Monday, April 6, 2026
In today’s digest, training state employees to use AI, eat some Hudson River fish (if you dare), and what OpenAI’s recent media acquisition signals for the tech industry. 🎤
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New York State Governor Kathy Hochul announced today the expansion of AI training and tools to more than 100,000 state employees. 🤖 (CBS Albany)
The move comes on the heels of New York’s recently completed AI training pilot program to more than 1,200 users across eight state agencies.
Waymo has completed its NYC robotaxi testing after a months-long pilot program across parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan. 🚗 (The CITY)
The company had been running eight vehicles with safety drivers and reported zero collisions during testing.
What happens next hinges on Albany — a renewed state permit could bring the cars back for another round of testing in the city.
Seems fishy: For the first time in 50 years, New Yorkers can safely eat certain fish caught in parts of the Hudson River. 🐟 (News 12 New Jersey)
Declining levels of toxic PCBs have allowed officials to ease long-standing restrictions, with people now able to eat limited amounts of species like striped bass from the Lower Hudson.
The rules still come with guardrails: most people should stick to a few meals per month, and some species — like carp — remain off-limits due to higher contamination levels.
➕ One more thing: If you’re at HumanX in SF this week, stop by our Obviously NYC bodega-themed booth (#131) and say hi! We’ll be the ones spreading the NYC tech love. ♥️
In other reading:
Reddit AMA with Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his housing team (Reddit)
Where to eat at Yankee Stadium (Eater)
Designs for New York’s ADUs are here. These are our favorites (New York Times)
Own the Convo: AI Companies Are Building Their Own Media Engines
OpenAI’s recent acquisition of TBPN looks like a simple media deal on the surface.
But zoom out, and it points to a shift in how AI companies are thinking about growth: alongside building products, they’re investing in audience, distribution, and visibility.
Let’s take a look. 🔍
🎙️ What happened: OpenAI (a Tech:NYC member!) bought a built-in audience.
The tech firm acquired TBPN, a daily tech talk show pulling in ~70,000 viewers per episode and on track to surpass $30 million in revenue this year.
The deal marks the first time an AI lab has purchased a media company.
TBPN will report to OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer, and will help with marketing and communications at OpenAI but keep their editorial independence.
📡 What it means: Comms is moving closer to the product stack. As AI companies scale, communication is becoming more direct and continuous.
TBPN offers OpenAI a daily platform to engage developers, founders, and enterprise decision-makers in real time.
With more than $25 billion in annualized revenue and expansion into ads and enterprise, that kind of access supports everything from adoption to hiring.
🚀 This playbook is spreading across tech: Companies are investing in podcasts, creator partnerships, and owned channels to stay close to their audiences.
Case in point: Benchmark just brought on Jack Altman as a general partner, alongside his team, portfolio, and, notably, his podcast from Alt Capital.
But wait, there’s more:
AOL 🤝 TechCrunch
HubSpot 🤝 The Hustle
Plaid 🤝 This Week in Fintech
JPMorganChase 🤝 The Infatuation
➕ Andreessen Horowitz has recently made a significant comms push through its Substack, and we haven’t even mentioned Jeff Bezos / Washington Post and Elon Musk / X (well, I guess we just did).
All of these have the same core logic: own the channel, not just the product.
🗽 The New York angle: NYC’s mix of media, advertising, and tech talent makes it a natural hub for companies building these kinds of audience-driven platforms.
For startups here — especially in media, marketing, and fintech — there's a growing opportunity to build and monetize owned audiences alongside products.
In other reading:
Dual-use tech and robotics are fueling an agtech revival (PitchBook)
These AI whiz kids dropped out of college and got investors to pay their bills (Wall Street Journal)
What is Meta doing on Fifth Avenue? (New York Times)
HexemBio, an NYC-based stem cell rejuvenation startup, raised $10.4 million in seed funding. Draper Associates led the round, joined by SOSV and Seraphim.
Yuzu Health, an NYC-based third-party admin, raised $35 million in Series A funding. General Catalyst and Chemistry led the round, joined by Anthropic's Anthology Fund, Bain Future Back Ventures, Lachy Groom, Neo, and Timeless Ventures.
Featured event:
⭐ April 8: Brand Discovery and Engagement in the age of AI and AEO with Perpetual and Webflow, a conversation on AI, Answer Engine Optimization, and the future of brand discovery, featuring a keynote from Webflow’s Guy Yalif, a fireside chat, and networking with NYC digital leaders. Register here.
Other great events:
April 7: Capital Isn’t Neutral: What Founders Need to Know, for founders fundraising, investors who care about long-term outcomes, and anyone who believes the future of innovation depends on more inclusive and aligned access to capital. Register here.
April 8: Building Agentic Media Buying Platforms, a panel discussion on architecting the next generation of agentic platforms, featuring engineering leaders from Kargo, Gather.dev, and fal.ai. Register here.
April 8: Tech Week New Hosts Office Hours, a free webinar for anyone interested in hosting at NY Tech Week (June 1-7), covering how to submit, key dates, and tips for making their NY Tech Week event great. Register here.
April 9: IBM Ventures Startup Mixer & Masters Viewing @ MSP, a pop-up celebration of the Masters and a chance for sports tech startups to connect with IBM Ventures. Register here.
April 14: Govtech Happy Hour, for govtech founders and operators, civil servants past and present, and policy enthusiasts. Register here.
April 15: Founder Breakfast, a curated breakfast for VC-backed founders, ideally those who have raised a Seed round. Register here.
April 16: NYC Founders Breakfast + Pitch Workshop, an exclusive breakfast for venture-backed founders building in NYC who want stronger fundraising positioning and meaningful peer connection. Register here.
April 16: Construction Robotics Summit: From Dirt to Data, bringing together the builders, technologists, and decision-makers advancing robotics across the built environment. Register here.
April 17: Founder Breakfast, a curated breakfast for VC-backed founders, ideally at Seed and Series A building in AI. Register here.
April 18: Enterprise Agent Jam NYC, where you’ll have six hours to build an AI agent from scratch. Register here.
April 20: Communicating Your Value with Confidence, an interactive workshop where you’ll learn a practical, repeatable approach to communicating your value with clarity and confidence. Register here.
April 23: Tech-Driven, Human-Centered: Leading Through Disruption, a panel discussion at the Columbia School of Professional Studies where leaders from technology and business will discuss what innovations demand of managers and teams in real time. Register here.
April 24: Tech Happy Hour, a chance to connect with the NYC tech and startup community to discover shared interests, explore areas for collaboration, and find your next co-founder or key hire. Register here.
April 27: NYC Fintech Coffee, for fintech founders, investors, and enthusiasts to gather around and talk everything fintech. Register here.
April 28: Rillet Recon, a full-day program on the future of AI-native finance. Register here.
April 30: The Executive Night, a gathering of ~30 Series A+ founders and investors. Register here.
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