Anthropic, the San Francisco-based AI powerhouse, is taking over Manhattan.

The company, which has a valuation close to $1 trillion — making it worth more than any other AI startup — announced this week that it’s leasing a 16-story office building in Hudson Square.

What You Need To Know

Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot, is leasing a 16-story office building in Hudson Square and doubling its workforce in the city

OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, leased office space in SoHo two years ago

Gov. Hochul has promoted the state as AI-friendly and created the FutureWorks commission to navigate AI’s impact on the workforce

The maker of the Claude chatbot said it’s doubling its New York City workforce this year, growing to about 1,000 employees.

“For me, this is definitely good news,” said City Comptroller Mark Levine.

Levine has warned about the disruptive impact of AI and the threat it could pose to the city’s fiscal stability. But for now, at least, the industry is providing a boost.

“I’d rather have these tools being built here, so that we benefit from that economic vitality and so that it’s New Yorkers who are shaping these tools, people who ride the subway every day, diverse New Yorkers,” Levine said. “As opposed to people who are in the bubble of Silicon Valley.”

It’s not just Anthropic: OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, leased office space in SoHo two years ago.

Julie Samuels, the president and CEO of the industry group Tech:NYC, said AI and other tech firms are now primary drivers of the city’s economy.

“Here’s the thing about tech companies: Tech companies will go where the people they want to hire are,” she said. “And a lot of young, dynamic, smart people who want to work in tech love New York.”

Anthropic’s announcement included supportive statements from Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration and from Gov. Kathy Hochul, who’s promoted the state as AI-friendly.

Hochul created the FutureWorks commission to navigate AI’s impact on the workforce, chaired by Molly Kinder of the Brookings Institution and former U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez.

“New York state — and New York City — is in a position [where] it’s not surprising that it would get one of the fastest-growing companies in modern history to be attracted here for a big office,” Kinder said in an interview. “There’s huge opportunity that comes with that. And at the same time, it’s a place, a city, that’s going to change because of AI.”

New York has not been entirely welcoming to the AI industry. Albany lawmakers recently passed a one-year moratorium on large data centers at the same time Anthropic is planning a data center upstate.

Hochul has not yet acted on the bill. As for Mamdani, Anthropic’s expansion helps counter the narrative that his policies are driving away businesses.

“We appreciate any investment in our city,” the mayor told NY1 in an interview Thursday, “and we want our city to continue to have a strong economy. And we also want the strength of the economy to be measured by the way that it meets the needs of working people as well.”