Plans are moving forward for a new hub in downtown Seattle focused on AI startups, with support from city and state leaders.
AI2 Incubator, the Seattle-based startup organization and venture firm, revealed this week that it will operate and help fund the new center, billed as the “AI House.”
The idea is to host a physical space for AI-related events and a place for founders, investors, researchers, and nonprofits to interact.
Seattle has a ton of AI talent, but there’s not “a culture of talking about it, or gathering at events,” said Yifan Zhang, managing director at the AI2 Incubator.
“It doesn’t happen often enough,” she said. “So we’re putting together a space where people can gather and we can really create that type of culture here.”
GeekWire previously reported about the space, which is supported in part by $800,000 in funding Washington state lawmakers approved earlier this year.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell spoke at the AI2 Incubator’s annual summer party on Thursday evening in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood.
“This is a big deal,” said Harrell, who sits on the new Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board organized by the Department of Homeland Security.
The AI House could help further establish Seattle as a leader in the booming field of AI, and also boost the downtown core, which has struggled to fully rebound from the pandemic relative to other U.S. cities.
“This is a way to bring more people downtown, and that’s hugely important,” said Markham McIntyre, director of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development. “The best economic development play we can make is to get downtown humming again.”
McIntyre said the hub can also help the city learn more about the opportunities and challenges posed by AI as it starts to think about implementing potential new technologies.
“We’re interested in thinking about the city as a buyer of AI technology, and how it can improve city services and how we deliver those services to city constituents,” he said.
Sen. Joe Nguyen, who helped spearhead the funding from the state legislature, said the initial idea for the AI House started with a late night phone call last year with colleagues. The conversations focused on the economic impact of AI — and how the state and city could position themselves accordingly.
“It was very bootstrappy,” said Nguyen, who spent nearly a decade at Microsoft before taking office in 2019.
Over the past several years, Seattle’s startup scene has lost a number of communities that catered to entrepreneurs and operated physical spaces, including the surprise departure of Techstars Seattle earlier this year. But there are new ones popping up, including Foundations and Founder Nexus. Some say these spaces are essential to help support entrepreneurs and the city’s startup climate.
There are also some AI-specific community groups forming, including AI Tinkerers, a popular meetup that started in Seattle and is now expanding across the world.
The exact location of the AI House is still under consideration. The plan is to do a “soft launch” later this year and officially open doors next year, Zhang said.
Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), an international group led by startup vet Dave Parker, will serve as the nonprofit partner for the AI House. It is helping facilitate the lease for the physical space, Parker told GeekWire.
“It’s a great way for us as a global nonprofit to connect with the chapter’s home market,” Parker said.
The AI2 Incubator runs an incubator, which helps nurture budding startups, as well as a venture fund that raised $30 million in fresh capital last year. In 2022 the AI2 Incubator spun off from its original home, the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, into a separate entity.
Zhang, who previously started two companies before joining AI2 Incubator last year, couldn’t disclose details on how much the organization is spending to operate the AI House but said it is “a significant priority for us.”
