Tech:NYC Digest: July 12

Tech:NYC Digest: July 12

July 12, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

In today’s digest, AI in the workplace, a proposal to track indoor air quality, and New York’s Emmy nominations. 

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  • City officials would be required to create standards to measure, report, and enforce air quality inside schools and municipal buildings under a pair of City Council bills introduced Wednesday. (Wall Street Journal)

  • Metro-North and Amtrak trains were running full passenger service Wednesday afternoon, after historic flooding shut down segments of railroad track for two days. (amNewYork)

    • Hudson Valley residents hit by 8 inches of rain on Sunday are transitioning to “repair recovery mode” as officials start the march toward getting federal disaster assistance and FEMA funding. (Gothamist)

  • For the binge-watchers who need to play some catchup: Today's Emmy nominations list several nods for Made in NY shows, including Succession, Only Murders in the Building, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. 

In other reading:

  • New York has the highest concentration of takeout lovers (TimeOut New York)

  • New York's in-office rate plunged below other cities' over the Fourth of July holiday (Crain’s New York Business) 

  • New York Has Perfect French Fries. Just Ask Los Angeles. (Eater NY)

Companies are ready to embrace artificial intelligence in the workplace — but that will come with some inevitable challenges and questions to be answered. 

While corporate leaders are excited about productivity and problem-solving gains from generative AI tools, they are also working to set policies to protect data security and privacy, writes The Washington Post.

FOMO or... FOMU? Executives are experiencing both “a fear of missing out and a fear of messing up,” as Danielle Benecke, the global head of the machine learning practice at the law firm Baker McKenzie, told the Washington Post. 

  • While some firms have banned or restricted the use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT in recent months, others are instead naming specific tasks where use is acceptable and tasks where it is not.

  • There is a growing number of workplace-focused AI products, from both startups and larger tech companies. 

Embracing AI in the workplace will take planning. Nearly two-thirds of 225 U.S. executives surveyed in March by KPMG believe generative AI will have a high or extremely high impact on their organization in the next three to five years.

  • The majority of executives were optimistic that generative AI can increase productivity, change the way people work, and encourage innovation. 

  • Nonetheless, about 60% of company leaders told KPMG they are still a year or two away from implementing their first generative AI solution.

Part of the challenge is balancing different skills. Organizations, a recent Harvard Business Review column said, “need to think about where and how this technology will be used to assist people in their work — where people and machines will collaborate — and where either people or AI have skills that give them a clear advantage.” 

In other reading:

  • Where’s AI headed in the workplace? VCs weigh in (Tech Brew)

  • Gmail's new tools make it even easier to set up a meeting (Engadget)

  • Leaders, your employees probably hate meetings. But teams can measure their true cost (Fast Company)

  • Flagship, a NYC-based retail inventory planning platform, raised $5 million in seed funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by Dream Ventures, Essential Capital, Klemhurst, Future Archives, AUFI Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins.

  • Gondi, a NYC-based NFT protocol for lenders, raised $5.4 million in seed funding. Hack VC and Foundation Capital co-led the round and were joined by Dragonfly Capital, Pantera Capital, and 6th Man Ventures.

  • Vellum, a NYC-based generative AI prompting startup, raised $5 million in seed funding. Participating investors include Rebel Fund, Eastlink Capital, Pioneer Fund, Y Combinator, and a group of angels.

Forum Ventures is accepting applications for its next accelerator program. The four-month program offers selected early-stage B2B SaaS startups with a $100K investment, mentorship on establishing product market fit, customer introductions, and other resources. Learn more and apply on a rolling basis here.BLCK VC is accepting applications for its next Breaking into Venture cohort. The nine-week program is designed for early-career Black professionals looking to transition into the venture capital industry. Learn more and apply by July 14 here.The Grand Central Tech Residency Program is accepting applications for its Fall 2023 cohort. Selected startups receive free office rent for a year, as well as other community and programming benefits. Learn more and apply by July 15 here.The Environmental Tech Lab, a public-private initiative between the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Partnership Fund for New York City, is accepting applications for its inaugural cohort. The Lab is seeking early- and growth-stage companies with data and operations solutions to help solve pressing challenges facing the city’s water and wastewater network. Learn more at the info session on July 26 here and apply by August 23 here.

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