that this investment in the AI House
is going to lead to more jobs, more great companies,
and a more vibrant city.
And it's already happening.
The founders that have gone on
and graduated from the AI2 Incubator
have already gone on to hire more than a thousand new people.
And you combine that with the incredible work
from Ada Developer Academy,
whose graduates are earning over $250 million in tech salaries
and then contributing a lot of
that right back into our local economy.
We have built an incredible economic engine,
and I couldn't be more excited
that it's happening right here in downtown.
Downtown -- revitalizing downtown
is one of the mayor's top priorities,
and we're running on a thesis that downtown runs on people.
And so our whole effort is to try
to get more people to come downtown,
which is exactly what AI House is going to do.
And then, as the founders grow and graduate,
OED wants to continue that partnership.
We want to help figure out where we can have those companies grow
and expand in downtown Seattle.
How can we get you into some of those new spaces?
So it's a very exciting partnership,
and all of this is helping position us in this AI space
as the global leader.
So with that, and to talk a little bit more about AI House
and the fabulous work already underway, let's bring up Yifan.
[ Applause ]
-Thank you so much.
I'm moving this down a bit
because I'm quite a bit shorter than the other two speakers.
Let's see. Great.
Thank you so much, Mayor Harrell,
Seattle Office of Economic Development,
Markham, Washington Department of Commerce,
and our community partner, Ada Developers Academy.
We have been working together on this AI House initiative
since last spring when it was just a concept.
And it is so amazing to see it all coming together today.
My name is Yifan Zhang.
I am a two-time founder and CEO
and now the co-managing director of the AI2 Incubator,
leading our AI House initiative.
Born from the Allen Institute for AI,
we are a highly technical incubator
that has been investing solely in AI startups since 2016.
My team includes AI researchers and exited founders.
And we invest $500,000 per startup at the earliest stages,
including solo founders.
We've now incubated 40-plus companies worth $1.25 billion.
And as mentioned, we've added over 1,000 jobs.
And most importantly,
these companies are using AI to solve real problems,
some of which were mentioned in healthcare,
mortgage, manufacturing, physical retail, and more.
We have many of our AI2 founders here in the room today.
At AI2 Incubator,
we know that AI's impact will be far-reaching.
And today's tiny AI startups will quickly become tomorrow's
flagship companies, in the same way
that Amazon and Microsoft
were once also just a handful of people with an idea.
We want these AI startups to succeed.
And we want them to succeed here in Seattle.
Seattle has one of the highest concentrations
of AI jobs per capita in the world.
But talent alone is not enough.
We need to do more to build a culture of gathering in person
without expecting immediate return,
like hiring the next engineer, or getting the next investment.
But rather, gathering on a belief that sharing,
learning, and connecting eventually all come full circle.
My own journey to AI2 Incubator and AI House
makes me certain of this.
Eight years ago, Jacob Colker,
my co-managing director at AI2 Incubator,
asked me to give a talk at his UDub entrepreneurship class
about my first fitness startup. Three years ago,
Anisa Khoshbakhtian from Seattle OED
asked me to join Mayor Harrell's One Seattle Civic Partnership,
just before my affordable housing startup
Loftium was acquired. Both times,
I was a founder with a million other urgent priorities.
But by saying yes to helping,
that triggered the series of events
that led to today's AI House launch in a way
that I could have never have pre-planned.
AI House aims to foster such a culture of gathering
through a physical space
that opens up this type of knowledge and connections
to many, many more people.
There are three components of AI House
that reinforce each other
and drive our main thesis around in-person
connections strengthening the Seattle AI community.
First, startup co-working.
There are already 15 AI startups at AI House,
all of which have received investment from AI2 Incubator.
We continue to graduate seven to 10 companies per year.
And once renovation is complete,
as you'll see on the tour following,
we'll have a thousand desks for rent to AI startups.
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 here.
Second, experts at AI House.
We've invited 50 of the top Seattle AI experts,
including researchers from AI2 and UDub,
technical leaders from the top biggest tech companies,
and successful AI founders.
All to receive badge access to AI House
and really kickstart this culture
of gathering and knowledge sharing with our founders
and among themselves.
And finally, third, events.
AI House will soon be able to host large-scale events
of hundreds of people,
and we've already booked events with Google,
the Applied AI Association, Seattle AI Week,
Seattle Tech Week, and more.
If you don't know where to start,
an event at AI House is now the easiest way
to get plugged in to the Seattle AI scene.
We are just getting started.
This is a community endeavor, and we're looking to you,
the Seattle AI community, to participate, activate,
give us feedback, and really help us shape AI House
to benefit all of Seattle.
This evening, we'll have a much larger launch party.
We hope you'll join us back here for that celebration and
for many more to come.
Great. Thank you.
And now, I have the pleasure of introducing Tina-Marie Gulley,
the CEO of Ada Developers Academy,
our wonderful community partner for AI House.
