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*:

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