Boston Seizes on California Billionaire Tax to Lure AI Talent

The talent at some of America’s hottest artificial intelligence companies often passes through Boston-area universities before heading west to build billion-dollar businesses in Silicon Valley. Massachusetts business and political leaders say California’s proposed tax on billionaires is an opportunity to change that.

Home to Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and scores of biotechnology startups, Massachusetts has struggled to date to leverage what should be a built-in advantage when it comes to the AI boom that’s powering much of the nation’s economic growth.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu leads an innovation summit with Harvard University Professor Ed Glaeser at Harvard’s David Rubenstein Treehouse conference center last month.

Photographer: John Wilcox

Of the 20 most valuable venture-backed US AI companies, half have co-founders who ...