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.
Holy Hackathons 😱
We will have two hackathons this month in Austin and Houston.
Both will be held on September 19th and have Cursor credits.
We’re only sharing this through the newsletter, so subscribers get first dibs 👇
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, September 1 | 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM CST
Where: Antler VC Austin, TX
What: A talk / workshop about how Apify is building to prepare for agentic economy. We’ll explore how x402 can be used as a primitive for agentic payments.
When: Friday, August 28 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM CST
Where: Plug and Play Frisco, TX
What: Join AITX Community Dallas, Twilio, Stripe and Plug and Play for a networking mixer bringing together founders, builders, and engineers.
When: Thursday, September 3 | 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM CDT
Where: The Ion Houston, Houston, TX
What: Hear directly from two leaders reshaping AI in Houston: the co-founder of Collide, a fast-growing AI platform serving 6,000+ users globally, and Raytheon's AI leader who orchestrated one of the largest enterprise AI rollouts affecting 100,000 employees. Join the Houston AI Club, Allenix, the Ion District, and Collide on September 3 for the inaugural AI Operator Spotlight-a candid conversation about real-world AI implementation challenges, followed by 45 minutes of networking with Houston's AI community of founders, executives, investors, and builders.
When: Wednesday, September 9 | 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM CDT
Where: Austin, Texas
What: Join the Chief of Staff Network in Austin for an interactive evening of AI demonstrations and peer learning, where operators will showcase practical AI workflows, tools, and prompts they're actually using to work more effectively. Enjoy lightning demos from fellow Chiefs of Staff, hands-on insights you can implement immediately, and meaningful networking with operations leaders in a relaxed setting at Antone's on September 9th.
When: Friday, September 11 | 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM CDT
Where: Capital Factory, Austin, TX
What: Build a real AI agent that solves an actual problem from your work-deployed and running by Sunday. This intensive weekend workshop gets founders, operators, and product people past the "figuring out AI" phase by having you code, test, and ship a working agent using your own data and tools, with no coding experience required.
COMMUNITY STORIES
AZIO AI Holdings is making strategic moves in South Texas with its Atlas One project as global AI infrastructure spending accelerates toward $1 trillion by 2029. The company's innovative approach combines contracted natural gas power generation, dedicated fiber connectivity, and modular computing infrastructure to tackle the critical power constraints that are becoming a major bottleneck for AI data center expansion.
Why it matters: This development underscores the explosive growth in AI infrastructure investment and highlights how forward-thinking companies are solving the power and connectivity challenges that could determine which players dominate the AI data center market.
Need to know:
Global AI infrastructure spending is projected to surpass $1 trillion by 2029, with significant near-term growth expected as demand for AI computing capacity intensifies
AZIO's Atlas One project in South Texas integrates behind-the-meter natural gas power generation with dedicated fiber connections and modular computing, directly addressing the power constraints identified as the primary limitation for AI data center growth
The company's approach of combining property holdings with contracted power generation and connectivity infrastructure represents a vertically integrated solution to the bottlenecks facing traditional data center developers
The Texas Department of Information Resources has appointed Amy Kelley as its first internal Chief Information Officer, a newly created position that will oversee the agency's AI and innovation division. Kelley, who previously managed state and city retirement systems, will lead DIR's IT services team while spearheading the state's artificial intelligence initiatives. The role represents an evolution of the Chief AI and Innovation Officer position and was established under House Bill 2818.
Why it matters: Texas's creation of a dedicated internal CIO role focused on AI demonstrates how state governments are prioritizing artificial intelligence leadership and infrastructure, potentially setting a model for other states to follow in organizing their AI governance.
Need to know:
Amy Kelley will serve as Texas DIR's first internal CIO, overseeing both IT services and the AI division established by House Bill 2818 (89R)
The new role is an evolution of the Chief AI and Innovation Officer position first created in October 2025 and held by Tony Sauerhoff
Kelley brings experience from overseeing state and city retirement systems in Texas to her new position leading the agency's internal IT infrastructure and AI initiatives
Ken Paxton released a "Texas First Data Center Plan" on X Monday, and critics immediately accused him of using AI to write it. James Talarico's campaign pounced, calling it a reversal from a candidate backed by data center money.
Why it matters: The infrastructure that powers our models is now a campaign talking point, and whoever wins in November will help write the rules for where and how it gets built.
Need to know:
Paxton's plan mixes restriction and expansion. It calls for repealing some data center tax exemptions, requiring closed loop water cooling, restricting AI facilities near rural residential areas, and making operators pay for their own electricity infrastructure. It also backs the DATA Act to streamline federal permitting and expand power generation.
Talarico's camp is running on the money trail. His statement points to campaign contributions from the data center industry and past votes for tax incentives, framing the plan as a late course correction.
Texas is a genuine tossup. Cook Political Report and Fox News have both moved the race to tossup, while Sabato's Crystal Ball still leans Republican. Talarico has led in several recent polls.
That’s all for now, folks!
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