-Good morning, everyone.
It's an honor to stand here today
as we celebrate a groundbreaking partnership
between Ada Developers Academy, the City of Seattle,
and the AI2 Incubator through this AI House initiative.
This space is not just a venue.
It's a beacon of collaboration, innovation,
and equity in the heart of the city,
known for its tech, ambition, and social progress.
For Ada, being a part of this movement, it's deeply personal.
It's a testament to our shared belief that AI,
when shaped by diverse voices,
can transform the world for the better.
For over a decade, Ada has been more than a coding boot camp.
We are a revolution.
We've trained over 1,300 software developers,
most of them women and gender-expansive adults,
focusing on uplifting communities, historically --
communities that are historically excluded from tech.
Our 11th month tuition-free training program includes
a collaborative learning environment
with individual support
and applied learning through internship.
We know that our model works.
We've generated over 65 million in first-time tech salaries
for this community since our inception.
And we typically see a graduation rate of 98%
for over of 90% of our software developers
within six months of graduating.
So that's epic right there.
With an average salary of over 100,000,
which is really about 203% higher than their pre-salaries
before entering the program.
Our participants are from all different types of communities.
LGTQIA plus, people of color,
underserved people of color in tech,
other folks that are racially underrepresented in tech,
and 86% of them are about -- are low-income.
And 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.
As someone who worked in AI years ago,
I've seen firsthand the power that it has.
It can diagnose diseases, combat climate changes,
and reimagine education.
But let's be clear, AI is not a neutral force.
Its impact will disproportionately affect women,
people of color, and other marginalized communities.
And they also have the risk of two things,
being left out of the AI-driven economy
and being harmed by the systems built without their input.
Studies have shown that AI perpetuates hiring,
healthcare, and criminal justice biases.
And without intervention,
AI could deeply have inadequate displacement of workers,
while also concentrating power at the hands of very few.
This is why Ada
and this partnership with AI House become so vital.
Workforce programs like ours
aren't just about training coders.
They're about building architects of equity.
By embedding AI literacy into our curriculum,
we prepare our students to use AI tools.
We prepare them to question them, to ask, who benefits?
Who is represented in this data?
How do we design programs and systems
that repair rather than replicate injustices?
AI House embodies those ethos. And in this space,
we will all come together as different communities collide,
where a startup founder can learn from a community leader,
and a student can co-create with a founder or researcher.
And for our graduates who we call --
our graduates and students,
who we call ADs, this means they have access to networks,
to mentors, and a seat at the table
where AI future is being built and written.
But it's bigger than us.
This partnership signals that Seattle isn't just building AI.
We're redefining who gets to be a part of building it.
To skeptics who ask,
can a training program really change an entire industry?
I say, look at our alumni. They're collaborating
and leading teams at companies like Microsoft,
Amazon, Smartsheet, Salesforce.
They're spearheading ethical AI projects
in emerging tech companies.
They're launching nonprofits to close the digital divide.
They are proof that when you invest
in underrepresented talent, you don't just change lives,
you change systems.
So what's next? AI will keep evolving,
but our commitment must be unwavering to create pipelines
for those most at risk of displacement,
to center empathy and innovation,
and to ensure that AI revolution doesn't leave humanity behind.
As we open up the doors to AI House, let's remember,
this is just not about technology.
It's about people.
It's about ensuring that a single mom in Rainier Valley,
a refugee in South Seattle,
or a non-binary adult in Capitol Hill can see themselves
not as casualties of progress, but as creators.
In the words of Ada Lovelace,
the visionary mathematician
for whom our organization was named after,
"That brain of mine is something more than merely mortal."
Together through this partnership,
we can ensure that AI becomes something more
than merely algorithmic.
It can be the force of collective liberation.
So with that, I'm really excited to be here, of course.
I'm really excited also to kind of talk a little bit
about the partnership that we're making with AI2 Incubator
in terms of building programs for our students and our alum.
It's our vision
that we want to really drive equitable solutions
through this community partnership
and our shared vision,
where we can serve as a catalyst for greater diversity.
So through this collaboration,
we are creating unique programming together,
providing our over 300 students and alumni
with clear pathways
to new opportunities for entrepreneurship, careers,
discovery, and education.
So with that, thank you, and let's get to work.
[ Applause ]
-Great words.
Okay, you've heard how excited we are about this partnership.
Let's go see what we're excited about.
There's going to be a tour after this.
For members of the media
that want to ask some follow-up questions,
I think we're going to be moving over there.
Please find Eric Moss over here or Karissa Braxton in the back
if you want to do that.
Otherwise, thank you so much for coming.
This is really exciting. Let's go build the world.
[ Applause ]
-Outstanding. Good job. -Thank you. You too.
-That was powerful words. -Yeah.
-Was that AI generated? -No, no.