Monday, February 23, 2026
In today’s digest, snow day tools, where to eat in Chinatown, and how AI reshaped the Olympics. 🏂
But first: *In Blue’s Clues voice* It’s maaaiiilll tttiiiime! The next Tech:NYC Mailbag is coming up — we’re answering any and all questions about tech, NYC, tech policies, you name it.
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In case you haven’t looked outside, it snowed again! ☃️ Wondering where the plow is? The city has a real-time tracker so you can see when your block was last salted or cleared. ❄️ (NBC New York)
Here’s what’s been canceled in the city due to the storm.
Not canceled: Snowball fights.
Maybe not during snow days like today, but New Yorkers are biking over the East River more than ever, with nearly 29,000 average daily trips across the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, and Queensboro bridges in 2025 — the fifth straight record year. 🚲 (amNY)
That’s up 30% from 2015 and 18 times higher than when the city began tracking in 1980; September 2025 alone averaged 31,687 daily rides.
The Williamsburg Bridge remains the busiest crossing, and Brooklyn Bridge ridership has surged 113% since the protected two-way bike lane opened in 2021.
The largest and longest nurses strike in NYC history is officially over after 4,200 NewYork-Presbyterian nurses voted 93% in favor of a new three-year contract. 🏥 (Gothamist)
The deal includes roughly 12% raises over three years, staffing boosts, workplace safety commitments, and maintained health benefits.
Nearly 15,000 nurses across multiple hospital systems walked out during the 41-day strike that began January 12.
➕ One more thing: NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani is right to focus on affordability — the next step is making technology part of the solution, writes Tech:NYC President and CEO Julie Samuels in the New York Daily News. Read her full op-ed here.
In other reading:
A roving reporter on the future of transit in NYC (New York Times)
A map of the best places to eat in Chinatown (Eater)
Fines for failure to compost in NYC resume (Gothamist)
The AI Olympics
The 2026 Winter Olympics, which wrapped yesterday, featured lots of tech and AI showing up in logistics, judging, broadcasting, translation, and data. 🤖
Here’s how AI powered the show behind the scenes (and why it matters):
🧠 AI ran the back office: Coordinating tens of thousands of athletes, staff, and spectators (with winter weather wanting a front-row seat) got much easier this year.
Organizers used AI for simulations and contingency planning to adjust schedules without derailing the broader program.
🌍 Live translation: Samsung lent volunteers phones with on-device AI translation that works even in areas with spotty cell service, helping bridge language gaps among athletes and fans from around the world.
📺 Your highlights, on demand: AI automated highlight production and layered in contextual data so viewers could instantly find nearly any performance.
Networks leaned into AI-powered replays to help casual fans — who make up more than half of Olympic TV viewers — actually understand what they’re watching.
NBCUniversal rolled out an upgraded version of OLI, its AI-powered Olympic guide first introduced during the 2024 Paris Games.
OLI combines conversational AI with NBCU’s real-time U.S. programming data to answer fan questions like when, where, and how to watch specific events.
💰 Follow the money: Private credit firms also had an Olympic moment, financing sports-adjacent businesses from snowboard makers to helmet manufacturers.
Apollo alone said it deployed about $17 billion across sports and entertainment companies, media rights, and stadium and league financings as of September 2025.
⛸️ Explaining the hardest tricks in sports: MIT Sports Lab researcher Jerry Lu developed “OOFSkate,” an AI-powered optical tracking system that analyzes jump height, rotation speed, and landing mechanics.
He worked with NBC during the 2026 Games to help commentators break down complex scoring in skating, skiing, and snowboarding.
🏒 AI for player safety: Team USA Hockey CFO Kelly Mahncke digitized decades of claims data to analyze where, when, and how injuries happen — tracking details like period of play, body part injured, and whether a penalty was involved.
Soon AI-driven analytics could identify injury trends and eventually inform safer helmet and pad designs.
Olympic athletes also used AI to protect themselves from online hate.
