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Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026

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A small group of people supporting restrictions on AI hold up signs in front of City Hall before a City Council hearing, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Dear New Yorkers,

New York City’s budget is becoming more dependent on record Wall Street profits, which would immediately contract if the artificial intelligence boom turns into a bust.

Hundreds of AI startups are establishing a footprint in New York to take advantage of the city’s huge talent pool and status as a global business center. Industry leaders Anthropic and OpenAI are growing their operations in what will likely be their biggest offices outside their San Francisco headquarters.

Meanwhile, Wall Street investors are sending the stocks of AI companies soaring. And the securities sector is reporting tens of billions of dollars in quarterly earnings.

That’s helping to prop up both the city’s and state’s budgets, but the shadow of the dot-com bubble bursting in the early 2000s has some analysts worried that history could repeat itself.

“New York City has ridden the AI boom more than anyone in America except San Francisco,” City Comptroller Mark Levine says. “We are financing the data center construction boom; our firms are running the initial public offerings.

“But New Yorkers don’t realize how our fate has been tied to the AI boom,” he adds. “It’s not like San Francisco, where people who work for tech companies are the most prominent figures. Here it’s a step removed.”

Read more about how the city’s economy and government are getting more reliant on AI’s success.

Weather ☀️

A high around 63 and sunny during the daytime. A low near 47 and clear at night.

MTA 🚇

Midday in Brooklyn, Manhattan-bound Q trains skip Avenue M, Avenue J, Avenue H, Cortelyou Road, Beverley Road and Parkside Avenue. Find all the MTA’s planned changes and the latest delays here.

Alternate-side parking 🚙

It’s in effect today, Oct. 6.

By the way…

The city’s Health Department is vaccinating raccoons against rabies in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island this week. Here’s how to protect yourself against the disease.

Our Other Top Stories

During an hourslong City Council hearing, representatives of several AI giants largely ducked lawmakers’ direct questions about the technology’s potential perils.  The former chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party and her allies announced they had picked a new party chair at a late-night Zoom vote that appears to be in violation of multiple court orders. FAQ NYC dives into Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decision to appoint state Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor looking into the gang rape accusations at Cornell University.

The City Reporter and Chalkbeat Team Up

How To Vet an NYC Public School

Join The City Reporter and our friends at Chalkbeat New York for a special event on vetting, examining and getting to know local public schools using public data. This virtual and in-person event will be held at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Branch on Oct. 15 from 6 to 7 p.m. It’s free to attend, but RSVP to let us know if you’re joining virtually or in person.

THE KICKER: The Upper West Side’s latest celebrity? A locally rare American Barn owl.

Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Tuesday.

Love,

The City Reporter

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