“I moved to the West Coast to start my career. Then I moved to New York to start my life.” – Joseph Krause, founder, Radical AI
On October 29, we teamed up with Crain’s New York Business to host A New Engine of New York: AI Infrastructure, Talent & Inclusive Growth at the Accenture Innovation Hub.
Founders, investors, workforce experts, and public-sector leaders spent much of the day on the question of what comes next for New York tech (and some of it on demos, like that of Hudson, the robot dog).
The short answer is that two of New York’s strengths are its people and what they do with the technology they build.
NYC is not the Valley
Tech:NYC president and CEO Julie Samuels kicked things off with a fireside chat with Ben Lerer of Lerer Hippeau. They talked about how far the ecosystem has come in the 15 years since he started investing in New York, and how AI could work in the city’s favor.
“I actually think AI is a real sort of field leveler.” – Ben Lerer
In San Francisco, you meet people who work in tech and live in the Bay Area. In New York, “you meet New Yorkers who work in tech.” – Julie Samuels
Every company is a tech company
Crain’s Eddie Small moderated a panel with Jacob Doctoroff (Metropolis), Jennifer Koen (Daydream), Jesse Middleton (Flybridge), and Jake Poses (Headway).
Each of them is using tech to rethink something familiar, from parking to shopping to mental healthcare.
“We’re drinking from a firehose right now. … There isn’t any other technology that is more important right now to focus on than this one.” – Jennifer Koen
“New York is the best place to find creative, fun, and weird people trying to solve problems with tech.” – Jesse Middleton
New research from Tech:NYC and Accenture also found that more than 55,000 NYC job postings asked for AI or machine-learning skills in the first half of 2026, which is 2.7 times as many as in the same period in 2025.
Making AI work for everyone
Kiran Keshav (Director, Empire AI), Elizabeth Lusskin (Small Business and Tech Development VP, Empire State Development), Ben Zweig (Revelio Labs), and Jenni Warren, director of Tech:NYC’s Decoded Futures, discussed how to spread AI’s benefits beyond big companies.
Some highlights:
Through Decoded Futures, leaders from the nonprofit Welcome to Chinatown built an app that cut their annual local business survey time from four months to three weeks.
New York State’s entrepreneurship assistance centers are training small businesses to evaluate and safely use AI tools.
Empire AI’s Beta supercomputer has supported 300+ projects and 1,500+ researchers who wouldn’t otherwise have access to that kind of computing power.
“We want folks to think in terms of societal problems that they want to have an impact on.” – Kiran Keshav
Building a startup here
The day wrapped in conversation with tech founders Susan Lyne (BBG Ventures), Joseph Krause (Radical AI), Teddy Solomon (Fizz), and Jarrid Tingle (Harlem Capital) on what it takes to build in NYC.
Solomon spoke candidly about moving his company from San Francisco to New York. The diversity of talent is important when building a company focused on human beings, the Fizz founder said.
“I moved to the West Coast to start my career. Then I moved to New York to start my life.” – Joseph Krause
“Everybody here works really hard but they also look out for each other.” – Jarrid Tingle
“The best talent in the world always ends up in New York City. … You need to allow a place for those talents.” – Susan Lyne
Thanks to Crain’s New York Business, Accenture, and all of our speakers for a great day. The next chapter of New York tech is being written here, and we’re stoked to continue building it.
Onward.
