Ohio State president shares his vision for higher ed at Business First Power Breakfast

Ohio State President Walter “Ted” Carter Jr. addressed some of his top priorities for the university as a keynote speaker at the Columbus Business First Power Breakfast.

Hundreds of attendees filled a ballroom at a downtown hotel Thursday morning for the annual breakfast hosted by Business First. The breakfast event has been a local tradition since 1996. Business and community leaders attend to learn more about emerging industry trends.

Carter was joined by Jason Hall, CEO of The Columbus Partnership, and Zachary Mears, senior vice president of strategy at Anduril Industries, to discuss the emerging AI-influenced job market and how the region is preparing the next generation of AI-proficient workers. Anduril Industries founder Palmer Luckey delivered video remarks.

“As we looked at some of the new big initiatives that we want to do, one of the biggest ones that we’re doing is we’re taking the most comprehensive approach to artificial intelligence,” Carter said. “By the way, AI, from where I sit, is a little bit misnamed. There’s nothing artificial about artificial intelligence. The right name ought to be augmented intelligence. But we are making the most comprehensive, bold statements in AI of any major university in the entire United States.”

Some of the key investments into artificial intelligence at Ohio State include AI Fluency, an initiative to embed AI education into the core of the undergraduate academic experience.

Carter also pointed to the university’s commitment to hiring 100 additional tenure-track faculty with expertise in AI over the next five years. And, the university launched the AI^(X) Hub, or AI to the power of X, a university-wide hub spanning all 15 of Ohio State’s colleges that will serve as a catalyst for research and innovation in AI. 

That investment in AI is supported by a promise of access and affordability. Carter outlined several important scholarships that are part of the university’s Education for Citizenship 2035 strategic plan – including Buckeye Bridge, a partnership that will cover tuition and fees for qualifying Ohio residents transferring to Ohio State from Columbus State Community College.

Hall said the work the university was doing in the space of artificial intelligence offers a competitive advantage for a region that is already among the national leaders in AI.

“Last year, one of the leading policy organizations in the United States, the Brookings Institution, assessed which metropolitan regions in the U.S. were winning economically in the early days of the AI era. … They identified the Columbus region as one of 28 AI Star Hubs alongside much larger metros in that peer set, including New York and Austin,” Hall said. “Based on those numbers, we can be confident we are punching above our weight right now.”

The early success in AI innovation is leading to important new development. Anduril, a defense technology company, chose central Ohio for its new Arsenal-1 manufacturing facility.

The project is expected to create about 4,000 jobs and more than $900 million in capital investment. Luckey said infrastructure, workforce, and a tradition of aerospace and defense innovation drew the company to the Buckeye state.

“The Columbus region is positioned for it,” Mears said. “We’re just fortunate that Anduril gets to be a part of this community, answer the nation’s call, develop products, attract, build, and inspire talent to move here, and ultimately, to make sure that the United States and our allies never face a fair fight