Friday, May 16, 2025

May 16, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Friday, May 16, 2025 

Welcome to another Friday edition of the Tech:NYC Digest, featuring our favorite five highlights in New York tech this week.

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Op-ed: How the city is helping small businesses bridge the digital advertising divide (Crain’s New York Business) 

  • Small businesses are the foundation of NYC’s diverse economy, generating $250 billion in direct economic impact and employing about 1 million workers. LinkNYC (a Tech:NYC member!) supports these businesses by increasing their visibility across the city.

    • The LinkNYC network of kiosks provides advertising, free WiFi, local directions, and device charging stations, expanding access to the digital tools New Yorkers need. 🛜

Chestnut tree giveaway in NYC aims to bring plant back from brink of extinction (Gothamist)

  • Scientists are on a mission to restore American chestnut trees to NYC. 🌰 While chestnut trees used to grow in abundance in the Northeast, a fatal fungus from imported Asian trees wiped out most of the trees in the early 1900s. 

    • But a new effort, launched by the New York Restoration Project, endeavors to plant 1,000 thriving American chestnuts hybridized with a blight-resistant Chinese tree across five boroughs.

    • New Yorkers can sign up to receive free seedlings here.

A celebration of pigeons? They have their fans. (New York Times)

  • The festival everyone has been waiting for is almost here: Pigeon Fest.

    • That’s right, on June 14, New Yorkers can flock to the High Line for a festival celebrating our (perhaps misunderstood) bird neighbors.

    • Pigeon Fest will feature “pigeon-themed carnival games, family-friendly art workshops, a Pigeon Impersonation Pageant, panel discussions around related themes, and a concert presented in collaboration with the Birdsong Project.”

Will AI policies make or break NY’s tech future (Real Talk NYC)

  • Tech is now the fastest growing industry in NYC, and AI is one of the reasons why. But how is New York striking a balance between innovation and accountability?

    • Alex Spyropoulous, Tech:NYC’s Director of Government Relations, joined REBNY’s Real Talk NYC podcast to unpack the latest AI legislation being discussed in New York. 🎧

The best Knicks merch for anxiously watching the playoffs (The Strategist) 

  • The New York Knicks are inching closer to the next round of the NBA playoffs. Tonight is Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals (tips off at 8pm!). If you’re looking for some merch to show your support, check here for the retailers selling vintage Knicks swag including blue-and-orange jackets, ball caps, and more. 🏀

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.

Here’s this week’s cartoon. 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!

Defy gravity this weekend, New York! 🧙

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