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- AI House @ SxSW + AI Austin Community Hackathon Just Around The Corner
AI House @ SxSW + AI Austin Community Hackathon Just Around The Corner
Sign up to the 2nd AI Austin Community Hackathon before it's too late!
AITX Team
February 14, 2025
Hello everyone! AITX Team here with more updates this week.
If you’re new here, welcome! 👋 At AITX, we aim to:
Connect you with like-minded peers passionate about AI.
Provide a space for sharing ideas and receiving feedback on AI projects you’re building.
Share helpful tools and invaluable resources.
Before we jump into the regular news, a few housekeeping items:
February AITX Meetups:
Our upcoming meetups:
Austin Meetup: February 25 | sign up here!
To stay in the loop on all our monthly meetups and other community organized events, subscribe to our AITX calendar here.
Check out our Community Directory:
We recently started a community directory where you can fill out your profile and find other members of the AITX community.
If you haven’t filled out your profile yet, please follow the link HERE and submit your information.
2nd Austin AI Community Hackathon! 🤠
We are getting closer to webAI’s & AITX’s Austin AI Community Hackathon!
When: From February 28 - March 1
Details:
There are 5 tracks for the hackathon:
Red Hat AI Open Source Track: Best submission of tools that enable easier access to open source AI.
Local Track: Best submission leveraging infrastructure provided by Austin-based companies. If you are a local company interested in getting local engineers building on your platform, please reach out to [email protected]
Agents Track: Best submission built utilizing AI agents capable of independent, meaningful action.
Meta Llama Track: Submission's leveraging Meta's open source Llama models.
Community Choice: Best submission as voted by fellow participants and attendees at Hack Fair.
There’s more…
It will all culminate in Hack Fair!
The Hack Fair will be a science-fair style showcase open to the broader Austin community where participants will demo their projects to the public for a chance to win the Community Choice Prize.
Sign Up!
If you and/or anyone you know is interested, register here 👇️
🏠️ AI House @ SxSW
AITX is excited to announce a 2-day event in collaboration with Manifold Labs, Akash, Toolhouse: AI House @ SxSW.
In the spirit of SxSW, this event will shine a light on local AI talent to show the best of what the Austin AI ecosystem has to offer. There will be company demos, fireside chats, panels and opportunities to connect.
We’d like to thank Manifold Labs and Akash for opening up their new DeAI space for this event.
📝 Register Now!
Come out to support local AI companies, learn from others in the space and have some free food & drink.
In this week’s edition you’re getting:
5 Upcoming Events
3 AI Community Stories
1 Community Highlight
So let’s jump in!
UPCOMING EVENTS
When: Friday, February 21 | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM CST
What: Exploring the intersection of human potential and artificial intelligence, covering topics from cognitive enhancement and creativity to ethical development and social impact.
When: Wednesday, February 19, | 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM CST
Where: Hanover Republic Square 303 W 5th St, Austin, TX 78701 · Austin, TX
What: The theme for February is "Adapting to AI". What tools and tech have you tried? What works and what doesn't? How has it changed your strategy? There are many more questions to ponder in this critical area. Join them to share insights with your peers!
When: Tuesday, March 4 | 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM CST
Where: Capital Factory 701 Brazos St · Austin, TX
What: Chris Lopez will demonstrate how to How to Leverage AI to grow your Business at SXSW and give you AI Tools for Growth Hacking.
When: Wednesday, February 19 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM CST
Where: Cosmic Saltillo 1300 E 4th Street, · Austin, TX
What: The perfect opportunity to engage, experiment, brainstorm, and work on fun projects with fellow LangChain and AI enthusiasts.
When: Thursday, March 6 | 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Capital Factory 701 Brazos St, 16th Floor · Austin, TX
What: A monthly mini-hack session for developers all over the Austin area to build cool stuff related to AI. The first Thursday of each month, they host a meetup revolving around a certain theme or AI technology, like Voice AI, Large Language Models, Computer Vision, etc.
COMMUNITY STORIES
Texas lawmakers are considering HB 1709, the "Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act" (TRAIGA), which would create the most comprehensive state-level AI regulations to date.
Why it matters: This legislation positions Texas as a leader in AI governance and could fundamentally reshape how companies develop and deploy AI across the state, potentially creating a blueprint for other states to follow.
Need-to-know:
The law would require companies to assess and monitor "high-risk" AI systems annually and disclose AI usage to consumers
Systems found discriminating against protected classes must be suspended immediately
Law would take effect September 2025, with insurance companies pushing for exemptions
Learn more here.
CloudBurst Data Centers is building a 200-acre AI-focused data center campus powered by natural gas, making Central Texas an even bigger player in data infrastructure.
Why it matters: The Austin-San Antonio corridor is set to become America's second-largest data center market, behind only Northern Virginia, highlighting Texas' growing role in AI infrastructure.
Need-to-know:
Facility will use 1.2 gigawatts of power when it opens in 2026
Energy Transfer signs 10-year deal to supply natural gas, their first direct data center partnership
Local officials back the project for its tax benefits and low impact on city services
Learn more here.
Texas A&M is tripling its computing power with one of North America's most powerful academic supercomputers, partnering with NVIDIA for the installation.
Why it matters: This positions Texas A&M as a premier destination for AI research and education, strengthening Texas' role in developing next-generation AI talent.
Need-to-know:
New system will be among the most powerful academic supercomputers globally
Investment includes major upgrades to West Campus Data Center
Will support research in machine learning, generative AI, and scientific simulations
Learn more here.
COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHT
This week’s highlight is Orlando Kalossakas (Orlie), co-founder of Toolhouse–one of our other partners for this upcoming Hackathon.
Here’s his message to the community and those who will be hacking with us at the end of the month:
I'm coming in person to the hackathon because I want to see someone win the grand prize using Toolhouse.
If you want win, find me I will be wearing a Toolhouse t-shirt and I'll help you build an AI agent that wins!
You can connect with Orlie on LinkedIn here.
Try Toolhouse today here.
That’s all for now, folks!
If you enjoyed this, consider sharing with a friend by sending them to sign up here.