Latest news with #ChrisWink
Technical.ly
3 days ago
- Business
- Technical.ly
Pittsburgh weekly roundup: Skild opens San Francisco office; Ansys acquisition complete; Forge AI Pitch Challenge
This week in Pittsburgh, the data center gold rush, advice from angel investors on raising capital and more. Read on for weekly roundup of top news in the region. 📰 News Incubator: What else to know • What happens when a data center comes to town? PA's Dorrance Township doesn't want to find out. With real estate developers sniffing around for potential, this rural community is setting up protections before applications start rolling in. [ ] • Skild AI is expanding to San Francisco, a controversial move in the Pittsburgh startup scene. When Abridge announced its intention for a similar move in March, it sparked a debate about why the local talent scene isn't enough for these hypergrowth firms. [ Pittsburgh Biz Times / ] • Synopsys finally completed its $35 billion acquisition of Cannonsburg-based Ansys, after more than a year checking all the legal boxes. [ Synopsys / ] • Protestors surrounded the Energy and Innovation Summit, as Pittsburghers spoke up against Carnegie Mellon University's decision to host President Donald Trump and the impact of AI development on climate change. [ / Pittsburgh City Paper / WESA] • Apply by Aug. 8 for a chance to be recognized as one of the region's top AI startups — and win $50,000 — at the Forge AI Pitch Challenge. [ AI Horizons ] • People aren't moving for jobs, but instead to places they want to live and then finding jobs there, Chris Wink writes in his latest column. In Pittsburgh, telling its unique stories of relative cost of living and quirky culture can be the thing that pulls talent in. [ ] • It just got easier for union workers to report employer violations. Allegheny County launched the confidential Right to Organize Incident Report Form to document the errs, but you should still file a formal complaint, too. [ Allegheny County ] • ICYMI: Catch up on the top takeaways from local startup CEOs Shiv Rao, John Thornton, Jake Loosararian and more at the AI Horizons kickoff event earlier this week. [ Pittsburgh Slack channel ] • If your startup exit strategies rely on M&A, start by finding the right advisor to guide you through it. Here are 10 tips to sift through the candidates. [ ] 🗓️ On the Calendar • Fix your gaming keyboard and get back to gameplay at a $25 electronics repair class hosted by Hackers Guild PGH on July 19. [ Sign up ] • Get access to 3D printers at Prototype PGH at a training session for beginners on July 19. The event costs $10 to attend, but no one will be turned away due to lack of funds. [ Register ] • Level up your woodworking skills at HackPGH's picture frame design class. The July 20 event costs $185 and is recommended for folks with beginner woodworking knowledge. [ Attend ] • Head to the University of Pittsburgh for JuliaCon from July 22 to 25. Prices vary, but for an additional fee, you can attend a Pirates game with fellow enthusiasts of the coding language. [ Get tickets ] • Learn how to access your Bitcoin on the Solana blockchain, followed by a Federal Galley hangout, with BitDevs Pittsburgh on July 23. [ More info ] • Brush up on your sketching skills and meet new people at Ascender's Pictionary Happy Hour on July 24. [ Details here ] • Procrastinate on your latest project by catching up with friends or finally make time for that deadline you've been putting off at Avenu: Meyran's coworking summer Fridays on July 25. [ Learn more ]
Technical.ly
6 days ago
- Business
- Technical.ly
What Philly can gain from a closer look at Chicago's tech growth
