Wednesday, September 24, 2025

September 24, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Wednesday, September 24, 2025 

In today’s digest, new “super-express” trains hitting the tracks, Randall’s Island breaks ground on a nature center 🌴, and a dive into day-to-day AI tools.

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  • A $6 million, 2,500-square-foot nature center — equal parts lab, classroom, and community hangout — is coming to Randall’s Island Park next year. (TimeOut New York)

    • The Center will serve as a hub for the Randall’s Island Park Alliance education and community programs, which already engage more than 15,000 local students each year, mostly from neighboring East Harlem and South Bronx.

  • Just in time for prime leaf peeping, a new fleet of high-speed electric trains will begin ferrying Metro-North passengers from the mid-Hudson Valley to New York City in under 90 minutes. (Times Union) ⚡

    • The “super-express” trains will run on the Hudson Line between Poughkeepsie and Grand Central Terminal beginning Oct. 5.

  • Red Hook’s waterfront is closer to a major glow-up with approved plans to turn a 122-acre stretch of industrial waterfront around the Brooklyn Marine Terminal into a new residential neighborhood. (New York Yimby) 🌊

    • The project includes 6,000 new apartments (40% affordable), improvements to the city’s waterway freight system and a 60-acre upgraded port, 28 acres of public open space, $200 million for nearby New York City Housing Authority complexes, and more.


In other reading:

  • He’s opening a gourmet grocer in Tribeca. Maybe you’ve heard? (Grub Street)

  • The best pumpkin patches in and near NYC (Secret NYC)

  • The Resy guide to outdoor dining in New York (Resy)

What AI Companies Are Building (And How People Are Using the Tools)

As the AI race heats up, tech giants like OpenAI and Meta are spending huge amounts of money to build the next generation of AI. 🤖 

How are people actually using these tools? Let’s take a look at the view from the ground. 👀

🏗️ What tech companies are building 101: 

  • A better search engine: Chatbots can provide quick, plain English answers (think: that overview Google now has in searches).

  • Next-gen productivity tools: Draft your email, debug your code, and prep your meeting all in one place.

  • An "everything assistant": Embedded AI in smart glasses, phones, and home devices.

  • Superintelligence: Long-term bets on human-level (or beyond) machine intelligence.

🤹 How people are using AI: The tech obviously gained traction quickly. By mid-2025, over 700 million people (10% of the world’s adults) were using ChatGPT.

  • Everyday help is king: OpenAI reports that 70% of ChatGPT usage is for personal tasks like writing, learning, and organizing life rather than work. Only 30% is work-related.

  • Claude is leaning into a co-pilot role: Anthropic’s latest report shows users often delegate entire tasks to it, especially coding and education

  • The user base is diversifying: Females now make up more than half of ChatGPT users, a huge shift.

🌍 Zooming out: Global AI adoption is deeply uneven. 

  • Claude usage is skyrocketing in smaller, high-tech countries like Israel, Singapore, and New Zealand.

  • In the U.S., places like Utah and DC are leading on a per-capita basis.

  • AI adoption in NYC’s workforce surged from 55% to 78% in just one year, per Tech:NYC’s report with Accenture.

In other reading:

  • AI “workslop” sabotages productivity, study finds (Axios)

  • Women outnumber men picked for astronaut class in NASA first (Bloomberg)

  • CEOs launch AI adoption campaign (Axios)

  • Capital RX, an NYC-based pharmacy benefit management platform, raised $252 million in Series F funding. Wellington Management and General Catalyst led the round. 

  • Mimica, a New York-based process intelligence startup, raised $26.2 million in Series B funding. Paladin Capital Group led, joined by Khosla Ventures, LGVP, and Entrepreneur First.

  • Manas AI, a New York-based drug discovery and development startup, raised $26 million in seed extension funding from the General Partnership, Wisdom Ventures, Blitzscaling Ventures, Westbound Equity Partners, and Mosaic Ventures.

  • Phia, an NYC-based shopping agent, raised $8 million in seed funding led by Kleiner Perkins.

  • Visible Hands’ SEEN 50 cohort, for NYC-based founders, investors, and advocates of diverse-led teams, designed to foster networking, collaboration, and growth. Nominate a founder by Sept. 26 here or apply yourself here.

  • nextNYC’s Always Be Closing, for startups to connect with and pitch top NYC companies and organizations who can serve as potential customers. Apply to pitch at the Sept. 30 event here.

  • The NYU Tandon Future Labs Catalyst Program, a 6-month, equity free accelerator for Pre-Seed to Seed startups, combining the resources of NYU Tandon’s research, faculty, and student body with the network effects of NYC’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Apply by Oct. 4 here.

  • nextNYC’s Pre-Series A Offsite, where you can spend a day in Brooklyn learning from top Series A and seed investors, experienced startup CEOs, and fellow founders. Apply for the Oct. 15 event here.

  • The second annual Buildings Tech Lab, a collaboration with the Department of Buildings to advance the application of new technology to transform the delivery of public services. Apply by Oct. 24 here.

  • Entrepreneurship Assistance Center’s LaunchLab, a 10-week, hands-on business program for startups and prestartups looking to launch their business. Apply here.

  • Company Ventures’ Grand Central Tech Residency’s spring 2026 cohort, a 12-month residency program for founders and teams looking to build in-person in NYC. Apply here.

  • The Bridge at Cornell Tech, a new workspace on the Cornell Tech campus, is officially open. Sign up for tour invites, events, and updates here.

  • See NYC, for 150 New Yorkers and a three-day summer camp-style experience Oct. 8-10 to share ideas to build a better New York City. Apply here.

  • Union Square Ventures’ “usvwork” — a casual coworking day once a month for founders and builders in NYC. Apply here.

  • Harlem Capital is looking for part-time interns for a 10-week period from January - March 2026. Winter interns will learn the strategy of a new investment firm and get direct exposure to start-up founders. Apply by Oct. 1 here.

  • New York City Economic Development Corporation is re-launching the Greenlight Innovation Fund, a Request for Proposals to provide City capital funding for the development of facilities in New York City that support the Green Economy, Life Sciences, Advanced Technology and Creative Industries. Submit your proposals here.

  • Hu Capital is hosting their Innovation Week Oct. 13-17. They close the week with a Pitch Competition and Afterparty, a live event where founders pitch their startups in front of judges and a live audience. Submit pitches here. 

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