Why it matters: The Olympics are basically the world’s most dynamic live production, so when AI can keep schedules moving, translate on-device, explain split-second decisions, and improve safety at that scale, it’s a preview of what might come to other high-stakes industries.
In other reading:
ChatGPT users are shifting away from work tasks (Axios)
Preparing your brand for agentic AI (HBR)
A video glitch during a job interview is harmless, right? Hardly (Wall Street Journal)
Adronite, an NYC- and Seattle-based AI codebase intelligence platform, raised a $5 million Series A led by Gatemore Capital Management.
Pepper, an NYC-based developer of ecommerce technology for food distributors, raised $50 million in Series C funding. Lead Edge Capital led the round and was joined by existing investors.
February 24: The Science of Scaling, a virtual conversation with Mark Roberge, Co-Founder of Stage 2 Capital, and HubSpot for Startups to discover what most startups get wrong while scaling. Whether you’re refining your go-to-market motion or preparing for your next growth stage, this virtual fireside will help you build smarter, scalable sales operations. Register here.
February 24: Element 46 Tech Accelerator informational session, for Westchester County-based founders interested in applying for the accelerator program before the application closes on March 6. Register here.
February 25: The New York Official Cybersecurity Summit, a full day of expert insights, interactive sessions, and high-value networking with leaders across the cybersecurity community. Register here with promo code CSS26-TECHNYC for a free pass.
February 25: Hiring Beyond the 5 Boroughs, a roundtable for Heads of HR/People Ops and Talent to have an honest, off-the-record conversation about what’s working, what’s broken, and what no one really talks about when it comes to non-local hiring. Register here.
February 25: Startup Pitch & Networking in Manhattan, a curated pitch night for startup founders, operators, angels and VC partners. Designed to help founders sharpen their thinking through direct, candid feedback — and to give strong investors access to serious teams. Register here.
February 26: Climate Tech Fellowship Showcase, a look at the New York Climate Exchange Fellows’ six-month journey and the solutions they’re advancing across urban and coastal resilience, climate data, and energy and decarbonization. Register here.
February 26: Her Tech Community Launch Gathering, the launch of a new women-in-tech community designed to create meaningful connection, shared learning, and a space where the attendee’s voice directly shapes what they build. Register here.
February 27: Tech Happy Hour, a low-key way 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.
March 2-3: Cornell Tech and Weill Cornell Medicine’s 2026 Health Tech Summit, bringing together leaders across healthcare, technology, academia, and government to map out what’s next for responsible, human-centered AI in clinical care. Register here.
March 4: NYC Indie Games March Social, a long-running monthly gathering for indie game devs and pals of all stripes to mix and mingle in a relaxed setting. Register here.
March 5: NYC AI Demos, from Tech:NYC, Pensar, and The Refinery at Domino, featuring an all-female lineup of technical leaders from Anthropic, Datadog (and more to be announced soon) building real AI products across infrastructure, dev tools, healthcare, fintech, and more. Register here.
March 5: Commonweal Ventures Briefing: Procurement at the Department of War, a virtual conversation with Andrew Hunter, Former Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. Register here.
March 6: Startup Weekend Women, an exclusive experience in celebration of International Women’s Day to pitch your business, find a team, and build an idea in just 54 hours. Register here.
March 19: City & State’s Digital New York Summit, for New York’s technology and information leaders from government and industry to gather for candid discussions and thought-provoking presentations on innovative ideas that are making everyday life for all New Yorkers more livable, safer, and more convenient. Register here with promo code TECHNYC for 25% off.
March 19: Human by Design: The Empathy Edge in an AI World, for women and allies who build — PMs, founders, designers, marketers, and engineers — to discuss how empathy, judgment, and collaborative AI tools can help you grow your influence and deliver meaningful impact in your work. Register here.
March 19: Airtable Buildathon, a one-day, live builder competition where participants solve real business challenges using Airtable and AI-powered workflows. Register here.
March 31: Runway AI Summit, bringing together industry leaders across media, technology, consumer brands, robotics, and more to explore how AI is reshaping how work gets done — and what comes next for enterprise. Register here with promo code TECHNYC50 for 50% off.
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