This Month's Latest Tech News in Columbus, OH - Sunday August 31st 2025 Edition

Weekly commentary: Columbus at the intersection of AI momentum and local pragmatism - Brookings finds the metro ranks in the top 25% nationwide for AI talent, innovation and adoption, a signal that Columbus is moving beyond talk to measurable readiness (Brookings: Columbus AI readiness report).

Local reporting and ecosystem roundups show billions in infrastructure commitments, busy accelerators, and a stacked events calendar like Columbus AI Week, all juxtaposed with hard city-level tradeoffs - data-center demand is already driving up utility costs (reports cite increases up to $27/month) and pushing civic conversations about governance and equitable workforce access (JoinETA: Columbus AI ecosystem roundup).

That mix makes practical reskilling vital: programs such as Nucamp's AI Essentials for Work - Nucamp 15-week bootcamp aim to turn regional momentum into real, on-the-job capability for nontechnical employees and employers alike.

Bootcamp	Length	Early-bird Cost	Register
AI Essentials for Work	15 Weeks	$3,582	Nucamp AI Essentials for Work - Register & Syllabus

“Columbus and Ohio are proving that the future of AI isn't confined to the coasts. From billion-dollar investments to statewide education initiatives, this region is building one of the most dynamic and inclusive AI ecosystems in the country.” - Summer Crenshaw, CEO, Enterprise Technology Association

1) Ohio Supercomputer Center partners with Ohio University to create Cardinal endcap using HPC-hosted generative AI - On a rainy Friday last October, 14 Ohio University Digital Art + Technology students used OSC's newest cluster, Cardinal, to generate the collage-style endcap that now crowns the supercomputer, a hands-on project that married creative practice with high-performance compute.

The partnership - part of a curriculum that integrated Stable Diffusion Automatic 1111 on OSC's systems and made the tool available via the Open OnDemand portal - let students iterate “dozens” of AI images in an hour instead of waiting overnight, unlocking more ambitious visual experiments rooted in Ohio imagery from campus squirrels to state landscapes.

OSC and OHIO framed the work as both technical training and an ethics exercise, emphasizing responsible datasets and artistic integrity as students left a lasting visual mark on a Top500/Green500-class cluster that supports research across AI, data science and engineering; see the Ohio University digital art and technology writeup for project details and the Ohio Supercomputer Center 2024–25 Research Report for technical and program context.

Contributing artists
Basil Masri Zada, Ph.D.
Hannah Dickerson
Mason Mauzy
Peridot Smith
Addie Smith
Wren Denny
Shima Mousavizadeh Markieh
Sara Pirahmadian
Esther Yali-Williams
Faun Winthrop
Moss Conner
Sarah Shockey
Fynn Wiseman
Minjoon Lee

“It's important for students to understand how technology can enhance their artistic practice,” - Basil Masri Zada

2) Les Wexner and local leaders pitch Columbus as an AI + medtech hub - Billionaire Les Wexner has been blunt: Columbus is poised to become an international destination for artificial intelligence and medical technology, and he told the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center board that the city could host “probably the largest AI investment in the world” while drawing “100 more” medtech companies to the region; see the Columbus Dispatch coverage of Wexner's remarks and local context (Columbus Dispatch: Wexner predicts Columbus will become an AI and medical technology hub).

The pitch rests on concrete assets: a fast-growing biotech cluster anchored by OSU Wexner Medical Center and Nationwide Children's, major construction including OSU's nearly $2 billion hospital tower, and big private investments such as Amgen's $900M expansion and Pharmavite's $250M facility.

Local reporting and Business First coverage note university-led AI efforts - OSU runs federally funded institutes and joined an OpenAI-backed consortium - that aim to translate research into clinical tools (Columbus Business First: Ohio State AI initiatives and Wexner's vision), making Columbus feel less like a hopeful idea and more like a fast-moving regional strategy with tangible facilities, funding, and workforce pathways (OSU AICIIS: Division of Artificial Intelligence in Digital Health).

