The Rise, Fall and Possible Rise Again of San Francisco’s Downtown | WSJ

San Francisco's downtown suffered an exodus of workers and businesses during the pandemic. These closures followed the disappearance or scaling back of some of the city’s most prominent corporate tenants like Facebook and Salesforce. But recently there have been small signs of a turnaround. With the AI boom hitting the Golden Gate City and new government policies helping streamline the permitting process for new businesses, San Francisco’s economy could be making a turn. WSJ explores whether these new city policies and fresh commercial interest can return San Francisco’s downtown to its former glory. 0:00 Exodus of workers and businesses 1:14 Vacant office space 2:27 AI boom in San Francisco 4:04 Local business owner 5:31 Revitalizing downtown San Francisco News Explainers Some days the high-speed news cycle can bring more questions than answers. WSJ’s news explainers break down the day's biggest stories into bite-size pieces to help you make sense of the news. #SanFrancisco #AI #WSJ