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 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.
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, May 12 | 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM CST
Where: Antler VC Austin, Texas
What: We'll show how to go from idea to shipped Apify Actor in a single evening: using Codex and the Apify MCP to prototype a workflow, then turning that workflow into a real, publishable Actor.
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.
COMMUNITY STORIES
Starting January 15, 2025, Texas Medicare patients requiring procedures like skin grafts or nerve stimulators must first receive approval from WISeR, an AI-powered system designed to reduce wasteful medical services. The controversial program, created by Dr. Mehmet Oz and CMS, is operated by a private AI company that financially benefits from denying care, sparking concerns about conflicts of interest and patient access to necessary treatments.
Why it matters: This marks a troubling precedent where profit-driven AI systems act as gatekeepers for essential healthcare, demonstrating how algorithmic decision-making can be weaponized against vulnerable populations when deployed without proper oversight or ethical safeguards.
Need to know:
WISeR (Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction) became mandatory for specific Medicare procedures in Texas on January 15, 2025
The AI approval system is operated by a private company that profits from denied care, creating a clear financial conflict of interest
Procedures requiring AI approval include medically necessary treatments like skin grafts and nerve stimulators, potentially delaying or preventing critical patient care
Michael and Susan Dell fund 'AI-native' medical center with $750 million gift to University of Texas
Billionaires Michael and Susan Dell have donated $750 million to the University of Texas at Austin to create an 'AI-native' medical center that will integrate artificial intelligence throughout its operations. The landmark gift represents one of the largest philanthropic investments in AI-driven healthcare infrastructure in Texas and aims to transform patient care in the rapidly growing state capital.
Why it matters: This massive investment demonstrates how AI is becoming fundamental to next-generation healthcare infrastructure, setting a precedent for AI-first medical facilities that could reshape how hospitals and research centers are designed and operated.
Need to know:
$750 million donation marks one of the largest philanthropic investments in AI-driven healthcare infrastructure in Texas history
The medical center will be 'AI-native,' meaning artificial intelligence will be integrated into its core operations from the ground up rather than added later
The facility aims to serve the University of Texas at Austin and expand healthcare options for the rapidly growing Austin metropolitan area
Texas Instruments shares jumped 19% Thursday to a record close after the Dallas-based chipmaker beat Q1 estimates and guided Q2 above consensus. Data center revenue grew roughly 90% year over year.
Why it matters: TI's $60 billion US plant buildout, anchored in Sherman, puts North Texas at the center of the analog chip supply chain powering the AI data center boom.
Need-to-know:
Q1 revenue came in at $4.83 billion, up 19% year over year, beating the $4.53 billion consensus. Q2 guide midpoint sits at $5.2 billion.
Data center segment revenue rose about 90% year over year, with Meta, Amazon, and Nvidia among the hyperscaler customers fueling demand. Industrial was up 30%.
TI is spending $60 billion on three new US plants. Apple has committed to making iPhone foundation chips at the Utah and Texas fabs.
That’s all for now, folks!
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