Tech:NYC Digest: January 9

Tech:NYC Digest: January 9

January 09, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Monday, January 9, 2023

In today’s digest, the prevailing COVID risks to watch this winter, ranked-choice voting makes a big return in 2023, and what ChatGPT bans get wrong about the future of education. 

  • Join us Jan. 17: For the first edition of our monthly speaker series in 2023, we’re chatting with longtime investor and Adobe chief product officer Scott Belsky. Register here.

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  • More than 7,000 nurses from two of NYC’s largest hospitals went on strike today over salary and staffing policies as hospitals prepare for an uptick in “tripledemic” RSV, flu, and COVID-19 cases across the city. (New York Times)

  • The apex of the winter season always also means a COVID-19 surge, and the latest XBB.1.5 variant, considered to be the most contagious, now makes up over 70% of new cases in the metro region. (NBC New York)

  • The 2023 election cycle in NYC will include races for all 51 members of the City Council, beginning with primary contests in June, and they’ll all be conducted using the ranked-choice voting system previously used for other primaries and special elections. (Gothamist)

  • Perhaps one of your New Year’s resolutions is to be more civically involved? Join your local community board! More info on how to apply here.

In other reading:

  • New York can rebound from COVID, if we’re smart (New York Daily News)

  • What Should New York Homebuyers Expect in 2023? (Curbed)

  • The 5 Best Dishes to Try at the New Food Hall in Union Square (Eater NY)

You have no doubt seen a lot of conversation on ChatGPT’s meteoric rise and the impacts it will have on educational institutions.

  • ICYMI: Last week, the NYC Dept. of Education banned ChatGPT from its networks and devices over concerns that it hinders student learning.

  • Individual schools can still request access to the site if they’re planning to study the technology behind the chatbot, according to the department.

It’s easy to acknowledge the concerns: education officials are worried the tool makes cheating easier and “effectively ends the essay as a way for teachers to assess student progress.”

But AI isn’t going anywhere: Just like in virtually all industries, technology is quickly transforming education, and AI will be increasingly available when today’s K-12 students become adults and enter the workforce.  

Brooklyn Bridge Ventures partner Charlie O’Donnell wrote a comprehensive post looking at the dynamics at play, and he says it’s incumbent upon us to prepare them to engage with it effectively and responsibly:

  • “By trying to keep them away from AI and failing to help them discover productive and positive uses for it, we’re going to have a whole generation of kids that will fall further behind the rest of the world in technological proficiency. These kids should be learning how to train their own AI models. They should be debating the ethics of it.”

Fred Wilson, Tech:NYC’s chair, also wrote on the topic today — he says we “cannot put this genie back in the bottle” and that it offers a more constructive opportunity:

  • “I think a better approach would be to require students to use ChatGPT to write an essay or at least help write an essay and then have the students compete to see who can leverage this technology to create the best essay. That would teach the students to use these tools rather than pretend they don’t exist.”

Our takeaway: NYC is home to the largest public school system in the country — the rules it makes can set a sweeping precedent for the rest of the country. Embracing and integrating AI in education, instead of avoiding its inevitability, is the better path to student success.

In other reading:

  • What the job market could look like in 2023, based on a surprisingly strong end to 2022 (CNBC)

  • Zillow CEO Rich Barton: Traditional offices are as outdated as typewriters. Employers need to adapt. (USA Today)

  • The best (and strangest) tech we found at CES 2023 (Washington Post)

  • Caden, a NYC-based zero-party personal data platform, raised $6 million in seed funding. Streamlined Ventures led the round and was joined by Industry Ventures, Montage Ventures, Akuna Capital, and Lightning Capital, as well as insiders AME Cloud Ventures and 107 Capital. (Wall Street Journal)

  • Glowbar, a NYC-based skincare brand, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Peterson Partners led the round. (WWD)

  • Recast, a Brooklyn-based AI platform for marketers, raised $3.4 million in seed extension funding. Lerer Hippeau led the round and was joined by Good Friends, Data Tech Fund, Vibe Capital, and a group of angels. (Newswire)

  • January 10: In-person and virtual: SVB Fundraising Workshop, with Brooklyn Bridge Ventures partner Charlie O’Donnell. Hosted by Silicon Valley Bank. Register here.

  • January 11: Virtual: The Path Forward: Venture Capital, with Acrew Capital founding partner Theresia Guow. Hosted by the Washington Post. Register here.

  • January 17: In-person: Cornell Tech @ Bloomberg Speaker Series, featuring Adobe chief product officer Scott Belsky. Hosted by Tech:NYC, Bloomberg, and Cornell Tech. Register here.

  • January 18: In-person: Building a Marketplace: Advice for Founders and Product Teams, with AptDeco CEO Reham Fagiri, Grailed CEO Arun Gupta, and Transfix CTO Jonathan Salama. Hosted by Union Square Ventures and Stacklist. Register here.

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