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 Events:
Austin AITX Monthly Meetup: Tuesday, Sep 23 | sign up here!
Houston AITX Monthly Meetup: Thursday, Sep 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:
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.
Austin Tech Week AI Hackathon by NVIDIA & AITX Community
When: Friday, October 24 5:00 PM - Oct 25, 8:00 PM CST
Where: Location provided upon approval
Join AITX Community for a weekend of heads down building and collaboration with some of the top developers in Austin's growing engineering community.
NVIDIA is a global leader in accelerated computing, known for pioneering the development of high-performance GPUs that drive advances in AI, graphics, and data science. We'll be spotlighting NVIDIA’s Nemotron family of open models throughout the weekend. Hackers get quickstarts, office hours, and a dedicated Nemotron Track, with prizes for the best use of Nemotron.
It all culminates in Hack Fair - a science fair-style showcase where participants will demo their submission to the community, including local investors, operators, and potential collaborators, for a chance to win the Community Choice Prize.
👇 Register Here 👇
A message from NVIDIA:
NVIDIA is thrilled to partner with the AITX Developer Community during Austin Tech Week! We're bringing updates about our latest Nemotron models and some awesome prizes for the most creative and novel submissions in the competition. Dive into the challenge by building with our portfolio of models, and you are included in a prize track for best use of Nemotron Nano 2 9B, a powerful small language model with reasoning capabilities built on the hybrid Mamba-Transformer architecture.
To give your project a head start, we'll have NVIDIA Launchables and Blueprints ready for you to use so you can focus on building something truly innovative. NVIDIA team members will be there to support the builders. Show off your skills and you could even get your project featured on NVIDIA social media and Developer Showcase. We can’t wait to see what you build!
In this week’s edition you’re getting:
5 Upcoming Events
3 AI Community Stories
So let’s jump in!
UPCOMING EVENTS
When: Tuesday, October 7 | 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM CST
Where: Capital Factory, Voltron Room (1st floor) 701 Brazos Street · Austin, TX
What: Austin Deep Learning Journal Club is group for committed machine learning practitioners and researchers alike. The group typically meets every first Tuesday of each month to discuss research publications.
When: Tuesday, September 23 | 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM CST
Where: The Center for Government and Civic Service 1218 West Ave Bldg 3000 · Austin, TX
What: Join ACM Austin for an evening of cutting-edge insights at the intersection of game AI and container security. Connect with Austin’s tech community while learning from two expert speakers pushing the boundaries of AI and secure software engineering.
When: Wednesday, October 1 | 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM CST
Where: In Person ACC - RGC 3000 1218 West Avenue · Austin, TX
What: The AI Middleware Users Group believes in “Learning in the Open.” Together we explore LangChain, LangGraph, LangSmith, and the wider AI stack—sharing demos, pitfalls, and wins so everyone levels up.
When: Wednesday, September 24 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM CST
Where: Skyways 500 Center Ridge Dr Ste 200 · Austin, TX
What: We’re excited to host this month’s Austin Robotics & AI meetup at Skyways, where we’re building a new form of autonomous air transportation. Come meet the team, hear from our engineers, and get an exclusive look behind the scenes of our aircraft.
When: Thursday, October 16 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM CST
Where: Capital Factory 701 Brazos St · Austin, TX
What: This week we are collaborating with the great team at Capital Factory! They have been providing us the space to host our events, and host their own monthly "Member Salon." This month, we are collaborating, and the Capital Factory team will be providing food, bartending, and good vibes to make this evening incredible!
COMMUNITY STORIES
Nearly half of Texas job seekers admit to using AI tools to prep for interviews, scraping sites like Glassdoor and Reddit to generate mock questions and polish answers. A new resume.io survey shows the trend is reshaping how candidates approach the hiring process.
Why it matters: It highlights how AI is changing everyday career paths and stirring ethical debates in the Texas workforce.
Need-to-know:
45% of Texans use AI to prep for interviews.
53% say it’s smart prep, while 47% call it cheating.
Only 28% feel guilty about AI-generated answers.
Learn more here.
Texas A&M researchers built CLARKE, an AI system that turns hours of drone footage into near-instant damage maps. Already tested during hurricanes, the tool helps emergency crews prioritize rescue and recovery in minutes instead of days.
Why it matters: CLARKE shows how homegrown AI research is making a direct, life-saving impact in disaster-prone Texas and beyond.
Need-to-know:
CLARKE scans a neighborhood in ~7 minutes vs. days of manual review.
Color-coded maps flag levels of damage, from minor to total destruction.
100+ responders from 56 agencies are already trained to use it.
Learn more here.
Texas lawmakers approved a $20 billion plan to repair aging pipes, secure new water sources, and brace for droughts. Voters will decide this fall whether to fund the largest water investment in state history.
Why it matters: Water and energy are the backbone of AI infrastructure. Texas’ ability to sustain both will shape whether the state can remain a hub for data centers and next-gen tech.
Need-to-know:
Half the funds go to fixing infrastructure, half to developing new supply.
Without action, experts warn demand could outpace supply by 2030.
Voters will weigh in on the package in November.
Learn more here.
That’s all for now, folks!
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