DUMBO is one of New York City’s nicknames for a special neighborhood. It stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. Not only is it a scenic and thriving area, but it is also forming a reputation as one of the more tech-savvy places on the East Coast. The technology emphasis began early in the century, taking advantage of low rents and an educated population. City planners worked to boost the synergy by making the neighborhood startup-friendly. The typical situation is a “tech incubator” in a well-wired building where companies can grow and, hopefully, move on to the next level. Most of the enterprises in DUMBO are startups with small staffs and big dreams. At the other end of the scale, the Etsy corporation and several other large companies are headquartered in the neighborhood.In August, I found out about the Brooklyn Tech Expo to be held in mid-October with the theme FALL4AI. It was organized by Pulse NYC, a very active group of 20,000-plus people interested in all aspects of technology. They organize networking events, tech conferences, and expos, and they offer free tech events listings in NYC. Since I live on Long Island, I figured that I should take the commuter train to the Brooklyn train station and then the subway. However, it turned out that subway service to DUMBO is behind the times. None of the subways at the train station connect with the one line, the F, that serves DUMBO. I had to go to Borough Park and then take an Uber the last mile.
Staffers at the welcome desk
Once there, the courteous check-in staffers got me set up within a minute. There was a modest buzz as a crowd of young people were cutting deals and brainstorming on the conference floor. The building, with its high ceilings and red bricks, looked like a converted barn, but it was actually a century-old factory, now a venue for weddings and conferences.
Cruising the Floor
The vendor floor looked like a somewhat reduced version of the National Retail Federation event I attended at the Javits Center earlier in 2024. About two-thirds of the exhibits were substantially about AI. One thing I’ve noticed recently at gatherings like this is the lack of printed handouts. Mostly, they don’t exist. The trend now is to provide QR codes that link to more data. I am not a comfortable QR user, so I would take business cards when available. Interestingly, one of the exhibitors, Ion Card, was selling digital business cards. It seemed like such a useful idea that I went to Ion Card’s site after the conference and tried my hand at creating one.
As I walked in, the first vendor I saw, Xtraspots, addresses a real issue that New Yorkers deal with. Since moving here in 1990, I’ve realized that the only thing harder to find than good Mexican food is parking. In the movies, the hero can always drive to Times Square and find a spot right in front of the building they want, but that is not realistic.
Xtraspots’ booth sign
Michael DeLeo, Xtraspots’ account executive, explained to me that system uses AI to match parking spots with the customers who need them. The company motto makes a bold promise: “Innovative technology pioneering tomorrow’s Urban Landscape with Smart Parking, EV Charging & Income Earning potential for all!!”
A table for the company uiAgent advertised that it specializes in building an AI-native hyperautomation platform for SMBs. I had to ask its representative what an SMB was; it means small-to-medium businesses. uiAgent works with companies that are too small to have a real IT staff but that want to enjoy the next level of automation.
Across the row from this company was a somewhat larger operation, Princeton IT Services, which offers consulting in new technologies, provides cloud solutions, and sells hardware and software. Its table had an appealing selection of door prizes that would go unclaimed by me, but I had a nice chat with its sales associate, Yamini Palla, about options for sharing photographs online. She prefers Instagram, while I use Flickr primarily.
Formal Presentation
Capgemini was represented by several young speakers who led off with an impressive array of numbers. It is a $23 billion company with offices in 50 countries, and its team includes 360,000 employees. It does considerable business with Fortune 500 companies. This presentation seemed geared to big and well-established companies, but the speakers said they didn’t want attendees to be intimidated. The team of developers is interested in doing business with startups and academics.
Several of Capgemini’s initiatives involve pairing AI with satellite imaging to help protect biodiversity in a time of human-caused destruction of the environment. Another project is outfitting teams in sailing competitions with technology that allows them to “see” the wind. Looking at its webpage, I was reminded of a recent movie title: Everything Everywhere All at Once. However, the presenters brought their talk down to earth by saying that the company is in the business of finding useful technology for its clients. The scheme for making this happen is something they call the applied innovation platform, which has four parts. The first is “discover,” in which the team finds the hardware most likely to bring about the change the client is after. The second is “devise,” in which the hardware and software solution is crafted. The third is “launch and iterate,” in which the new program is integrated into the client’s organization. The fourth is “sustain,” as the new program becomes a part of the corporate culture.
DrEllis.ai
By now we have seen AI tools out there for buying pizza, finding concerts, and enlarging photographs. However, developer Pierre Côté has come up with a project that got my attention more than others: DrEllis.ai, an AI program to help with addiction and other aspects of men’s mental health. His booth showed computer screens with the faces of the digital doctor.
Pierre Côté
The face of helpful AI
Côté says that this program was inspired by the fact that it would take 6 months for an average adult male in Los Angeles to even say hello to a psychologist or psychiatrist. If you have seen current data about suicides, there is the obvious problem that something bad could happen in that interval. When you add the aspect of privacy to DrEllis.ai, there is a real chance of getting patients to open up to that wise face on the screen.
With DrEllis.ai, someone is awake and ready to talk 24 hours a day. I asked Côté if he used the standard practice of finding books about psychology and feeding them to the program. He said that books are not used. All of the knowledge in the program comes directly from human experts.
Conclusion
For every nightmare about the future of artificial intelligence, I’ve seen dozens of efforts to use it for the betterment of the planet and all of its inhabitants. Is it possible that every avenue has been explored? Certainly not, and I have one to add. This is addressed to the New York City MTA. Please develop a program that tells me how to get from my town on Long Island to DUMBO. Your current app is a confusing mess.
That being said, Brooklyn Tech Expo was an informative and valuable experience. I look forward to following future events by Pulse NYC.
Photos by Terry Ballard
