Friday, April 4, 2025

April 04, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Friday, April 4, 2025 

Welcome to another Friday edition of the Tech:NYC Digest, featuring our favorite five highlights in New York tech this week — plus an AI-generated cartoon of the week!

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  • Nonprofits get $10 million grant from Google to expand AI (Mashable) 

    • The Tech:NYC Foundation is proud to be a key partner in a new initiative to equip nonprofits with essential AI skills, taking our Decoded Futures to another level. 🚀 

      • Through Google’s AI Opportunity Fund, Decoded Futures provides tailored technical assistance, training, resources, and $5,000 (which can climb up to $100K!) to help these orgs adopt and implement AI solutions effectively. 

      • "By connecting nonprofits with accessible AI training, we're equipping them with the tools to streamline operations, enhance their impact, and ultimately, better serve our community," said Julie Samuels, President and CEO of Tech:NYC.

    The power of connection: Lessons from an Upper West Sider in the highest pawffice (West Side Rag) 

    • Simon of Riverside Drive is not your average basset hound-cattle dog mix living on the Upper West Side — he’s also the official Dog Mayor of New York City. 

      • Sworn in just two months ago on the steps of City Hall, he’s the second Dog Mayor in the city’s history, succeeding basset hound Sally Long Dog of East Village. 🐕

      • Stephen Calabria, a media producer and dog lover, founded the Honorary NYC Dog Mayor Elections to bring joy and foster community despite all the chaos of general politics. 

    Uber to host pop-up showcasing commonly lost items in Flatiron with giveaways (amNY)

    • Uber is hosting a pop-up next Tuesday to showcase the items riders have left behind over the last year.

      • Attendees can expect freebies of common lost items like headphones, umbrellas, and even burgers (in honor of the person who left 175 cheeseburgers in an Uber this year). 

      • Here’s hoping the phone I left in an Uber four years ago shows up.

    American cities can help propel the U.S. tech industry forward (Forbes)

    • How can the U.S. maintain its competitive edge in the global tech race? One strategy: By closing the economic divide in our tech workforce. 

      • Look no further than NYC for an example — through programs like FutureReadyNYC (which the Tech:NYC Foundation partners on), the city is leading the way in connecting employers with youth underrepresented in tech.

    A mostly microscopic sign of spring (New York Times)

    • Ahh, springtime is here at last: Warmer days, flowers blooming, and… the Hudson River turning green?! That’s right, ’tis the season for phytoplankton, which turn the Hudson its unappealing color, but are “actually an indicator that we have a quite healthy estuary.”

      • SpongeBob could not be reached for comment.

Here’s your AI-generated cartoon of the week, conceived entirely by humans.

  • Tech:NYC prompted ChatGPT to create a black-and-white one-panel cartoon.

    • The concept for the cartoon was entirely thought of by a human, and a human put on the finishing touches manually. But AI drew the bulk of it.

Click on the image for a bonus NYC story!

Submit your own human-conceived, AI-generated cartoon to [email protected] for a chance to be featured in an upcoming Friday Digest!

See you next week, New York! Bye, bye, bye! 👋

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