Entrepreneur urges state-backed community AI labs and reuse of surplus computing to help Georgia small businesses

James Harris, a serial entrepreneur affiliated with ATDC’s NorthStar Labs, told the Small Business Development committee that compute capacity—rather than connectivity—has become the key constraint for small businesses adopting AI.

Harris said NorthStar built an AI lab from surplus Georgia Tech equipment and, since July 2025, has hosted more than 450 business owners to test and prototype AI solutions. “Since then, we've had over 450 business owners come through and sit down with us and work through some AI problems with their business,” he said.

He asked the state to consider negotiating concessions with incoming data centers so a small percentage of bandwidth or dedicated local compute could be set aside for regional small‑business labs. Harris also proposed systematically repurposing end‑of‑life state and university equipment—particularly graphics cards and laptops—to stock local centers in Albany, Savannah, Columbus and Macon.

Harris argued this approach would help keep technology spending and technical work in Georgia rather than exporting subscription dollars to large cloud providers. He noted concerns about data security when using third‑party cloud services and said local compute could be a more secure option for some businesses.

During questions, Harris and an ATDC contact (John Avery, director of ATDC, referenced by Harris) explained that repurposing requires inventorying equipment, identifying usable graphics cards and assembling them at resource centers. Harris invited committee members to visit the lab and said state support—financial or through in‑kind equipment—would accelerate the model’s reach beyond Atlanta.

The committee expressed interest in follow‑up; no formal action or appropriation was proposed during the session.