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!
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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.
Announcing Meta's New Open Source Models
As part of Mark’s vision for personal superintelligence, Meta has released the weights for Muse Glimmer, a 30B parameter dense model that runs on a laptop or a single consumer GPU — one of the highest performing models of its size.
In the coming weeks, Meta will also open the weights for a version of Muse Spark 1.2, one of the leading foundation models in the world.
Read more in Mark Zuckerberg's long-form piece or watch the video laying out his vision for a world where personal superintelligence is available to everyone, not just a few. If you build something awesome with Muse Glimmer, email [email protected].
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: Wednesday, August 26 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM CST
Where: Register to See Address (Austin, TX)
What: Together with AITX, Stelvio, Kastner Gravelle, and Pershing we are convening a curated group of Austin’s top founders, investors, and operators for a focused conversation on what is actually working in this new landscape, and what is getting left behind.
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, August 27 | 5:30 PM - 8:30 PM CDT
Where: Austin, Texas
What: Join Austin Builder Night to go from idea to working prototype in one evening-bring a problem you want to solve or a project you've been sitting on, then build it using AI agents alongside fellow professionals, founders, and creators over dinner and hands-on development time. Leave with a functioning first version, a practical AI workflow, and concrete next steps to keep building.
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: 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.
COMMUNITY STORIES
Connecticut-based Eagle Point has committed $1.3 billion in mezzanine financing for a massive AI data center campus in Hubbard, Texas, part of a $16 billion project-finance package. The 2,900-acre facility will house Anthropic as its primary tenant, with Google providing debt guarantees. This marks Nexus Data Centers' first major development effort, with Morgan Stanley leading the broader financing arrangement.
Why it matters: This massive infrastructure investment demonstrates the critical role of physical data centers in supporting AI advancement and signals growing confidence from major financial institutions in backing large-scale AI projects.
Need to know:
The $1.3 billion mezzanine loan is part of a $16 billion total project-finance package for the 2,900-acre campus located 70 miles south of Dallas
Anthropic will be the main tenant with Google guaranteeing the debt, providing significant financial backing and stability to the project
As mezzanine financing, Eagle Point's loan sits below senior debt in repayment priority, carrying higher risk but also commanding higher interest returns
OpenAI has sent a formal letter to Texas Governor Greg Abbott outlining its commitment to developing responsible AI infrastructure across the state. The August 10, 2026 letter emphasizes OpenAI's dedication to working alongside state and local leaders, utilities, and communities to ensure AI development delivers tangible benefits to Texans through reliable and transparent growth.
Why it matters: This signals major AI infrastructure investment coming to Texas, which could create new opportunities for AI deployment, partnerships, and economic growth in the region.
Need to know:
OpenAI sent the formal letter on August 10, 2026, directly addressing Governor Greg Abbott about AI infrastructure plans in Texas
The commitment includes collaboration with multiple stakeholders: state and local leaders, utility companies, and local communities
OpenAI emphasizes 'reliable and transparent growth' as core principles for delivering meaningful benefits to Texans
Amazon has confirmed development of a massive 7.65GW natural gas power plant at its GW Ranch campus in Pecos County, Texas, designed exclusively to power hyperscale AI data center operations. The facility will utilize 35 turbines operating completely off-grid, exceeding the capacity of the Grand Coulee Dam-currently the largest energy project in the U.S. Land clearing has already begun at the site, signaling Amazon's aggressive push to secure dedicated power infrastructure for AI computing demands.
Why it matters: This unprecedented investment demonstrates the massive energy requirements driving AI infrastructure development and may signal a trend toward tech companies building dedicated, off-grid power generation to support compute-intensive AI workloads.
Need to know:
The 7.65GW facility will exceed the 6.8GW capacity of the Grand Coulee Dam, making it one of the largest power generation projects in the United States
35 natural gas turbines will operate completely disconnected from local electricity grids, providing dedicated power exclusively for Amazon's AI data center operations
Construction has already commenced with land clearing underway at the GW Ranch campus in Pecos County, Texas
That’s all for now, folks!
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