“probably the largest AI investment in the world will happen in Columbus” - Les Wexner

3) Microsoft slows or pauses a $1B Ohio data center project amid wider pacing - Microsoft confirmed in April that it is halting early-stage work on a planned $1 billion buildout across three central-Ohio campuses in Licking County (New Albany, Heath and Hebron), a sudden recalibration that disappointed local leaders and will leave two sites earmarked for farming rather than racks of servers; reporting from the U.S. News article "Microsoft says it's slowing or pausing some AI data center projects, including $1B plan for Ohio" (U.S. News coverage of Microsoft's paused $1B Ohio data center project) and Data Center Dynamics coverage (Data Center Dynamics analysis of Microsoft backing away from $1B Ohio data center plans) traces the decision to a strategic reassessment of multi-year, capital‑intensive planning as Microsoft balances booming AI demand with pacing and power, plus shifts in partner relationships; one vivid result: a planned 245,000 sq ft New Albany campus on roughly 200 acres and a $420M price tag is now on pause, underscoring how the AI infrastructure boom can pivot overnight and leave communities waiting for promised jobs and tax revenue.

Site	Acres	Planned Build	Planned Investment	Status
New Albany	~200	245,000 sq ft	$420M	Paused
Heath	227	Not specified	Part of $1B total	Paused / farmland planned
Hebron	223	Not specified	Part of $1B total	Paused / farmland planned
Total planned investment				$1 billion (paused)

“While we may strategically pace our plans, we will continue to grow strongly and allocate investments that stay aligned with business priorities and customer demand.” - Noelle Walsh, president of Microsoft Cloud Operations

4) Foxconn pivots Lordstown plant to AI server and cloud-hardware manufacturing - Reports this month confirm that Foxconn has sold the massive Lordstown, Ohio complex to SoftBank for about $375 million while remaining on-site to operate and retrofit the 6.2 million‑square‑foot facility for AI server and data‑center equipment production tied to SoftBank's Stargate initiative; Tom's Hardware and industry coverage note the site is six times larger than Foxconn's Houston AI plant and could become a core U.S. hub for cloud and networking gear (Tom's Hardware coverage of SoftBank acquisition of Foxconn's Ohio facility, Manufacturing Dive report on Foxconn and SoftBank data center equipment factory).

Local officials are already flagging utility and grid questions - FirstEnergy says major transmission and reliability upgrades are underway - so the pivot is as much an infrastructure test as an industrial reinvention, with the former GM plant's sheer scale offering a vivid reminder of how quickly Ohio's manufacturing past is morphing into AI infrastructure present.

Buyer	Operator	Sale Price	Footprint	Planned Use
SoftBank	Foxconn (will continue to operate)	$375 million	6.2 million sq ft	AI servers, cloud & data‑center hardware

“the arrangement with SoftBank has been in preparation for over six months.” - Foxconn chairman Young Liu

5) Columbus launches Next-Generation 911 with video sharing and AI text translation - The City of Columbus has rolled out NG911 upgrades that let call takers send a secure link to a caller's phone camera (a PSAP‑initiated, “one‑way FaceTime”) and use AI-powered Text‑to‑911 translation to break language barriers and speed response.

Delivered with Intrado, the deployment adds multimedia sharing and automated language/dialect detection that translates inbound SMS in real time (press reports note support for 55 languages) and builds on an ECC that handled more than 31,000 texts in 2024; read Intrado's NG911 announcement for the technical overview and the city case study for how crews trained and secured consent for video sharing.

For a city where roughly one in five residents aren't native English speakers, the practical payoff is clear: clearer context for fires, crashes, and medical emergencies so first responders arrive with better information and dispatchers can act faster while preserving privacy and control.

Feature	Notes
Video-to-911	PSAP-initiated multimedia; one-way camera link to caller's device
Text-to-911 Translation	AI detects language/dialect in under one second; real-time translation; supports ~55 languages
ECC activity (2024)	Handled 31,000+ text messages

“In less than one second, our AI technology detects the language and dialect used in a 911 text message and provides an accurate translation… shaves precious seconds off of the time it takes for telecommunicators to assess the severity of an incident and initiate an appropriate response - elevating the probability of a positive outcome.” - D. Jeremy DeMar, Intrado

6) Federal preemption removal preserves state authority for AI regulation - a win for Ohio lawmakers - Congress's decision to strip the proposed moratorium from H.R.1.

kept state and local governments in the driver's seat for AI rules, ensuring Ohio legislators can continue shaping consumer protections, workplace safeguards, and sector-specific standards rather than ceding them to a one-size-fits-all federal pause; reporting and analysis trace the arc from a House proposal for a multi‑year ban (originally a 10‑year moratorium) to a Senate 99–1 vote during a marathon “vote‑a‑rama” that removed the measure and left the final bill, signed July 4, 2025, without a statewide enforcement pause (see detailed analysis from Carnegie's Emissary and the legal timeline at Orrick).

