A new gold rush? How AI is transforming San Francisco

On a sunny time successful San Francisco, on the city’s waterfront, families dived into the wacky satellite of artificial quality wrong the Exploratorium museum.

Visitors made shadiness puppets for AI to identify, utilized AI to make songs, asked chatbots questions and faced disconnected with AI successful a crippled successful which players tried to gully images that lone humans would recognize. A elephantine robot manus moved astir and radical peered into a video crippled chip.

They jotted down their hopes and worries astir AI connected cards displayed successful the museum. Hope: AI volition cure cancer. Worry: People volition trust connected AI to the constituent they can’t deliberation for themselves.

A visitant listens to the audio constituent of the “Mistaking AI” grounds astatine the Exploratorium’s “Adventures successful AI” successful downtown San Francisco connected Thursday.

Billboards for the AI institution Fin enactment Interstate 80 arsenic the freeway enters the Financial District connected Wednesday successful San Francisco.

“It benignant of breaks down those guardrails, those large walls that radical person enactment up astir AI, and allows them to person a speech with idiosyncratic else,” said Doug Thistlewolf, who manages grounds improvement astatine the Exploratorium.

Art. Office space. Billboards. Protests. The AI craze has intensified successful San Francisco, spreading done enactment and societal beingness successful what immoderate person described arsenic a caller golden rush. The AI boom, coupled with the predetermination of caller Mayor Daniel Lurie, has besides infused the metropolis with optimism — tinged with anxiety. Some interest astir the city’s precocious outgo of living, and whether AI volition regenerate workers arsenic tech layoffs continue.

For years, Silicon Valley has been astatine the halfway of innovation with immoderate of the world’s invaluable tech companies specified arsenic Meta, Google, Apple and Nvidia locating their monolithic office southbound of San Francisco. AI’s rise, though, has shone a agleam spotlight connected San Francisco, location to multibillion-dollar companies specified arsenic OpenAI, Scale AI, Anthropic, Perplexity and Databricks.

AI has agelong played a large relation successful user technology, helping to urge societal media posts, construe languages and powerfulness virtual assistants. But the popularity of OpenAI’s ChatGPT — a chatbot that tin make text, images and codification — acceptable disconnected a fierce contention to propel exertion that touches industries from media to healthcare.

Companies are battling it retired for talent, offering lucrative compensation to enlistee apical researchers and leaders, portion investments successful AI companies person surged.

In the archetypal fractional of 2025, task superior backing for AI companies successful the San Francisco Metro country surpassed $29 cardinal — much than treble the magnitude during the aforesaid play successful 2022, information from PitchBook shows. As of Aug. 5, VC deals for AI startups successful the area, which includes San Francisco, Oakland and Fremont, made up 46.6% of backing for U.S. AI companies this year.

The office of OpenAI, the shaper of the fashionable chatbot ChatGPT, successful Mission Bay, San Francisco.

Exactly however this frenzy volition signifier the aboriginal of San Francisco, location to cablegram cars and robotaxis, remains to beryllium seen. Ask ChatGPT what SF volition look similar successful 10 years and it generates an representation of the city’s skyline with futuristic architecture and flying saucers adjacent to the Golden Gate Bridge.

AI has been a “bright spot” successful the city’s economy, helping San Francisco to retrieve aft retailers, bureau workers and immoderate companies specified arsenic X (formerly Twitter) near the downtown country during and aft the pandemic arsenic distant enactment picked up.

“The economical interaction is [AI companies] instrumentality much bureau space, they wage much taxes, they prosecute much people,” said Ted Egan, main economist of the metropolis and region of San Francisco.

Over the past 5 years, AI-related companies person leased much than 5 cardinal quadrate feet of San Francisco bureau abstraction and the magnitude is projected to grow, according to CBRE, a existent property work and concern firm. The city’s bureau vacancy complaint of 35.8% successful the archetypal 4th would beryllium chopped successful fractional if these companies instrumentality up 16 cardinal quadrate feet of bureau abstraction by 2030.

San Francisco nonmigratory Vijay Karunamurthy has seen the city’s roar and bust cycles unfold implicit the past 25 years portion moving astatine startups and tech giants specified arsenic Google and Apple.

In 2000, erstwhile helium moved from Chicago to San Francisco for an engineering occupation astatine a information startup, helium saw large concern specified arsenic Pets.com illness during the dot-com crash. Fueled by societal media’s popularity, the city’s tech assemblage came roaring backmost lone to instrumentality a deed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now the metropolis is ascending yet again. Ambitious entrepreneurs, aged and new, are advancing almighty artificial quality tools that could alteration lives.

“That magnitude of vigor being concentrated successful San Francisco has conscionable been immense for the city,” said Karunamurthy, 46, the erstwhile tract main exertion serviceman astatine Scale AI, a data-labeling startup. “It means each azygous nighttime there’s AI events, and if you spell to a java shop, you’ll tally into radical moving connected AI.”

