Artificial intelligence company Aaru plans to add more than 650 jobs in New York City over the next five years, expanding its Manhattan workforce from about 60 employees to more than 700.
Empire State Development has offered the company up to $13.12 million in performance-based Excelsior tax credits tied to creating 650 jobs and investing $109 million in research and development, according to a news release from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office.
Expansion near Union Square
The company plans to lease and fit out more than 27,000 square feet of office space near Union Square and establish its research and development center in New York.
New positions will span software engineering, computer and information technology research, product development, enterprise sales, client management and business operations. The hiring would substantially expand a company that Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight said was founded in the city two years ago.
Aaru uses artificial intelligence to help businesses test products and ideas before bringing them to market. The company describes its technology as using language models and coordinated AI simulations to model human behavior across populations, supporting product development, marketing and business strategy.
Co-founder and CEO Cameron Fink said the company deliberately chose to build in New York City because of its diverse talent pool, proximity to major businesses and history of innovation. Those factors also informed the founders’ decision to keep the company’s next stage of growth in the city.
State points to broader technology hiring
Hochul linked Aaru’s expansion to state investments in computing capacity, research and talent. Knight said the expansion would strengthen the company’s New York presence and create longer-term economic opportunities.
The governor’s office also cited other announced technology investments. Since 2024, financial technology companies including PayPal and iCapital have committed to thousands of new jobs and expanded operations in New York City, the release said.
London-based voice AI company ElevenLabs announced plans for 230 jobs in Midtown Manhattan, while Radical AI announced plans to convert office space into a materials science laboratory in Brooklyn, creating 115 jobs.
Citing CBRE’s 2026 Scoring Tech Talent report, the governor’s office said the New York metropolitan area employs nearly 395,000 technology workers and surpassed the San Francisco Bay Area for the first time in the report’s 13-year history. It also said technology employment in New York City has grown at nearly 10 times the pace of the city’s overall economy.
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