Tech:NYC Digest: October 4

Tech:NYC Digest: October 4

October 04, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

In today’s digest, making mass transit more climate resilient, why New York’s next tech hub could be upstate, and how AI will reshape the workweek. 

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  • As last weekend’s flash floods made apparent, New York’s mass transit system is in dire need of climate resilience upgrades, according to a report published by the MTA today. (Gothamist)

    • The report claims at least 400 miles of subway tracks and half of Metro-North’s Hudson Line need upgrades to combat extreme weather conditions. State legislation required the mTA to publish a 20-year needs assessment this year.

  • As it turns out, massive, 30,000-attendee concerts plus major rainfall isn’t good for NYC’s greenspaces! Central Park’s 12-acre Great Lawn will be closed through April due to flooding damages from the Global Citizen Festival last month. (New York Times)

In other reading:

  • The Syracuse-Rochester-Buffalo alliance making a strong case for tech hub funding (Syracuse Post-Standard)

  • How Not to Get Bed Bugs From Everyone Returning From Paris Fashion Week (Curbed)

  • Where to Eat in October: NYC’s best restaurants right now (Grub Street)

Move over, four-day workweeks. There’s a new trend in town (according to Jamie Dimon at least): the 3.5-day workweek, thanks to AI. (Bloomberg)

  • The JPMorgan CEO said in an interview this week that AI is already being used by thousands of employees at the bank and is likely to make “dramatic improvements” in workers’ work-life balance, even if it eliminates some jobs.

Yes, but: AI and other automated software tools aren’t a replacement for talent. 

  • The most effective use of AI in the workplace will function to take care of the mundane, tedious tasks where workers still spend a disproportionate amount of time.

  • In his annual talent keynote yesterday, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky said “AI is already accelerating the need for a skill-first mindset [...] and the teams and leaders who will succeed most in the coming years are those starting to figure things out right now.”

There’s no stopping AI hiring: Nearly half of the generative AI job postings in the past year were in the US tech hubs you’d expect: the Bay Area, New York, Boston, and Seattle.

  • This summer, positions seeking people with AI-related skills climbed by 14%, according to data from CompTIA.

  • On Tech:NYC’s own jobs board, which aggregates all open roles across our member companies, nearly 300 current openings are seeking AI-specific skills.

In other reading:

  • What Do I Need to Know About Post-Pandemic Workplace Etiquette? (Harvard Business Review)

  • How ChatGPT can actually make workers perform worse, according to a new study (Insider)

  • Companies like Accenture are investing in reverse mentorship. Here’s why (Fast Company)

  • Blackbird Labs, a NYC-based restaurant rewards startups, raised $24 million in Series A funding. A16z led the round and was joined by Amex Ventures, Bolt (QED), Union Square Ventures, Shine, Variant, Quality Branded, Rustic Canyon Family, Souvla, and Brooks Reitz.

  • Lex, a Brooklyn-based LGBTQIA+ social app, raised $5.6 million in seed funding. Stellation Capital led the round and was joined by Slauson & Co, Hope Lab Ventures, Best Nights VC, Great Oaks, Graph Ventures, Female Founders Fund, Alpaca Ventures, Red Swan, and Gaingels. 

  • Reserv, a NYC-based AI platform to process insurance claims, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Altai Ventures and Bain Capital Ventures led the round and were joined by 8VC, Outpost Ventures, Convex Group, AXIS Capital, Anthemis Ventures, and Arch Capital Group.

  • RQD* Clearing, a NYC-based clearing platform for financial traders, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Participating investors include Nyca Partners and ABN Amro.

  • October 11: In-person: 2023 Tech Summit, featuring Altana AI CEO Evan Smith, Google Head of Trust & Safety David Graff, Esusu Co-CEO Wemimo Abbey, US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and others. Hosted by Tech:NYC and Crain’s New York Business. Use code TECHS23 for discounted tickets by registering here.

  • October 12: In-person: Innovation and Collaboration in New York’s Government, with MTA CEO Janno Lieber, NYC Chief Efficiency Officer Denise Clay, LinkNYC Chief Administrative Officer Margaux Knee, and others. Hosted by City & State. Use code TECHNYC23 for 50% off tickets by registering here.

  • October 18: In-person: NY Enterprise Tech Meetup, with Grafana Labs COO Doug Hanna, Vercel VP of Product Jared Palmer, and Apollo senior director of develop experience Peggy Rayzis. Hosted by Work-Bench. Register here.

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