n Episode 17 of AI in NYC, hosts Rob May, Ryan Eppley, and Anna Kirk sit down with Alayna Kennedy — Director of AI Governance at MasterCard — to talk about what it actually looks like to turn high-minded AI principles into real, operational governance inside one of the world's largest financial companies.

Alayna brings a rare combination of hands-on AI model development experience (she built fraud detection models at IBM for a major federal agency) and deep academic credentials in fairness, accountability, and transparency in machine learning. The conversation digs into the gap between publishing a principles document and actually embedding ethics into your data pipeline, product development, and deployment process. Alayna shares insights from her master's thesis research, where she interviewed data scientists and governance teams across companies to find out who's really putting AI ethics into practice — and who's just posting it on a website.

The team also explores the biggest concerns facing major enterprises when it comes to frontier models vs. open source, the ethical blind spots most people miss, and where the real resistance to AI adoption comes from inside large organizations. Whether you're building AI products, governing them, or just trying to understand how the biggest companies in the world are navigating this moment, this episode is packed with practical insight. Plus, stick around for the crew's favorite Saturday morning NYC activities

Thank you to our sponsor: BePresent https://www.bepresentapp.com/

More of Alayna's work: https://alaynakennedy.github.io/

Albert Chun, founder of AI Circle, joins Rob, Ryan, and Anna to talk about building one of AI's most intentionally small communities — and why turning away a thousand applicants is a feature, not a bug. Albert shares how his background as an educator (he started schools in the Bay Area and South Bronx) shaped the way he thinks about training AI models at Invisible, and why the future of AI might be more of a teaching problem than a math one.

The crew also breaks down the OpenClaw acquisition by OpenAI, the security risks hiding inside open-source AI agents, and what it means that the Pentagon is now clashing with Anthropic over how its models are being used.

🔗 Apply to AI Circle: https://ai-circle.org 🔗

Albert Chun on LinkedIn: / albert-s-chun

This episode is sponsored by BePresent — the app that uses the same tactics social media uses to keep you addicted, and flips them to help you put your phone down.

Download it here: https://www.bepresentapp.com/ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us — it helps more than you know. Have a guest suggestion or want to be on the show? Reach out through our website: aiinnycshow.com

In this episode of AI in NYC, hosts Rob May (Neurometric) and Ryan Eppley (Root Access) dive deep into the intersection of human intimacy and artificial intelligence. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, they explore the startling statistic that 33% of Gen Z has engaged in romantic conversations with AI. Is technology a tool for building human connection, or a replacement for it?

They also break down the latest industry drama, including Anthropic’s aggressive "Keep Thinking" ad campaign, OpenAI’s move into the advertising space, and the rise of multi-agent frameworks like Gastown that are changing how we develop software. *Topics Covered*:

1. Sponsor Spotlight: BePresent – Using social media psychology to break phone addiction.
2. The Gen Z AI Romance Boom – Why 1/3 of young adults are talking to bots.
3. AI "Eager to Please" vs. Human Messiness – Why conflict and "clunkiness" are necessary for real growth.
4. Tools of the Trade – From RizzGPT to Eva AI and the world's first AI dating café.
5. The Utility vs. Morality of AI – Exploring the ethics of the sex tech industry and robotics.
6. Collaborative Filtering vs. Personalization – Why human chemistry can't be fully "scraped" or predicted by an algorithm.
7. The MoltBook Incident – What happens when AI agents build their own Reddit-style communities?
8. Gastown & Multi-Agent Orchestration – A new framework for automated software development.
9. The AI Ad Wars – Anthropic’s "Keep Thinking" campaign vs. OpenAI’s new ad testing.
10. New York Minute – Why SoHo is the new Times Square and the reality of the Financial District.

*Tech Mentioned*:

BePresent App: https://www.bepresentapp.com/ (The screen-time reduction tool featured in today's show).

Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/ (Superbowl ad).

OpenRouter: https://openrouter.ai/ (The platform for routing prompts to multiple AI models).

Gastown: The experimental open-source multi-agent orchestration framework for automating software dev.

