Latest news with #Fontaine
Business Insider
10 hours ago
- Business
- Business Insider
AI has these founders in a New York state of mind
Move over, San Francisco. The West Coast city has long reigned supreme in tech innovation — and that's certainly been true during the AI transformation that's overtaken the industry over the last few years. But this year at New York Tech Week, the city's startup and tech community had a message to deliver: New York isn't just ready to get in on the game when it comes to AI. It's already a big player. "When it comes to New York, you have the whole spectrum to invest in. You have ecosystems, agents, and apps," said Emily Fontaine, IBM 's global head of venture capital, speaking on a panel discussion about venture capital investing in AI and quantum startups in New York on June 2. While many big AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic are headquartered in San Francisco, OpenAI has a new NYC outpost, and the city is already a stronghold when it comes to fintech, healthtech, legal tech, and consumer startups, all of which AI innovations are transforming. These signs show the city is already in the big leagues when it comes to developing and retaining AI talent, those in the NYC tech community say. Fontaine added that not only does the NYC tech community include the entire AI tech ecosystem, but it's also home to founders and startups laser-focused on their product and working hard to get to the revenue stage — something she's excited about as an investor and that she doesn't always see when comparing AI startups in San Francisco. Fontaine said she was especially interested in New York entrepreneurs taking on AI apps, AI legal and contracts, and AI security startups. One of her co-panelists at the IBM event, president and CEO of Tech:NYC Julie Samuels, said that she was excited about AI infrastructure and AI healthcare startups coming out of New York. "People don't come to New York to live in a group house and code all night and never see anyone else," Samuels said in a nod to San Francisco's famous " Hacker Houses." She added that the New York tech community was special because people participate in various arts and culture invites unrelated to their companies. "New Yorkers hire," she said. "People want to live here, have always wanted and will continue to want to live here." Tech Week participants were similarly excited about the Big Apple's push into AI. Throughout the week, multiple event attendees told BI reporters either that they had relocated from San Francisco to New York or that they preferred NYC. "I want to make it the biggest startup ecosystem in the world," Somya Gupta, who cofounded an AI education startup Context, said of NYC. "SF, we're coming for you!" State and local governments are supporting New York's AI push. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, at an Axios panel, announced plans to use AI to train 100,000 state employees in offices such as the DMV. Additionally, New York is building a $16.5 million AI supercomputer at the University at Albany. Many AI startups are also headquartered in New York. Affiniti, which is building AI agents that act like CFOs for small businesses, announced a $17 million Series A in May. Healthcare AI copilot Navina announced it raised $55 million in March. Legora, which uses AI to help lawyers draft and review contracts, announced it raised $80 million in May. And Series, an AI social network for young professionals, announced it landed a $3.1 pre-seed round in April.
Global News
a day ago
- Climate
- Global News
‘It's tough for all of them': waiting game continues for evacuees as Manitoba fights wildfires
Firefighters in Flin Flon are continuing their efforts to protect the northern Manitoba city from wildfire flames. As of Monday morning, no structures within city limits had been lost, and officials say the cooler temperatures and rain have helped with the efforts. Mayor George Fontaine told 680 CJOB the situation has been a difficult one for the Flin Flon evacuees who have moved to safer locations — including Winnipeg and Steinbach — after fleeing the fire. 'They know they don't belong there (in Flin Flon) right now. It's tough for all of them … but they're still appreciative of everything they're being given,' Fontaine said. 'I went down to Steinbach yesterday to meet some people … they want to be home, but they can't be home under these conditions, so how tough is it? There's no choice.' Story continues below advertisement Fontaine said there have been evacuee meetups in Winnipeg — one of which he attended over the weekend in St. Vital — that have been helping evacuees deal with their temporary new surroundings. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'I did go to one last night … and some people met and it was very, very therapeutic for people to get together,' he said. The emergency co-ordinator for the RM of Kelsey says it's been all hands on deck for more than a month now in dealing with wildfires and that communities within the municipality south of Flin Flon didn't get the amount of rain they were hoping for over the weekend. 'I think we do need those three to four days of just steady rain — I think that's going to be the best suppression against these fires,' Lori Forbes told Global Winnipeg. 'Crews are working so hard on the edges and the helicopters and the buckets are just consistently going. I think that rain from the sky for about three days would be the trick that we would all love to see right now.' Despite a dearth of precipitation, Forbes said the cooler temperatures in recent days are helping firefighters in the west-central part of the province get the upper hand. Forbes said the RM, which began dealing with wildfires as early as May 3, with a brief break between the first outbreaks and the current state of emergency, is still playing host to more than 200 evacuees from various communities. Story continues below advertisement According to the Canadian Red Cross, there are now more than 18,300 registered wildfire evacuees in Manitoba. The aid organization is operating two congregate shelter sites in Winnipeg, with space for 1,600 people, while another 1,600 are in hotel rooms. The Red Cross is also giving emergency supplies to 12 shelter sites in other communities that are hosting evacuees. Total fundraising numbers as of Friday had hit more than $3.3 million, without accounting for matching funds pledged by the federal and provincial governments. The province is set to provide the latest wildfire update at 12:45 p.m. Monday. Global News will stream the press conference live on this page.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Sinners' bonus feature: See how the gnarly makeup effects came to life
