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.
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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!
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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 x Codex Hackathon
We're teaming up with Codex Ambassadors for a 48 hour hackathon in Austin May 8-10. Three days to build something real with Codex alongside other engineers, founders, and builders from the Texas AI community.
When: May 8-10
Where: Austin (venue details to come)
What: 48 hour hackathon building with Codex, Hack Fair demos on Sunday
Prizes: 1st place $10,000 in API credits + ChatGPT Pro per team member, 2nd place $5,000 + ChatGPT Pro, 3rd place $2,500 + ChatGPT Pro. More soon.
Tracks: To be announced soon.
Come with a team or show up solo and find one here. Either way, you'll leave with a working project, new connections, and a real sense of what you can ship with Codex.
In this week’s edition you’re getting:
5 Upcoming Events
3 AI Community Stories
So let’s jump in!
Community Events
When: Wednesday, May 6 | 5:30 PM - 8:30 PM CST
Where: Capital Factory 701 Brazos St · Austin, TX
What: Join Oracle and AICamp for an immersive, hands on workshop learning how to build reliable agents with LangChain and Oracle AI Database. This hands-on workshop introduces AI agents and shows how to build agents that go beyond chat to act reliably on real data.
When: Wednesday, May 6 | 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM CST
Where: ACC - RGC 3000 1218 West Avenue · Austin, TX
What: Join us for the monthly AIMUG Mixer & Showcase — an evening of practical demos, short deep-dives, and relaxed community networking.
We focus on agentic software development: multi-agent architectures, middleware patterns, LangChain + LangGraph workflows, DeepAgents, and real-world application building.
When: Saturday, Apr 25 | 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM CST
Where: Antler VC 800 Brazos St #340, Austin, TX 78701 · Austin, TX
What: We’re hosting the Robotics and Edge Inference Conference on April 25th, 2026. From the smallest microcontrollers to the most advanced Jetson-class modules, modern robots now run perception and policy on-device.
When: Wednesday, Apr 29 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM CST
Where: HICAM 6201 Quinn Luke Trail · Austin, TX
What: The dream of general-purpose robots that can navigate and manipulate our unstructured world is often stymied by a simple reality: we don't have enough robotics data. While Reinforcement Learning (RL) offers a path forward by enabling robots to collect and learn from their own interaction data, existing approaches face significant hurdles in scalability and real-world applicability.
When: Monday, April 20 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM CST
Where: Capital Factory Austin, Texas
What: Welcome to Hack AI, a monthly session for builders all over the Austin area to learn about and build the latest AI technology.
COMMUNITY STORIES
Texas is facing an unprecedented electricity crisis as peak demand is projected to skyrocket to 367,790 megawatts within six years-more than quadruple the 2023 record of 85,508 megawatts. The explosive growth is being fueled by rapid AI infrastructure expansion, triggering a wave of self-supply power initiatives and creating major investment opportunities in the energy sector.
Why it matters: As AI infrastructure deployment accelerates nationwide, the Texas power crisis highlights critical energy constraints that could impact AITX's operational expansion and underscores the growing importance of energy-efficient AI solutions.
Need to know:
Peak electricity demand in Texas expected to reach 367,790 megawatts within six years-a 330% increase from the 2023 record of 85,508 megawatts
AI data centers and infrastructure are the primary drivers behind this unprecedented surge in power consumption across the state
The power shortage is sparking a 'self-supply' movement with companies investing in their own power generation capabilities, creating new opportunities in the power sector
Students in North Texas are circulating a petition demanding that human educators-not artificial intelligence-announce graduate names at their upcoming commencement ceremony. The grassroots effort underscores an emerging tension between AI efficiency and preserving meaningful human moments at milestone life events.
Why it matters: This student-led resistance demonstrates that AI adoption isn't just about technical capability-it's about identifying which human experiences should remain authentically human, a crucial lesson for AITX community members deploying AI solutions.
Need to know:
North Texas students have launched a petition specifically opposing AI-powered name announcement technology at their graduation ceremony
Students are advocating for educators to personally read names, emphasizing the importance of human connection at this milestone achievement
The dispute highlights broader questions about appropriate AI deployment-where automation adds value versus where it diminishes meaningful human experiences
Fermi (NASDAQ:FRMI) is launching an ambitious partnership with Texas Tech University to build a massive multi-gigawatt energy campus specifically designed to power AI data centers. The project will deliver up to 11 GW of low-carbon, HyperRedundant power through a diverse mix of natural gas, nuclear, and solar energy on a 5,236-acre site at the university's 'Project Matador' in Amarillo, Texas.
Why it matters: As AI computing demands skyrocket, this infrastructure development addresses the critical energy bottleneck facing the AI industry and could enable the next generation of compute-intensive applications.
Need to know:
Fermi has secured a long-term lease on 5,236 acres at Texas Tech University's 'Project Matador' site in Amarillo, Texas
The energy campus aims to deliver up to 11 gigawatts of low-carbon, HyperRedundant power specifically designed for AI data centers
Power will be generated through a diversified energy mix combining natural gas, nuclear, and solar energy sources
That’s all for now, folks!
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