Op-Ed: Artificial intelligence a new horizon for Florida’s economy

I grew up working Florida soil, the kind that teaches patience, persistence, and respect for what’s coming next season.

My family has farmed this land for generations, and one lesson agriculture drives home is this: the folks who study the change coming over the horizon are the ones who weather it best.

That’s how I’ve come to think about artificial intelligence. Not as something to fear, not as something to hype, but as the next big change on the horizon. And from where I sit, Florida is better positioned to lead it than just about any state in the country.

The numbers back that up. A new economic analysis projects AI will add somewhere between $81 billion and $121 billion to Florida’s economy by 2035. That’s not a rounding error. That’s comparable in scale to adding a brand new major industry to a state that is already the fourth-largest economy in the nation. And it’s not some distant forecast. The momentum is already here.

I’ve seen it in agriculture too. Precision sensors helping...