Wednesday, June 4, 2025

June 04, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Wednesday, June 4, 2025 

In today’s digest, tune into the first Democratic mayoral primary debate tonight, CT vs. NYC pizza, and newsmakers at the Axios AI+ NY Summit. 🤖

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  • The first New York City Democratic mayoral primary debate will take place at 7pm tonight. 🗽 Viewers can watch the debate, which features nine candidates, on NBC 4 New York and Telemundo 47. (NBC New York)

    • The second Democratic primary debate will be held on Thursday, June 12, with just the leading contenders.

    • As a reminder, Primary Day is June 24, early voting runs from June 14-22, and the registration deadline is June 14. You can check your registration status here.

  • Start planning your Independence Day party: Macy’s 4th of July fireworks show will return to the East River this year. 🎆 Fireworks will be launched from the Brooklyn Bridge and barges below, so the best views this year will be on the East Side. (CBS News)

  • Speaking of smoke and fire, an air quality alert is in place in NYC until 11pm Wednesday as wildfire smoke from blazes burning in the Canadian prairie has drifted across New York. 💨 (Bloomberg)

In other reading:

  • Summer in the city: New York’s best hotel pools to swim and sip (Observer)

  • From Billy Joel to Miley, Tribeca Film Festival goes all in on music movies (USA Today)

  • Connecticut keeps trolling New York over pizza — this time bringing the battle to NYC (NBC New York)

Today was the Axios AI+ NY Summit, presented in partnership with Tech:NYC — an afternoon of fireside chats, immersive demos, and unbeatable insights. 

From a lineup of heavyweights, here are snippets from the Summit mainstage.

🗽 New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, on her vision for AI in NY:

  • “I want New York to be the home of innovation… I’m hardwired to be part of an economy that’s devoted to risk, that people are willing to go out there and do something that’s quite unprecedented, but also the returns are very high. So I want New York to be that place that people look to — as they already are.”

  • “AI can increase productivity dramatically, so why can’t we harness that to be the most productive nation on the planet?”

📈 WndrCo’s Jeffrey Katzenberg, on the importance of getting AI savvy:

  • “AI isn't going to replace people. It's going to replace people that don't use AI.”

☀️ The Weather Company’s Rohit Agarwal, on the company’s go-to AI formula:

  • “We believe that it’s AI plus great talent in humans with great skills that actually creates a really incredible experience that solves customer problems.”

💡 Lumen Technologies’ Kate Johnson, on how she uses AI personally:

  • “I use [AI] every single day. I am not necessarily current on all the technology topics that I want to be current on and it takes me a very short period of time to get savvy really, really fast.”

💸 Lux Capital’s Josh Wolfe, on his AI optimism:

  • “There are situations that I’ve heard just anecdotally of people that went to doctors and they couldn’t get a diagnosis and then they put all their medical records in o3 and suddenly got a differential diagnosis that was more valuable. So I think that [AI] will be used for enormous good.”

🤖 Runway’s Cristóbal Valenzuela, on the current state of video AI:

  • “We’re at a moment in time where realism and definition and speed has gotten really good… Very soon you’ll have way more ways of creating characters and emotions within the videos themselves, in ways that you want them.”

In other reading:

  • Big Tech’s AI endgame is coming into focus (The Atlantic)

  • The future of work will not be scripted (Forbes)

  • How to use AI to find your next job (Fast Company)

  • Canid, an NYC-based pediatric vaccine management platform, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Telescope Partners led the round and was joined by FJ Labs, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, SeedtoB, and others.

  • Veris AI, an NYC-based AI agent training and testing platform, raised $8.5 million in seed funding. Decibel Ventures and Acrew Capital led the round and were joined by angel investors.

  • Techstars Economic Mobility, for entrepreneurs designing innovative solutions that generate greater economic mobility for low- and moderate-income Americans. Apply by June 11 here.

  • Tech:NYC has partnered with Company Ventures, Blackstone LaunchPad, NYCEDC, and the Zahn Innovation Center to run the NYC Startup Internship Program, connecting high-potential CUNY students, primarily first-generation and low-income, with NYC startups. Apply to be a mentor by June 13 here.

  • The Factor Fellowship, an 18-week, part-time program for working professionals from diverse backgrounds looking to break into in-demand roles at NYC’s fastest-growing startups. Apply by June 15 here.

  • AcceleratorCON introduces Draft Combine, an opportunity for startups to be scouted by top accelerators and investors. Apply here.

  • Each month, Union Square Ventures hosts usvwork — a casual coworking day for founders and builders in NYC. Apply here.
     

  • Company Ventures’ Grand Central Tech Residency, for pre-seed/seed stage teams building venture-scale companies, or individuals launching a venture within six months. Apply here.

  • Forum Ventures is accepting pitches to its Forum for Founders program. The firm is investing in 30+ companies over the next three months, offering $100K and admission to its pre-seed accelerator to provide personalized GTM and sales support. Apply here.

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