The practical effect: state-by-state experimentation remains the default pathway, giving Ohio a clear opening to craft targeted AI rules while the federal government signals preference for coordination without immediate preemption.

Item	Detail
House proposal	10‑year moratorium (original)
Senate revision	Shortened/contested (5‑year proposal considered)
Senate action	99–1 vote to remove moratorium during vote‑a‑rama
Final outcome	H.R.1 signed July 4, 2025 - no federal enforcement pause

“We're still gonna work it, and hopefully we're gonna have to have state preemption in the end.” - Brett Guthrie

7) Ohio Senate Bill 163 proposes criminal penalties for AI-generated child sexual imagery and watermarking requirements - introduced by Sens. Louis Blessing and Terry Johnson, SB 163 would expand Ohio's obscenity and identity-fraud statutes to cover “artificially generated” depictions, criminalizing the creation or distribution of AI-produced child sexual abuse material (third-degree felony) and possession (fourth-degree felony), while also banning use of AI to replicate a person's likeness for fraud or sexual exploitation; the bill requires a distinctive, machine‑readable watermark embedded in metadata so AI outputs can be identified, and it allows the attorney general and private citizens to sue for removed or missing watermarks, a combination supporters call a practical guardrail as Ohio moves from policy laggard to proactive regulator (see the bill text at the Ohio Legislature, reporting on the penalties and watermark rule in the Columbus Dispatch, and coverage from the Ohio Capital Journal).

Provision	Key detail
Watermark	Machine‑readable data embedded in AI output metadata; removal actionable
CSAM prohibition	Creation/distribution: 3rd-degree felony; possession: 4th-degree felony
Identity fraud	Prohibits replica voice/likeness used to defraud or harm reputation
Enforcement	Ohio AG and private civil suits permitted
Sponsors	Sen. Louis W. Blessing III; Sen. Terry Johnson

“If you're peddling in child pornography, even if it's artificially intelligence generated it's effectively the same thing.” - Louis Blessing

Read the SB 163 bill text at the Ohio Legislature | Columbus Dispatch coverage of penalties and watermark rule | Ohio Capital Journal reporting on SB 163

8) OCLC layoffs highlight workforce disruption tied to AI and federal funding uncertainty - Dublin‑based library nonprofit OCLC reduced roughly 80 central‑Ohio positions this month, citing “uncertainty in federal funding” and shifting technical demands as artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent, even as the organization still maintains WorldCat - a global catalog of more than 2.7 billion library materials (Columbus Dispatch OCLC layoffs report).

OCLC employs over 1,300 people worldwide and more than 800 in central Ohio; the company says new hires for other roles will leave a net reduction of about 50 jobs but offered no firm timeline for rehiring, and most current openings remain hybrid roles based in Dublin.

The cuts land against a broader funding squeeze - the Institute of Museum and Library Services supports roughly $7 million a year to Ohio libraries - creating a sharp, local example of how federal grant uncertainty plus AI-driven automation can ripple from back‑end metadata teams to community services.

For those watching sector trends, the image is stark: a mission‑critical catalog serving thousands of libraries while local desks are suddenly quieter.

Item	Detail
Organization	OCLC (Dublin‑based nonprofit)
WorldCat size	More than 2.7 billion library materials
Global employees	~1,300
Central Ohio employees	More than 800
Positions cut (Central Ohio)	About 80
Net job reduction	About 50 after planned hires
IMLS funding to Ohio	~$7 million annually

“These are always difficult decisions, and we provide transition support to people who are affected.” - Bob Murphy, OCLC spokesperson

9) Ohio Third Frontier awards $1.1M to medtech and AI startups to accelerate commercialization - The Ohio Third Frontier Commission approved just over $1.1 million from its Technology Validation and Start‑up Fund (TVSF) to push six lab‑licensed projects toward prototypes, regulatory milestones and pilot studies, from Airelon's AI document‑sorting system to Recall Therapeutics' gene therapy for Alzheimer's and Visano's nanobubble imaging for prostate biopsies.

