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.
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Before we jump into the regular news, a few housekeeping items:
Upcoming AITX Community Events:
Austin AITX Community Monthly Meetup | sign up here!
Houston AITX Community Monthly Meetup | sign up here!
To stay in the loop on all our monthly meetups and other community organized events, subscribe to our AITX Community calendar here.
Check out our 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.
AITX Community & NVIDIA NemoClaw Hackathon
AITX Community is partnering with NVIDIA for a hands-on NemoClaw hackathon focused on building real autonomous agent applications. Participants will use NemoClaw, NVIDIA Agent Toolkit, and Nemotron models to build agents that do more than chat: they should take action, coordinate tools, and produce a working demo by the end of the event.
This is built for AI engineers, builders, founders, researchers, and technical operators who want to experiment with the next generation of agentic systems.
You do not need to be an expert in NemoClaw before arriving, but you should be comfortable building quickly and shipping a demo.
We are also very grateful to our current track sponsors: RedHat and HiddenLayer.
AITX Community Member Survey
As we head into the summer, we wanted to take the time to ask how we can help y’all better.
Please fill out this survey to tell us how we can better help you (takes less than 2 minutes) 👇
State of AI in Texas Report Survey Live!
Howdy! The State of AI in Texas Report (STAR) has been finalized.
AITX Community and UT School of Law is excited to hear what the community has to say! By mapping the AI landscape and understanding stakeholder interactions, we hope to identify key businesses involved with AI development in Texas.
And by learning about AI product usage and how to support needs of new AI developers, we aim to provide a report that will both inform smart AI policy and serve as a guide for businesses on AI development.
THE WHO – We Want to Hear From You: If you’re based in Texas and work at Startups, Scaleups, or Enterprises, this survey is for you.
This is your chance to have your voice heard.
In this week’s edition you’re getting:
5 Upcoming Events
3 AI Community Stories
So let’s jump in!
Community Events
When: Tuesday, June 30 | 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM CST
Where: Antler VC Austin, TX
What: This summer, Austin AI Hub is co-hosting Call for Code AI: United Against Trafficking, a global hackathon in partnership with UN Human Rights and Call for Code AI. The mission: build AI tools that detect, disrupt, and respond to human trafficking. Hackathon projects are stronger when you're not building alone, so we're getting builders in one room before the deadline.
When: Monday, Jul 20 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM CST
Where: Capital Factory 701 Brazos St · Austin, TX
What:
Agenda -
6:00 PM – 6:20 PM: Mingle and Get Food
• Grab some pizza, drinks, and chat for a bit as everyone arrives
6:20 PM – 6:30PM: Bryce and Reid go over current events
• featuring 5 questions of AI trivia to win prizes
6:30 PM – 7:00PM: Presentation #1
7:00 PM – 7:15PM: Presentation #2
7:15 PM – 8:00 PM: Hack / Network
• Collaborate with fellow attendees to apply what you've learned. Work on projects related to the evening's themes or any AI ideas you're passionate about.
When: Wednesday, Jul 1 | 5:30 PM - 8:30 PM CST
Where: TBD
What: Before this documentary is released to the world, we are bringing together a select group of senior AI leaders for an exclusive premiere screening.
When: Friday, July 10 5:30 PM - Jul 11, 6:30 PM
Where: Antler VC Austin, TX
What: A hands-on Organized AI workshop for builders moving beyond AI chat into real agentic systems. We’ll walk through the full agentic engineering stack: agents, workflows, second brains, model routing, subagent orchestration, browser QA, telemetry, recursive self-improvement, deployment, and visual system design.
When: Wednesday, July 1
Where: 201 Brazos St, Cedar Door, austin, tx
What: 🔔 Step into the world of AI innovation and connect with the people building the future. This high-energy event brings together founders, investors, and professionals working at the forefront of artificial intelligence and machine learning. At the core of the evening is live pitching-and everyone is welcome to participate. Whether you're developing a breakthrough model, investing in deep tech, or exploring opportunities in AI, you’ll get a 1-minute slot to introduce yourself, your idea, or your ask.
COMMUNITY STORIES
Texas property and casualty insurance costs have exploded by 79% over the past six years, prompting state lawmakers to investigate whether artificial intelligence systems are partially responsible for the dramatic increases. At a Wednesday Senate Business and Commerce hearing, testimony centered on AI's role in rate calculations and the urgent need for more affordable insurance options for Texas residents.
Why it matters: This highlights growing scrutiny of AI's real-world impact on consumer costs and demonstrates how AI deployment in financial services is becoming a regulatory and legislative priority.
Need to know:
Property and casualty insurance costs in Texas have surged 79% over a six-year period
Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee held hearings specifically examining AI's role in insurance rate calculations
Lawmakers are focusing on the need for both affordability measures and regulation of AI systems used in determining insurance premiums
Coherent Corp. is poised to receive up to $50 million in CHIPS Act funding to dramatically expand its Sherman, Texas facility that produces indium phosphide semiconductors-critical components for AI data center optical networking. The expansion will double manufacturing space and quadruple wafer production capacity, directly addressing a major supply chain bottleneck in AI infrastructure.
Why it matters: This expansion tackles a critical constraint in AI infrastructure by scaling production of the photonic devices that enable high-speed data movement between processors and systems in next-generation AI data centers.
Need to know:
Coherent will receive up to $50 million in CHIPS Act funding to expand its Sherman, Texas indium phosphide semiconductor facility
The project will double manufacturing production space and quadruple wafer production capacity at the world's first and largest volume-production 6-inch indium phosphide platform
The expansion is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs while addressing a bottleneck in AI-enabling optical networking components
Partly, an AI company building models for the auto repair supply chain, just relocated its global headquarters to Austin and plans to more than double its workforce over the next two years.
Why it matters: Another AI company is betting its future on Austin talent, deepening the city's pull as a magnet for applied AI beyond software and chips.
Need to know:
Partly expects about 50 employees in Austin now, scaling to 200 by the end of 2027 and roughly 400 the year after.
CEO Levi Fawcett cited Austin's product and sales talent, UT graduates, and affordability versus the Bay Area as the deciding factors.
The move follows a $50 million raise backed by DST Global, pushing Partly's valuation to $500 million, with clients that include Toyota, Hyundai, and Arnold Clark.
That’s all for now, folks!
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