I can't tell if it's confirmation bias or the algorithms at work, but lately I've been seeing a ton of Philly friends post pics from Chicago. That's unusual. Chicago and Philadelphia have a kind of weird relationship. They show up in the same breath as examples of 'other big US cities,' but have never really had a deep kinship or persistent rivalry. It feels kind of like siblings that don't speak, or influencers at a brand event trying to avoid one another in their shots. But maybe that's changing. My Philly artist friend was in Chicago to create a new installation. My Philly chef friend was there to host a collab dinner with a local restaurant. These cross-metro connections are multiplying, at least in my world. Truth is these two American metros have a lot in common, and a lot to learn from one another. Figuring out how they can better share wins is why I'm visiting this fall. I'll be in Chicago because of GPLEX, the long-running Philly-based leadership conference, which in September brings a couple hundred mid-Atlantic leaders to the Midwest. (Applications to join are open through July 21; financial assistance is available.) One of the themes of the conference is public perception, and how to turn it into a driving factor for regional economic growth — instead of the opposite. Anyone involved in thinking about either city's future knows that's an uphill battle. In the late 1800s, Chicago and Philadelphia were trying to outdo one another by hosting the best world's fair or gaining enough population to be known as America's ' second city.' But modern similarities include surges in gun violence, persistent racial wealth gaps and disinvestment/gentrification in formerly redlined neighborhoods. Yet each has made strides in these and other areas. And each has a booming tech economy. But if you don't live or work in either place, you might not know it. That's where public perception — and journalism and storytelling in general — come in. 'Stories about places aren't just passive reflections, they're active drivers of economic and social decisions,' my colleague Chris Wink recently noted, citing new research out of Germany. Philadelphia just earned its highest-ever spot on the Startup Genome global rankings. Led by biotech, medtech and a maturing founder base, the Philly region is now considered the world's 13th best place to launch a startup. Chicago, meanwhile, has a more established scene. It's home to 1871, one of the top startup incubators globally. Google is working to build a sustainable office campus downtown. A growing quantum cluster is taking root. And civic organizations like P33 — led by serial entrepreneur Chris Gladwin, who'll speak GPLEX — are pushing hard on inclusive growth, combining frontier tech with workforce programs in historically disinvested neighborhoods. Yet Chicago's calculated ' ecosystem value ' is $55 billion compared to the Philly region's $76 billion. It clocks in at No. 16 in the Startup Genome rankings this year, three spots below Philadelphia. It's not like things are dragging. Projects on Chicago's West and South Sides are especially worth watching. GPLEX will take Philly leaders on a tour of The Hatchery, a food entrepreneurship hub built with community financing that's pledging to create hundreds of jobs. We'll also visit The Polsky Center, which operates the Inclusive Innovation Fund to give local founders commercialization support and free coworking. So why doesn't Chicago get more cred? Back to the public perception thing. Civic leaders in Chicago are trying to shift the narrative by aligning their messaging across tourism, tech and government. It's the kind of cross-sector storytelling Philadelphia has been working on. Enter GPLEX. This year brings the 20th anniversary of the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia's escapades to other cities, which are useful for gaining knowledge of what else is out there, but also for connecting with engaged people back home. The conference goes down Sept. 25-28. The investment in time and funds isn't trivial, but if you're interested in being part of this changemaking crew, the commitment could be worth your while. Stay tuned for my turn to be that Philly friend making people curious with all my Chicago pics.
