CUNY Awards $3M to Advance AI Innovation, Including York Initiative

The City University of New York (CUNY) has awarded $3 million to support 113 campus-led initiatives through its new AI Innovation Fund, a one-year, systemwide grant program funded as part of Governor Hochul's ongoing commitment to position New York as a leader in artificial intelligence. Designed to leverage AI to advance teaching, research and student success, the program initiatives include micro-credentials and certificates as well as efforts to combat food insecurity and enhance career readiness.

“The CUNY AI Innovation Fund will harness artificial intelligence to support learning while safeguarding academic integrity and equity,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “These projects will transform our campuses into laboratories of AI exploration, empowering our community to pursue practical, responsible uses for AI. We thank Governor Hochul for her support, which will strengthen New York City’s position as a center for AI-driven research.”

Among the funded projects, York College will establish an AI‑enhanced, evidence‑based practice micro‑certificate that prepares students to apply artificial intelligence across allied health, nursing, biology, sociology, and psychology. The program will equip students with practical skills to integrate AI tools into research, clinical decision‑making, and professional practice, strengthening workforce readiness in high‑demand fields. By embedding AI into evidence‑based methodologies, York College’s initiative reinforces CUNY’s commitment to applied learning, innovation, and social impact.

Additional AI Innovation Fund focus areas include:

Student & Academic Support: Projects to create or enhance the use of AI for student support, including writing, tutoring, wellness and career centers. Examples include:

• Brooklyn College will use AI agents, a system that autonomously performs tasks, to address food insecurity, which is one of the biggest threats to student success. Learning from real-time data, the agent will analyze usage trends, evaluate staffing, forecast demand and optimize inventory to reduce waste.
• The CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy will create an AI-powered navigator to help students access mental health resources, legal support and health insurance information. The project will create a centralized hub to ensure CUNY’s diverse student population can access health, safety and wellness information.

AI in Courses: Projects intended to develop new courses or updates to integrate AI. Examples include:

• John Jay College of Criminal Justice will build a college-governed AI proxy website that provides students with access to premium AI models. AI is reshaping academic work, but high-quality AI models require paid access, creating a new digital divide between those with the financial means to benefit and those without. The system will use prepaid API credits purchased at institutional rates to offer students exposure to AI tools without incurring personal expenses.
• Borough of Manhattan Community College will infuse AI into CS0, CUNY's introductory computing Gen Ed Pathway course that reaches thousands of students annually. This faculty-centered approach trains full-time faculty as AI Faculty Fellows who will champion AI adoption, develop reusable curricular materials and mentor adjunct colleagues.

Addressing Ethical & Social Implications of AI: Initiatives that will examine the ethical, social and cultural implications of AI integration in education. Examples include:

• LaGuardia Community College will launch a 12-week practicum that educates students on the use of AI tools in service of incarcerated individuals. Students will learn to process and analyze legal and personal correspondence requests received via mail, using AI responsibly to bridge the digital access gap.
• CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies will create a multi‑part initiative centered on AI Education & Literacy for faculty and staff. The outcome of the project will be to convene an AI policy development session in which faculty and staff will draft the school’s first AI Policy Framework setting principles for ethical, equitable use of AI.

AI Education & Literacy: Programs to promote a deeper understanding of AI and create opportunities for faculty, students and staff to learn using AI tools. Examples include:

• Hostos Community College will embed AI literacy into the Hostos First-Year Seminar. The English Department will develop a curriculum to ensure that every incoming student receives foundational experience in responsible AI engagement.
• CUNY School of Law will equip writing center staff and faculty with access to AI software programs to create guidance and tip sheets on the use of AI programs for legal documents.
• Guttman Community College will develop a micro-credential to equip students with practical AI-supported workplace skills such as professional communications, case notes, client data retrieval and utilization, and reports.
• York College will establish an AI-enhanced, evidence-based practice micro-certificate to teach students how to apply AI in the fields of allied health, nursing, biology, sociology and psychology.
• Medgar Evers College will implement a simulation lab for aspiring social workers. Many students — particularly those balancing work, caregiving and financial strain — struggle to meet the intensive demands of traditional practicum hours. The lab will offer immersive practice simulations that mirror real-world interactions, allowing learners to practice assessment, rapport-building, decision-making and culturally responsive communication.

The investment from the Governor also enabled the University to launch the CUNY AI Lab, a faculty- and staff-led incubator for experimentation with AI. Located at the CUNY Graduate Center, the AI Lab team is developing tools to address teaching and research needs, such as a language partner to provide conversational practice; multilingual transcription; library assistants to automate cataloging and citations lookups; and purpose-built chatbots tailored to syllabi, readings and course materials.

Apart from the AI Innovation Fund, CUNY is home to more than 200 AI-related initiatives including a new AI postdoctoral fellowship, a new Master of Science in generative AI at CUNY SPS and a Bachelor of Science in data science and AI at Lehman College. Last August, the University launched CUNY AI for Everyone (AI-One) to give students across all majors the opportunity to build AI fluency and workforce skills.