From major companies expanding their artificial intelligence centers to Waymo cars navigating around the city’s streets, Atlanta is rapidly transitioning into an Artificial Intelligence powerhouse.

Jonathan Goldberg, an employee at Google, said he notices multinational organizations starting to heavily expand their brands into the metro Atlanta area. Several of these major companies, such as Microsoft and GreyOrange, have begun relocating billion-dollar AI centers and headquarters to the city because of its development over the past couple of years.

“Atlanta is perfectly suited to be an AI hub, and there are several reasons that’s true,” Goldberg said. “One is that a lot of large organizations are standing up big installations here that service mostly AI from a capacity perspective. Google [and] Microsoft have spun up big buildings, big facilities and have a lot of people working there. Therefore, a lot of headquarter locations are being moved to Atlanta.”

As AI grows within Atlanta, employment opportunities expand with it. Several jobs have been taken over by AI, such as computer programming, call centres and content generation, but when new technological advancements increase, jobs pertaining to them open new employment doors as well. Such positions include machine learning engineer, AI research scientist, data scientist and AI product managers.

“I know there are a lot of roles that are going to be eliminated,” Goldberg said. “And a lot of those roles are gonna be roles of people who used to be the most coveted members of teams, like computer programmers. I think that’s concerning from that type of perspective. I will say that with any technological transformation that’s happened in history…? It’s always taken certain jobs, made them redundant and opened up the door for those minds to be used for solving bigger problems and challenges.”

With the rapid innovation of AI, certain industries are expected to be completely transformed in the near future. Healthcare worker Amy Lambert said she sees a bright future in the use of AI for medical purposes and expects it to escalate in usage quickly.

“Healthcare will definitely be affected by improving AI,” Lambert said. “You have a better ability to read an image or provide a recommendation based on a test result with AI. You can do things a million times a minute with AI, while you would need a million doctors to do that same thing without it. That type of thing is going to revolutionize healthcare.”

Other jobs in the financial corporations are being affected as well. Investment firms, banks and data analytics companies are increasingly relying on AI in their daily operations. Routine tasks for these companies are becoming completely taken over by AI. However, new job opportunities in these fields are being created to combat the jobs being eliminated.

“Financial services is also another area where AI is incredibly valuable because you’re able to do predictive models,” Goldberg said. “You’re able to give AI programs years and years of data, and it can build a product very quickly. So I think financial services are too, the biggest, most right for innovation.”

Not only is AI affecting the current workforce, but it is starting to affect the upcoming generations. Senior Hayden Horn explained how, as she goes into college, she is beginning to think more deeply about what classes to take in college that will be more beneficial in the future.

“As I’ve been thinking about my major going into college in fall 2026, I have been making sure to keep an open mind to classes specifically in AI because I’m sure it will be a huge part of our world in the future, and it’s good to get a head start,” Horn said. “I think all industries, no matter what I end up majoring in, will be affected one way or another, which is really exciting but scary to think about because it requires more skill sets.”

Along with other major cities in the United States, Atlanta has become home to many AI-driven, electric vehicles called Waymos. As of this year, there are over 100 of these cars stationed in Atlanta that drive around the streets and can even pick up individuals who intended on getting a rideshare service from Uber. Sophomore Elene Kahkiani explains how her experience in a Waymo vehicle was exciting yet unsettling.

“I’ve been in a Waymo car while ubering a few times, but when I went on my first ride, it was really nerve-racking,”  Kahkiani said. “After a while, I got used to it because once I had seen how careful and well it drove, I felt even more safe than if it were a real person driving. It’s honestly crazy how fast technology is moving, especially with AI, and we are lucky to see this incredible change in society firsthand.”

The spread of misinformation, harmful uses and losing control over systems are all things that AI users and system builders consider. While there are rules and regulations put in place to prevent most of these issues, it is never guaranteed.

In future years, Atlanta is expected to integrate AI in residents’ everyday life. Future plans include introducing AI in government workplaces by arranging to invest in AI development and research. Government officials are determined to keep Atlanta ahead in technological advancements, furthering its economic growth.

“I’m most concerned about the way that AI can be perceived as a human, because it’s not a human, it’s really a code,” sophomore Adaline Bryant said. “That’s a really scary thing to think about because it creates a barrier of not knowing what to trust and misinformation. But in general, I think that this recent expansion of AI into the city of Atlanta is so incredible and will change the city in such a positive way in the near future.”