Still, determination are plentifulness of AI skeptics. In precocious July, extracurricular of OpenAI’s office successful Mission Bay, a tiny radical of protesters including a idiosyncratic dressed up arsenic a robot held up signs that said “AI volition termination america all” and “AI steals your enactment to bargain your jobs.”

Children interact with the “Giant Mirror” astatine the Exploratorium’s “Adventures successful AI” accumulation successful Downtown San Francisco connected Thursday.

Generative AI’s ubiquity has forced educators to rethink what and however they thatch students successful the classrooms.

Arno Puder, prof and seat of San Francisco State University’s machine subject department, said generative AI represents a historical “paradigm shift.”

The longtime San Francisco nonmigratory is arsenic excited, but besides a small scared, astir however it volition impact labor. Over the past 2 years, he’s seen pupil enrollment successful machine subject astatine the assemblage driblet amid tech layoffs and generative AI’s rise. As coding assistants reshape machine subject jobs, the assemblage launched a caller undergraduate certificate successful generative AI for the autumn of 2026.

“Generative AI is simply a antithetic beast,” Puder said. “That does marque maine interest a small bit, but if you inquire maine for a prediction connected what services oregon what the world’s going to look similar successful a fewer years from now, I don’t know.”

AI’s emergence has inspired the instauration of caller spaces passim San Francisco wherever radical tin sermon technology’s benefits and risks.

Notes written by radical visiting the Exploratorium’s “Adventures successful AI” accumulation database their top worries and hopes related to artificial quality successful Downtown San Francisco connected Thursday.

Thistlewolf said creating the AI grounds astatine the Exploratorium progressive talking to workers and researchers from tech companies and universities. The exhibit, which runs done mid-September, took astir a twelvemonth and fractional to develop.

Backed by Anthropic, the San Francisco institution that developed the AI chatbot Claude, the grounds aims to amended radical astir AI but doesn’t shy distant from the statement surrounding technology.

San Francisco nonmigratory Martha Chesley, 77, came to the grounds with her grandchildren. Living successful San Francisco for 50 years, Chesley sees imaginable benefits from AI companies coming to the city.

“If it brings radical and money, it’s bully for the metropolis due to the fact that close present we person a batch of closed storefronts,” she said. “Maybe determination would beryllium much wealth besides for lodging being built.”

Throughout the city, AI startups are broadcasting their ngo loudly connected billboards and ads displayed astatine autobus stops and bid stations. Messages see “Stop Hiring Humans. To Write Cold Emails” and “Droids vessel bundle portion you interaction grass.”

A autobus halt advertises Outset, an AI bundle company, successful the Mission District successful San Francisco.

(Florence Middleton/For The Times)

AI ads could besides beryllium spotted successful the Mission district, a vicinity profoundly rooted successful Latino civilization and history. The area, filled with fashionable taquerias, colorful murals and a parkland with a presumption of the downtown skyline, has struggled with homelessness similar different parts of the city.

At a autobus halt connected 16th Street, an advertisement from AI startup Outset struck a affirmative tone: “Listen to humans. Don’t regenerate them.”

Founded successful downtown San Francisco successful 2022, Outset created an AI interviewer truthful researchers could rapidly stitchery feedback from much radical to amended recognize lawsuit needs and amended products.

The company’s 36-year-old main executive, Aaron Cannon, said earlier the emergence of ChatGPT, helium and his co-founder experimented with AI systems that tin make and recognize quality connection and saw its potential.

“I don’t deliberation either of america could person told you it was going to perfectly instrumentality implicit the world,” helium said. The San Francisco nonmigratory said the city’s endowment excavation besides makes it an charismatic determination for startups. He declined to disclose its finances but said the company, which employs 15 and counts Microsoft among its clients, is “growing fast.”

Throughout San Francisco, founders and existent property companies person dubbed definite areas arsenic AI hubs.

A billboard advertizing Cluely, an AI company, rises implicit Mission Street successful downtown San Francisco.

(Florence Middleton/For The Times)

Hayes Valley, a vicinity with Victorian houses, boutique shops and trendy restaurants, bears the nickname “Cerebral Valley,” a motion to the hacker houses and AI communities that popped up successful the area.

Jamestown, a existent property and concern company, markets the Northern Waterfront an emerging AI hub aft leasing much than 43,000 quadrate feet of bureau abstraction to AI companies. Some of the startups enactment connected AI indebtedness servicing oregon AI-powered articulator syncing technology.

Located adjacent nationalist transportation, h2o and greenery, the caller aerial and serene quality of the country has attracted AI entrepreneurs that privation to collaborate successful person, said Michael Phillips, main and president of Jamestown.

“If you’re moving connected these accelerated to market, highly competitory products,” helium said, “you truly request to beryllium together.”