RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK — Looking at 15 different local or regional job board sites for “startup” jobs, the exclusive WRAL TechWire Jobs Report showed 7,559 openings (not accounting for duplications in postings) this week.

In early October, startup job numbers fell below 8,000 for the first time since WRAL TechWire began tracking this data, and numbers have remained in the 7,000s since.

Will local startups be energized by AI frenzy?

Early Tuesday, IBM announced a $500M venture fund targeting the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. Investors have commented recently that startups are nearing a “capital winter” right now — unless they’re in the AI sector.

IBM launches $500M venture fund targeting artificial intelligence sector

Crunchbase reported Tuesday that October’s most active US investors showed significant AI investments.

Vermont-based Gaingels—the most active investor among those making deals in the US, according to the article—topped the list with 14 deals, including a deal with AI tax filing startup TaxGPT.

San Francisco-based Index Ventures completed six deals, including multiple AI plays.

“Index also caught a little bit of the AI bug — as has every VC firm,” wrote senior reporter Chris Metinko in the article. “The firm helped co-lead a seed and participated in a Series A for New York-based Siro, an AI coach for field sales, and led a seed for San Francisco-based Class Companion, which has created an AI technology that allows professors to provide students with feedback.”

The Wall Street Journal also reported Tuesday about crypto engineer startups pivoting to AI.

Now, with Raleigh-headquartered giants like IBM making loud funding promises in AI, startups may have new motivation to pivot.

WRAL will continue to track one indicator of startup activity, startup job postings, in the WRAL TechWire jobs report.

Trends for ‘startup’ jobs in the Triangle

Startup job posting numbers (not accounting for duplications in postings) are 64.6% lower than this time last year.

Postings did tick up slightly this week, rising 1.9% compared to last week.

Here’s a look at the trend from the last 17 months:

Here are the numbers from all 15 different local or regional job board sites that we review weekly for WRAL TechWire’s exclusive Jobs Report for “startup” jobs:

Check back next week for an update on the WRAL TechWire jobs report.