Washington CORE sat down with Dr. Kollin Napier, Director of the Mississippi Artificial Intelligence Network (MAIN), to learn how one of America’s most overlooked states is rewriting the AI playbook. Founded in 2023, MAIN is the nation’s first fully statewide AI network, built through unprecedented coordination across Mississippi’s 15 community colleges, 8 public universities, and industry giants like NVIDIA, Intel, and OpenAI.

Napier shared how MAIN’s model brings AI education and workforce development to every corner of the state, including rural and underserved areas, while catalyzing innovation in manufacturing, agriculture, cybersecurity, healthcare, and energy. From hosting OpenAI workshops to deploying Intel’s AI curriculum, Mississippi is turning vision into infrastructure.

WCORE’s interview with Napier highlights how public-private partnerships and grassroots leadership are enabling even economically challenged regions to thrive in the AI era.

The full conversation is available by paid subscription through Nikkei Governance. You can read more about it here in Japanese.