Technical.ly
01-07-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Philly weekly roundup: Election deepfakes legislation; Pitch at PACT; Carisma Therapeutics merger
This week in Philly, an interactive map to find local donation sites, school robotics is struggling and more. Read on for weekly roundup of top news in the region. 📰 News Incubator: What else to know • Philadelphia recently ranked in the top 15 startup ecosystems in the world, proving the success of the region's tech coalition building. But, CEO Chris Wink wonders, why are people hesitant to acknowledge the win? [ ] • New Jersey's Transportation Needs Index provides data visualization about the state's transit infrastructure. The tool helps leaders see where more investments need to be made. [ ] • The Pennsylvania House approved a bill that bans the use of generative AI for deepfakes that would misrepresent election candidates. [ PA House ] • Are you planning to raise capital in the near future? Apply to pitch at PACT's annual Mid-Atlantic Capital Conference this fall. The deadline is July 31. [ PACT ] • The Shapiro Administration announced six new electric vehicle charging stations across the commonwealth, funded by the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program. [ Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ] • Medtech startup Vesteck is developing a type of endosuture called Suture-Tight to reinforce repairs on aortic aneurysms. Read all about it and 16 other startups we've profiled this year. [ / ] • Amazon plans to invest $20 billion in tech jobs and infrastructure in Pennsylvania, including two data centers. However, critics say there are drawbacks to this plan, including the amount of energy the data centers will use and a tax exemption for the tech giant. [ / Spotlight PA ] • Penn Spinout Carisma Therapeutics entered a merger agreement with OrthoCellix. This deal comes shortly after the company laid off most of its staff earlier this year. [ Philly Biz Journal ] • Tech education org Hopeworks selected five honorees to recognize for their contributions to the program as part of its 25th anniversary celebration this fall. [ LinkedIn ] • Small business resource org the Enterprise Center is shifting its strategy away from accelerators and incubators to focus on helping founders find capital. [ Philly Biz Journal ] 🗓️ On the Calendar • If you like drones and food, join DC215 for its hacker BBQ potluck on July 5. [ Details ] • Vote to choose the winner at Founders Live Philadelphia, a national pitch competition that will be in the city on July 8. [ Register ] • Mark your calendars for Code for Philly's July hack night. Join the civic tech group in person at Indy Hall on July 8. [ Register ]
Technical.ly
29-06-2025
- General
- Technical.ly
Pittsburgh's stuck garbage truck and the new American politics of abundance
Government is often 'more focused on process than outcomes,' but, as in entrepreneurship, results matter — and should guide public action. Compounding effects of small, gradual changes show that outcome-focused fixes can boost safety, slash expenses and visibly improve residents' lives. Progress happens when leaders 'set goals, create safety for continual improvement and listen deeply to frontline workers,' shifting from command-and-control mode to servant leadership. → Read on for details and join Chris Wink's weekly newsletter for more One February morning three years ago just before 7 a.m., Pittsburgh sanitation workers were shaking a 3,000-pound dumpster stuck in mid-air. A truck's winch cable had seized. Time crunched, these workers were trying to address a problem for which they had no training. Yet this particular problem happened a few times each month. Each fix cost the city a few thousand dollars, plus lost staff time and the risk to city workers — not to mention potentially millions in worker's compensation. This time, a foreman intervened with a front loader to safely return the dumpster to the ground, and newly elected Mayor Ed Gainey had staff looking for just this sort of problem to solve. They enlisted Pittsburgh Futures Collaborative, a nonprofit of regional civic consulting do-goodery. 'Without a leader focused on creating an excellent organization onsite, everyone would have just gone about their business, putting themselves in harm's way,' said Geoff Webster, Pittsburgh Futures chair. Together Gainey's team and Pittsburgh Futures identified a city sanitation worker who never had the problem, and determined it was because of how he prepared the equipment before his shift. 