Dennis Mortensen, 20-year NYC entrepreneur and founder of x.ai (the AI scheduling assistant), joins Rob May and Ryan Eppley to share war stories from building one of the first real AI agents—years before LLMs existed.

We dive into:

→ The insane complexity of AI scheduling (what does "soon" actually mean?)

→ Why perceived errors were harder to solve than real ones

→ ChatGPT's move into advertising—should we be worried? → Is the AI bubble real? (Dennis sold his AI stocks last week 👀)

→ Apple licensing Gemini for Siri: brilliant move or generational fumble?

→ What Dennis is building now at Launch Brightly

Topics discussed:

ChatGPT & ads: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/techno...

Quantum computing & Bitcoin: https://www.investors.com/news/techno...

Apple & Gemini: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/12/apple...

Connect with Dennis: LinkedIn: / dennismortensen Launch Brightly: https://launchbrightly.com

We're closing out 2025 by showcasing 6 incredible AI startups building right here in New York City — the applied AI capital of the world.

Rob May and Ryan Eppley sit down with founders solving real problems across legal tech, elder safety, AI security, compliance automation, manufacturing intelligence, and AI-powered SEO.

🎯 STARTUPS FEATURED:

*CounselPro - Ian O'Brien*

AI-powered forensic accounting for legal professionals

Automates financial document analysis for divorce, bankruptcy, and fraud cases

50+ customers, fully bootstrapped

Website: https://www.counselpro.ai

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-obrien

*Silvershield - Alec Glassman*

Protecting older adults from digital fraud and scams

AI assistant that analyzes suspicious texts and emails

Launching across New York State in January 2026

Website: https://www.silvershield.ai

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alec-glassman

*Krnel - Peyman Faratin*

AI model security and control at runtime

Looks inside models to detect vulnerabilities and control behavior

Democratizing AI safety tools

Website: https://krnel.ai

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pfaratin

*Koop - Sergey Litvinenko*

Compliance automation for tech companies

Handles SOC 2, AI governance, and regulatory requirements

23x growth since seed round

Website: https://www.koop.ai

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergey-from-koop

*Tendrel - Akash Nandi*

Operations intelligence for manufacturing

AI-powered insights for industrial frontline workers

Minimizing downtime, maximizing production

Website: https://www.tendrel.io

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/agnandi

*OpenForge - Jason Patel*

AI SEO platform (Answer Engine Optimization)

AI agents that optimize businesses for ChatGPT and AI search

50,000+ YouTube subscribers, six-figure ARR in 4 months

Website: https://www.openforge.ai/about

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pateljason

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@UCnxPG10xnU5-WB2RpnxAivQ

💡 KEY THEMES:

Applied AI solving real business problems today

NYC's diverse AI ecosystem beyond frontier model labs

Bootstrapped and early-stage funded companies

From elder care to manufacturing to compliance

🗽 WHY NEW YORK?

New York City is emerging as the applied AI capital — hundreds of startups focused on bringing AI to real industries with real customers. Less hype, more substance.

Support these founders:

✅ Check out their websites

✅ Connect with them on LinkedIn

✅ Share with relevant connections

✅ Help grow NYC's AI ecosystem

HOSTS:

Rob May - Co-founder & CEO, NeuroMetric

Ryan Eppley - Co-founder & CEO, Root Access

📍 Recorded in NYC | December 2025

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In Episode 10, we sit down with Doug O’Laughlin, President of SemiAnalysis and author of Fabricated Knowledge, to break down the truth behind GPUs, the semiconductor supply chain, and the massive power demands coming with AI’s next phase. From the behind-the-scenes AMD exposé that forced a turnaround, to why Nvidia’s GPU dominance is not just about specs, to how fragile the global chip ecosystem really is—this episode dives deep into the hardware, economics, and geopolitics driving the AI boom. We also cover the rise of alternative accelerators, the future of U.S. chip manufacturing, Intel’s identity crisis, nuclear vs. on-site generation for data centers, and whether we’re already sliding into an AI bubble. GUEST Doug O’Laughlin – President, SemiAnalysis Founder, Fabricated Knowledge Leader in AI semiconductor + data center research