CMU President Farnam Jahanian has been a transformative leader for this historic moment — recognizing early that AI would reshape the global economy and moving boldly to position Carnegie Mellon and Pittsburgh to lead it.
CMU President Farnam Jahanian at AI Horizons 2025 alongside Governor Josh Shapiro and BNY CEO Robin Vince
Nearly four years ago, Carnegie Mellon University President Farnam Jahanian was among the earliest supporters of the creation of Pittsburgh’s AI Avenue. Long before artificial intelligence dominated the global conversation, Farnam understood its transformative potential and recognized the extraordinary opportunity it presented for Pittsburgh. He was also one of the earliest supporters of AI Horizons, the flagship initiative of the AI Strike Team, serving as a thought leader during the first two years of our conversations about how Pittsburgh could harness its unique strengths to lead in the emerging AI economy.
From the beginning, Farnam understood that Pittsburgh could not simply be the place where transformative technologies were invented—we also had to become the place where they were deployed, commercialized and scaled. His entrepreneurial leadership and willingness to help shape these conversations have been instrumental in positioning Carnegie Mellon and Pittsburgh for the opportunity before us today. We saw that leadership firsthand when the AI Strike Team and Carnegie Mellon collaborated on Powering the Future of Sport: A Draft Week Showcase, seizing the national spotlight on Pittsburgh to showcase our region’s leadership in AI and robotics to the world. Farnam and CMU have consistently understood how to recognize a moment and capitalize on it. Without his vision and leadership, I firmly believe our region would not be positioned to seize this historic moment as it is today.
Ken Griffin’s unprecedented $3 billion investment in Carnegie Mellon is a testament to that vision and a defining moment for Pittsburgh, Miami and America. It is a bet on two very different American cities: Pittsburgh, a city with industrial grit in its DNA, reinventing itself at the frontier of AI and robotics, and Miami, a young, dynamic hub of capital and growth. These two cities possess very different superpowers, and bringing them together through one extraordinary institution presents an opportunity to accelerate American innovation and sustain our global leadership.
Under Farnam’s leadership, Carnegie Mellon has not waited for the AI revolution or simply followed it. It has helped lead it. This historic investment presents an opportunity to do something decidedly non-incremental: reinvent higher education around the most consequential real-world challenges of the next generation while strengthening Pittsburgh’s position as a global center for artificial intelligence.
Griffin’s investment in Carnegie Mellon is inherently an investment in Pittsburgh’s DNA: our grit, ingenuity and culture of building things that actually work. That identity is reflected in our rapidly growing Physical AI economy, where robots and autonomous systems developed here are protecting critical infrastructure and operating around the world. With $1 billion of this historic investment coming directly to Pittsburgh, we have an extraordinary opportunity to translate our technological leadership into economic growth, new companies and jobs.
But realizing the full potential of this investment will require more than celebrating its announcement. The ambition demonstrated by Griffin and Jahanian must now be matched by execution and radical collaboration across institutions, companies, entrepreneurs and regional economies.
Pittsburgh needs Miami’s growth velocity, capital and entrepreneurial energy. Miami can leverage what Pittsburgh has spent generations perfecting: deep technical talent, an industrial economy and an ecosystem where groundbreaking ideas can move from the laboratory into the real world. The AI Strike Team is already thinking about how we can strengthen this connection, moving people, ideas, capital and companies between these two ecosystems to build the next generation of American industry.
I am equal parts awestruck by the magnitude of this historic investment and ready to roll up my sleeves to ensure Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania fully capitalize on this moment. Nearly four years ago, Farnam believed in our mission and what Pittsburgh could become. Today, we have an extraordinary opportunity to turn that vision into reality on a scale few could have imagined.
And to the entrepreneurs who will emerge around Carnegie Mellon in Miami: come build in Pittsburgh, too. We may have fewer nightclubs, but we have world-class talent, a cost of living where founders can actually build, plenty of grit and considerably fewer hurricanes.
Joanna Doven
CEO, AI Strike Team
