Hello everyone! AITX Team here with more updates this week.
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In this week’s edition you’re getting:
5 Upcoming Events
3 AI Community Stories
So let’s jump in!
UPCOMING EVENTS
💻 Hack AI
When: Thursday, February 5, 2026 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM CST
Where: Capital Factory, Austin, Texas
What: Hack AI is a monthly session for builders in the Austin area to learn about and build the latest AI technology. The evening features talks and demos from AI companies, followed by hands-on collaboration time with free food and drinks.
When: Wednesday, Feb 4 · 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM CST
Where: Capital Factory 701 Brazos St · Austin, TX
What: Jordaaan Hill will cover how he approaches building projects in Claude Code. Jordaaan has had a storied career as an Energy Trader, Oilfield consultant, Data Engineer, and AI Native PM, and hopes to solve the disheartening job search and ghost job epidemic by matching hackathon builders with employers who want to hire AI talent with proven projects.
When: Wednesday, February 4, 2026 | 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM CST
Where: ACC Rio Grande Campus, Austin, Texas
What: Monthly mixer and showcase for the Austin LangChain and AI Middleware Users Group featuring thunderstorm talks on agentic software development, multi-agent architectures, and LangChain/LangGraph workflows. The evening includes practical demos, networking, and an after-party at The Tavern.
When: Wednesday, February 18, 2026 | 6:30 PM CST
Where: Flo Recruit, Austin, Texas
What: A practical session for developers new to AI-assisted development, covering essential tools, vocabulary, and prompt-writing techniques. Sponsored by Netlify and Flo Recruit, no prior AI experience required.
When: Saturday, February 21 | 10:00 AM - 8:00 PM CST
Where: Austin 111 Congress Ave., Austin, TX 78701, United States · Austin, TX
What: We’re hosting the Robotics & Edge Inference Conference in February 2026. From the smallest microcontrollers to the most advanced Jetson-class modules, modern robots now run perception and policy on-device. We’ll go end-to-end—from compilers & runtimes (TensorRT, TVM, ONNX Runtime) and ROS 2/Isaac dataflow, to multi-sensor 3D perception & state estimation, to navigation and diffusion policies for manipulation. We’ll also showcase demos from top robotics companies in Austin.
COMMUNITY STORIES
Education Secretary Linda McMahon visited Alpha's Austin campus to observe students learning through AI tutors for two hours daily, with no traditional teachers, textbooks, or homework—just adaptive software and human guides.
Why it matters: As Texas becomes a testing ground for AI in education, Alpha's controversial model is drawing both federal attention and fierce debate about whether algorithms can replace human teachers in the classroom.
Need-to-know:
Alpha students spend two hours on AI-based learning in math, science, social studies, and language, with the rest of the day on skills like financial literacy and problem-solving
The Austin-founded school network has faced pushback from parents and state education departments over lack of proven methodology, with Alpha's charter applications rejected in multiple states due to concerns about teacher-less classrooms
While Alpha claims students "learn twice as fast" compared to national averages, critics including Stanford researchers warn the model lacks independent verification and raises questions about whether AI can adequately support socialization and critical thinking development
Learn more here.
TeraWulf is shifting its Texas operations from Bitcoin mining to high-performance computing (HPC) for AI applications, repositioning itself as an AI infrastructure company. The strategic pivot reflects the growing demand for data center capacity to support artificial intelligence workloads and potentially higher profit margins compared to cryptocurrency mining.
Why it matters: Texas is becoming ground zero for AI infrastructure buildouts, and TeraWulf's pivot shows how companies are racing to lock down scarce power capacity for AI workloads right in our backyard.
Need-to-know:
The company secured financing for a 168 MW liquid-cooled facility in Texas specifically designed for AI and high-performance computing
TeraWulf has shifted from volatile bitcoin revenues to contracted, long-term HPC hosting deals tied to global AI platforms
The stock jumped 219.5% over the past year as investors bet on AI infrastructure over crypto mining, though analysts flag capital intensity and less than one year of cash runway as key risks
Learn more here.
CleanSpark secured a deal to acquire 447 acres in Brazoria County, Texas, with plans to build a data center starting at 300 MW and potentially scaling to 600 MW for AI and high-performance computing workloads.
Why it matters: Another bitcoin miner is making the Texas AI infrastructure bet, adding to the surge of companies racing to lock down power capacity in ERCOT territory for AI data centers instead of crypto operations.
The deal marks CleanSpark's shift from pure bitcoin mining to a broader power and data infrastructure play, targeting AI and HPC customers in ERCOT's greater Houston region
Fair value estimates from analysts range wildly from $5 to $30 per share, reflecting deep uncertainty about whether CleanSpark can successfully fill 600 MW of capacity with paying AI customers
The company faces significant execution risks around multi-year capital expenditures, ERCOT power build-out timelines, and customer acquisition, all while managing share price volatility and recent insider selling activity
Learn more here.
That’s all for now, folks!
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