The mix also includes Auxilium's antibiotic‑free wound dressing, RNA Nanotherapeutics' next‑gen RNA cancer therapy, and WhichFoodsR's at‑home IBD inflammation test, all chosen to bridge the gap between research and market-ready products; see the TVSF roundup at MyFOX28 Columbus coverage of Ohio Third Frontier awards to medtech and AI startups and regional detail at Crain's Cleveland analysis of regional TVSF funding.

These targeted, modest awards are a practical reminder: small state bets on validation work can unlock riskier preclinical studies and attract follow‑on capital, giving promising clinical technologies a clearer runway to scale.

Company	Location	Grant	Focus
Airelon LLC	Lewis Center	$200,000	AI system that organizes digital records (licensed from U.S. Navy)
Auxilium Health, Inc.	Cleveland	$200,000	Antibiotic‑free wound dressing for diabetic foot ulcers
Recall Therapeutics LLC	Beachwood	$192,956	Gene therapy targeting memory restoration in Alzheimer's (asprosin)
RNA Nanotherapeutics LLC	Mason	$200,000	RNA therapy to overcome breast cancer treatment resistance
Visano Theranostics Inc	Fairview Park	$170,000	Nanobubble imaging to improve prostate biopsy accuracy
WhichFoodsR	Solon	$200,000	At‑home intestinal inflammation test and companion app for IBD

“Ohio is committed to investing in the technologies that are shaping the world of tomorrow… transforming bold ideas into life-changing breakthroughs.” - Lydia Mihalik, Ohio Department of Development

10) Brookings and local analyses rank Columbus as AI-ready - validation and next steps - A new Brookings analysis puts Columbus in the top 25% of U.S. metros for AI talent, innovation and adoption, a tidy validation that the region's universities, startups and employers are stacking the right assets to compete beyond the coasts (Brookings Columbus AI readiness report on Ohio Excels).

The study's framework - talent, innovation, and adoption - makes clear where Columbus should double down: workforce pipelines, university–industry translation, and targeted infrastructure and policy support rather than broad hype.

Local coverage and national digests note the same playbook: leverage academic strength, align training to employer needs, and invest where compute and connectivity meet demand (Route Fifty analysis of Brookings AI readiness categories).

The upshot is practical: Columbus isn't just in the conversation - it's earned a measurable standing, and the next move is converting that ranking into jobs and scalable companies, not just headlines.

Item	Detail
Brookings finding	Columbus ranks in the top 25% for AI talent, innovation, and adoption
Readiness pillars	Talent · Innovation · Adoption
Next steps	Workforce development, university–industry translation, infrastructure & policy support

“University presence is a tremendous influence on success here.” - Mark Muro

Conclusion: Managing growth - policy, workforce, and inclusive innovation - Columbus's climb to a Brookings top‑25% AI‑readiness ranking is real, but turning headline momentum into durable opportunity means hard tradeoffs: policymakers must pair targeted infrastructure deals (Ohio drew roughly $60B in AI commitments) with rules that protect residents, and employers must invest in accessible training so rising utility costs and grid strains don't leave communities behind - some reports already flagging rate impacts up to $27/month (Enterprise Technology Association: What's Hot in Columbus AI Right Now).

Practical steps are visible: statewide education moves like OSU's AI‑fluency push, Smart Columbus's ConnectUs goal to upskill 10,000 residents, and JobsOhio incentives that tie relocation and hiring to real talent pipelines.

Converting capital into inclusive jobs will take governance that demands secure, explainable systems and widely available reskilling; for managers and nontechnical staff wanting hands‑on AI skills, Nucamp's 15‑week AI Essentials for Work bootcamp offers a workforce‑ready option to learn prompts, tools, and on‑the‑job applications (Brookings coverage of Columbus AI preparedness, Nucamp AI Essentials for Work bootcamp - Register).

Bootcamp	Length	Early‑bird Cost	Register
AI Essentials for Work	15 Weeks	$3,582	Register for the Nucamp AI Essentials for Work bootcamp

“Columbus and Ohio are proving that the future of AI isn't confined to the coasts. From billion-dollar investments to statewide education initiatives, this region is building one of the most dynamic and inclusive AI ecosystems in the country.” - Summer Crenshaw, CEO, Enterprise Technology Association