From its music to cinematography, special effects and production design, Ryan Coogler's Sinners was a cross-departmental masterclass, which undoubtedly helped to make the period vampire flick the breakout hit of the year. And now, as the movie makes its way onto digital platforms, we're getting more of a peek behind the curtain to see how it all came together. More from GoldDerby Danya Taymor could make Tony Awards history with a win for 'John Proctor Is the Villain' How 'Severance' creates Lumon's 'manufactured perfection' through VFX 'Say Nothing' star Anthony Boyle on playing IRA activist Brendan Hughes: We 'get to the humanity as opposed to the mythology' To mark the release, Gold Derby has a look at the special effects makeup from Sinners and the team responsible for putting all the gory wounds and practical otherworldly monsters on the screen. Coogler had originally become aware of prosthetic makeup designer Mike Fontaine's work after seeing Jeremy Saulnier's brutal container thriller Green Room. "I hadn't been that viscerally moved by makeup since I saw The Thing," Coogler says in the featurette. "It kind of left a mark on me." Once onboard, Fontaine met with Coogler to hear directly from him about what his goals for Sinners' makeup were and to land on a shared point of view. "Ryan and I were having a conversation early on, and I started to get a sense of what his vision was for the film," Fontaine says. "The process for me always begins with the script and the initial images that come to mind. From there, Fontaine went off to begin a months-long process that evolves from drawing to paintings and sculpting, some of which you can see in the video above. Sinners is available now on digital platforms. Best of GoldDerby Stephen King movies: 14 greatest films ranked worst to best 'The Life of Chuck' cast reveal their favorite Stephen King works, including Mark Hamill's love of the 'terrifying' 'Pet Sematary' From 'Hot Rod' to 'Eastbound' to 'Gemstones,' Danny McBride breaks down his most righteous roles: 'It's been an absolute blast' Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Anthropic appoints a national security expert to its governing trust
A day after announcing new AI models designed for U.S. national security applications, Anthropic has appointed a national security expert, Richard Fontaine, to its long-term benefit trust. Anthropic's long-term benefit trust is a governance mechanism that Anthropic claims helps it promote safety over profit, and which has the power to elect some of the company's board of directors. The trust's other members include Centre for Effective Altruism CEO Zachary Robinson, Clinton Health Access Initiative CEO Neil Buddy Shah, and Evidence Action President Kanika Bahl. In a statement, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said that Fontaine's hiring will "[strengthen] the trust's ability to guide Anthropic through complex decisions" about AI as it relates to security. "Richard's expertise comes at a critical time as advanced AI capabilities increasingly intersect with national security considerations," Amodei continued. "I've long believed that ensuring democratic nations maintain leadership in responsible AI development is essential for both global security and the common good." Fontaine, who as a trustee won't have a financial stake in Anthropic, previously served as a foreign policy adviser to the late Sen. John McCain and was an adjunct professor at Georgetown teaching security studies. For more than six years, he led the Center for A New American Security, a national security think tank based in Washington, D.C., as its president. Anthropic has increasingly engaged U.S. national security customers as it looks for new sources of revenue. In November, the company teamed up with Palantir and AWS, the cloud computing division of Anthropic's major partner and investor, Amazon, to sell Anthropic's AI to defense customers. To be clear, Anthropic isn't the only top AI lab going after defense contracts. OpenAI is seeking to establish a closer relationship with the U.S. Defense Department, and Meta recently revealed that it's making its Llama models available to defense partners. Meanwhile, Google is refining a version of its Gemini AI capable of working within classified environments, and Cohere, which primarily builds AI products for businesses, is also collaborating with Palantir to deploy its AI models. Fontaine's hiring comes as Anthropic beefs up its executive ranks. In May, the company named Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings to its board. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Anthropic appoints a national security expert to its governing trust
A day after announcing new AI models designed for U.S. national security applications, Anthropic has appointed a national security expert, Richard Fontaine, to its long-term benefit trust. Anthropic's long-term benefit trust is a governance mechanism that Anthropic claims helps it promote safety over profit, and which has the power to elect some of the company's board of directors. The trust's other members include Centre for Effective Altruism CEO Zachary Robinson, Clinton Health Access Initiative CEO Neil Buddy Shah, and Evidence Action President Kanika Bahl. In a statement, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said that Fontaine's hiring will "[strengthen] the trust's ability to guide Anthropic through complex decisions" about AI as it relates to security. "Richard's expertise comes at a critical time as advanced AI capabilities increasingly intersect with national security considerations," Amodei continued. "I've long believed that ensuring democratic nations maintain leadership in responsible AI development is essential for both global security and the common good." Fontaine, who as a trustee won't have a financial stake in Anthropic, previously served as a foreign policy adviser to the late Sen. John McCain and was an adjunct professor at Georgetown teaching security studies. For more than six years, he led the Center for A New American Security, a national security think tank based in Washington, D.C., as its president. Anthropic has increasingly engaged U.S. national security customers as it looks for new sources of revenue. In November, the company teamed up with Palantir and AWS, the cloud computing division of Anthropic's major partner and investor, Amazon, to sell Anthropic's AI to defense customers. To be clear, Anthropic isn't the only top AI lab going after defense contracts. OpenAI is seeking to establish a closer relationship with the U.S. Defense Department, and Meta recently revealed that it's making its Llama models available to defense partners. Meanwhile, Google is refining a version of its Gemini AI capable of working within classified environments, and Cohere, which primarily builds AI products for businesses, is also collaborating with Palantir to deploy its AI models. Fontaine's hiring comes as Anthropic beefs up its executive ranks. In May, the company named Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings to its board.