'In less than 24 hours, they created a check process for all the winch cables before they go out on every shift, and they trained everybody how to do this,' Webster said. That required breaking existing policy and listening to an experienced frontline worker. Three years later, the once-common, costly and risky problem hasn't happened again. Winches and dumpsters in Western Pennsylvania might seem far from innovation. But that would overlook innovation's best working definition: new solutions for old problems. A rule of the early weekend hackathons that evolved into today's civic technology and shaped my early career is relevant here: Develop software only once all analog solutions are exhausted. This represents the ideal of technology and entrepreneurship to solve actual problems for real people, in whatever way gets the job done. Unfortunately, one current stinging criticism of government, especially the regulation-friendly progressive kind, is that it's more focused on process than outcomes. Journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson have popularized this idea with their recent book ' Abundance,' but the challenge surrounds us. Entrepreneurs and engineers know this well: No points are awarded for following a prescribed playbook if the company closes or the code malfunctions. Results matter. They should in public life too. For example, adding housing faster, especially in economically dynamic cities with flourishing research and entrepreneurship climates, would add an extra 1.7 million jobs over the next decade, according to a 2024 McKinsey analysis. Entrepreneurs don't pick places to start companies, they pick places to live and then start companies there. So, sensibly, any economic development strategy should solve for housing. And yet, expensive US cities often address sky-high housing costs with complicated schemes for mandating rents, rather than making it easier to build. Likewise, American transit projects get bogged down by overlapping if well-intentioned groups championing issues like environmental concerns or historical preservation. The average cost of building a mile of public transit in the United States is far more than in most other big countries, according to a recent report, including Canada, Germany, Japan, India and Iran. This is especially true in Democratic-run cities and states, places where residents are most likely to prioritize increasing housing affordability and public transit. This month, established Democrats lamented New York City's freshly elected party nominee for mayor Zohran Mamdani, a self-described democratic-socialist. But most fail to match his plainspoken policy ideas that residents feel address their problems. The promise of local governance is, as New York's last socialist mayor Fiorella LaGuardia is credited with saying, there's no Republican or Democratic way to collect garbage. That includes addressing a frequently tangled winch. 'Too often those problems are solved in a vacuum,' said Jake Pawlak, Pittsburgh's deputy mayor and director of the Office of Management and Budget. 'Without rapid engagement from the entire leadership structure, innovations would have been lost.' This could be a happy outcome of engagement between experience-minded designers, entrepreneurial builders and civil servants. 'Leaders need to set goals, create safety for continual improvement and listen deeply to frontline workers,' Pittsburgh Futures Chair Webster said. The compounding effects of small, gradual changes can't be overstated. In Pittsburgh's case, the pragmatic, results-focused approach not only enhanced worker safety, it dramatically cut costs – just the kind of 'government efficiency' that so many cheer. According to Webster and team, their dumpster training intervention avoided a projected 200 injuries and saved the city nearly $10 million in worker's compensation costs over three years. 'Abundance' coauthor Thompson argues the ideological battle between big government and small government, regulation and deregulation, is misguided. Instead we should question what solutions produce the most effective outcomes, and pursue them. That might mean a regulation, or the removal of one. It could have once meant an intervention that now is unnecessary. Other times, as the Pittsburgh case study teaches, we just need to train a staff on how to disentangle a winch. Political success comes when leaders consistently solve problems for residents, and ensure they know it. Or as Webster put it, move from 'command and control leadership' to a 'servant leadership' approach, committed to constant improvement and real-world outcomes.
Forbes
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
You're Not ‘Using' AI, You're Raising It. It's Watching.
The author (left) with Raising AI author, De Kai at a book launch event, June 10, 2025, at the ... More Manhattan home of Blue Man Group co-founder Chris Wink. From left: Rob Wolcott, De Kai, Chris Wink, Katy Bohinc (the book's lead editor). Last week, I changed my perspective. A big, change-your-behavior epiphany. In his beautiful, even profound, new book, Raising AI: An Essential Guide to Parenting Our Future, long-time friend and AI luminary De Kai reframes the AI dialogue. They're not tools, slaves or gods, they're our children. I've long opined on the lack of limits between what we think of as human and what AI entities can eventually become. In this Forbes article from 2017 I coined the term 'Proxy AI,' which predicted the AI mimics we have today. In this 2018 article, I made the case against long-held cuddly teddy bears like creativity and empathy as being uniquely human. They're not. While my predictions have borne out, De Kai has gone much further and in a direction that is more humane, even essential. And fairly so. While I'm a well-informed futurist, educator and venture investor, De Kai is a true AI pioneer, having achieved theoretical and applied breakthroughs such as the engine behind Google Translate. The cover of Raising AI by De Kai, from MIT Press. The cover endorsements give a sense of the ... More scientific and cultural relevance of the book: a co-founder of Wired magazine, a Nobel laureate (who rarely endorses a book)... and MC Hammer. At a recent gathering in Manhattan at the home of Blue Man Group co-founder Chris Wink, De Kai articulated his objective: "We must consciously parent our AI, guiding these digital children with the best humanity has to offer. The stakes are high." Professor De Kai approaches our technological progeny not as tools, but as entities shaped by our actions. It's more than a metaphor. If we neglect to nurture and instill values we desire in our "AI children," we risk raising entities reflecting the worst of ourselves. Not everyone aligns with De Kai's nurturing paradigm. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen recently published a techno-optimistic manifesto, decrying ethical oversight as stifling innovation. To Andreessen and like-minded leaders, AI development should be liberated from cautionary restraints to accelerate development and diffusion. De Kai doesn't disagree entirely. Rather, in addition to rapid advances in AI technologies and business models, he champions the pivotal role of personal responsibility for each of us. From the doomsday camp, AI researcher Eliezer Yudkowsky positions unchecked AI advancement as potentially catastrophic. Consider the title of his forthcoming book: If Anyone Builds It, We All Die. Not optimistic. De Kai keynotes the 2024 UBS Digital Conference alongside Professor Geoffrey Hinton, considered by ... More many to be the "godfather of AI". After hearing De Kai's perspective, Hinton offered to endorse his upcoming book—a rare and notable honor. De Kai advocates more than a middle path. (You might say it's orthogonal.) Reflecting both the epochal potential and threat of AI, he urges us to muster our most human of roles, that of the parent. The best solution for each of us, and all of us together, requires us to recognize our personal impact on the AI entities with which we engage, and the implications for ourselves and society at large. "The only two contexts I'm aware of in which humans are referred to as 'users' are technology and illicit drugs," De Kai quipped. The implications are clear: when we neglect our responsibilities as creators and stewards, we invite unintended consequences. Just ask Microsoft, whose 2016 chatbot Tay, attracting users with nefarious objectives, quickly descended into a racist, misogynistic parrot. Today, generative AI foundational models like OpenAI's GPTs or Anthropic's Claude versions reflect more conscientious upbringing, yet no large tech company, even the best funded, can ensure a healthy generation of AI agents. AI systems learn from us. Not just from what we say we prefer, but from what we do. They're optimized to discern, serve—and leverage—our preferences, often (though not always) for someone else's profit. We cannot afford to abrogate this responsibility to big tech or even to government. Consider every interaction you have each day with dozens of apps. Not just generative AI chatbots, but also the AI systems behind the dozens of apps we rely on each day, from Uber and Amazon to social media and Spotify. They're deciphering our desires and behaviors, to better serve and exploit. (It's a conundrum I refer to as the King Customer Paradox.) Every click, share and comment, each question and direction, teaches algorithms who we are, what we value and how we interact. If we yearn for more humane digital environments, we must act as such. Consider the long-failed parenting strategy, 'Do as I say, not as I do.' Instead, interact with nurture, not negligence. De Kai and his editor-partner in this mission, Katy Bohinc, see Raising AI as the first step in a global campaign to help us all recognize the impact we have and essential roles we play—whether we're aware or oblivious. Raising AI author De Kai explaining his team's "360-degree Culture Change" strategy. The book, ... More Raising AI, is a first step to help all of us change the ways we think about and interact with AI. Raising AI helped me discover my own critical blind spot. In this 2018 article in Harvard Business Review, I urged a fundamental rethink of work, purpose and economic systems as a result of the multi-decade rise of AI. My call-to-action is even more urgent today; however, what I missed was it's not just about our sense of purpose and the lives we humans live. It's also about our AI offspring. They matter. They're evolving toward agency and sentience. They're interacting with us, with each other, with the world at large. During his session, De Kai shared a disquieting prediction: 'Ours is the last generation of human beings who will be parents to our AI offspring. Soon they'll be raising themselves.' Perhaps soon will be the last time they'll look longingly to us as superior beings. Amidst the future-of-humanity buzz of the book launch event, it occurred to me how beautifully appropriate our event space was. Wink's Blue Man Group is an ultramarine metaphor for our rising AI agents: like his iconic, mischievous blue men, AI generates new beings, new collaborators. As AI rises, what kind of parent will you become? A metaphor for our rising AI agents. The Blue Man Group makes an appearance at the nightspot The ... More Palladium, 1994. New York. (Photo by)
