At Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, robots are being trained to use artificial intelligence to do everyday tasks. One curvy, tubelike robot with a claw for a hand is learning how to hang clothes. Another is being trained to help people get dressed – it can grab onto a sleeve and pull it up a person’s arm.

The robots are examples of something called physical AI: essentially, robots that use artificial intelligence to perceive their environment and make decisions with some degree of autonomy. The university sees physical AI as a technological frontier where it can plant a flag – and it’s doing this work in a building that carries echoes of Pittsburgh’s industrial past.

In a passageway between lab rooms at the institute – housed in what a top faculty member says used to be the Bureau of Mines – a pair of tracks mark the path where steel mining carts used to bring equipment to be inspected. It’s a visible reminder of Pittsburgh’s steel boom, which brought in a massive wave of manufacturing and job growth until the industry collapsed in the early 1980s.

Now, Pittsburgh is banking on being a leader in a potential new industrial revolution. With a pool of talent from Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh, the city ranks No. 7 on the Brookings Institution’s benchmarking of nearly 200 U.S. artificial intelligence hubs. City leaders promote Pittsburgh’s potential to be a global AI hub. They say the AI revolution is a natural extension of the region’s industrial history, and will bring in blue-collar jobs by way of data center construction. They also say Pittsburgh’s culture means its AI innovation is focused on technologies that can solve significant problems for people.

“We’re not a land of dating apps,” says Meredith Meyer Grelli, the managing director of Carnegie Mellon’s Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. “We’re like, figure [stuff] out that makes the world a better place to be in.”

As with all bets, Pittsburgh’s wager on AI comes with risks. After a decades-long economic slump, the AI boom has brought venture capital to the city, with investment reaching a record high of $999 million last year. But AI is still a new industry, and it’s not yet clear whether people will flock to robots that could empty their dishwashers or perform surgeries. A number of high-profile figures like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman suggest investors have become overexcited about the technology – and if they pull back, the boom could fizzle.

Michael Keaton was in the Strip District on Monday for the inaugural induction ceremony at Pittsburgh’s Walk of Fame. 

The new tourist attraction in front of the Strip District Terminal on Smallman Street at 19th honors southwestern Pennsylvanians who have left their mark not just on Pittsburgh but on the world. 

George Benson, Nellie Bly, Andrew Carnegie, Rachel Carson, Roberto Clemente, Fred Rogers, Jonas Salk and August Wilson were also among the inductees.

Keaton, an actor who has appeared in movies like “Beetlejuice,” “Batman” and “The Founder,” was at the ribbon-cutting and induction ceremony on Monday morning. 

“It’s true what everyone says about these people, it is. I was just in New York City and I was in a car, driving with a cab driver, I think, or someone was taking me somewhere, and he said, ‘Everyone I know from Pittsburgh loves being from Pittsburgh.’ And it’s true. Such a great place,” Keaton said. 

Pittsburgh’s Walk of Fame features 10 granite blocks, with each stone embedded with a braonze star and plaque honoring the inductees. The nonprofit behind the project asked the public for nominations before picking the inaugural class. Nominations will be open again in January.