No state is better positioned to secure America’s future as the global leader in innovation than the Empire State.
From the Great Lakes to Manhattan’s iconic skyline to Long Island’s shores, New York boasts the creativity, grit, academic firepower, and entrepreneurial spirit required to keep America ahead of our authoritarian adversaries, especially China, who seek to challenge our technological edge.
A recent study from the Lexington Institute has officially sounded the alarm. China is executing a series of well-funded plans to displace American leadership in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and advanced manufacturing. The country that controls these breakthrough technologies will not only gain a decided economic and security edge but will also heavily influence the global balance of power and values going forward.
Fortunately, New York has established a solid foundation through significant tech investments and can take concrete steps to ensure the United States remains the world’s preeminent innovation engine.
With Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Empire AI initiative, New York is already a pioneer in public-private partnerships.
Combining the state’s world-leading academic institutions––including Cornell, Columbia, RPI and the city and state university system––with economic incentives and industry partnerships, Hochul’s bold vision is maximizing these resources.
The initiative is attracting researchers focused on solving some of the most pressing problems in the modern world. From healthcare to extreme weather to early childhood education, the brightest minds in New York are harnessing AI for the public good.
But America’s foreign adversaries are leveraging technology for government control, building and exporting surveillance state technology that stifles free speech suffers, manipulates global markets, and undermines democratic institutions.
America cannot allow game-changing technologies to be dominated by authoritarian powers.
For instance, China is working to gain a strategic edge by pouring resources into censorship-laden open-source AI models. The United States must strive to lead in both open- and closed-source AI to maintain our technological edge and preserve democratic values.
Here’s where New York can be the deciding difference for America.
Investments in high-speed connectivity, modernized power grids, and secure supply chains determine how rapidly new technologies can be deployed and scaled.
If New York’s roads and data networks fail to match the speed of innovation, we’ll surrender ground to nations whose governments have spent years upgrading digital and physical infrastructure. Already, the state has taken a strong step by advancing a bold plan to boost its cyber defenses. Now, it must do the same for its energy grid—especially as AI and data centers multiply and energy demands continue to surge.
By investing more heavily in the tech-talent pipeline, New York can produce the innovators, engineers, and skills tradesmen necessary to design, build, and protect our technology systems.
We must also streamline pathways to retain the brightest foreign-born students, because we can’t risk losing ambitious graduates to other states—or worse, other countries.
Crucially, states must nurture, rather than handcuff, breakthrough technologies. But in 2025 alone, New York policymakers have introduced 110 AI-related regulatory bills–the most of any state in the country.
Overly protective rules on AI might be well-intentioned, but they have the potential to slow innovation and send startup founders to more welcoming jurisdictions. Lawmakers in New York and Washington must ensure that the policies they champion don’t create unnecessary hurdles and roadblocks for our local innovators.
By harnessing private innovation, reinforcing infrastructure, investing in world-class talent, and adopting smart public policy, New York can remain at the frontline of America’s race for the future.
The stakes couldn’t be higher, and the window of opportunity is finite. Let’s seize it now, ensuring that the technologies reshaping the world are powered by American freedom—and built right here in New York.
Doug Kelly is CEO of the American Edge Project, an advocacy group focused on protecting and promoting American leadership in innovation.
