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.

Be sure to follow us on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Before we jump into the regular news, a few housekeeping items:

  1. Upcoming AITX Events: 

  2. To stay in the loop on all our monthly meetups and other community organized events, subscribe to our AITX calendar here.

  3. 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.

🎙 We’re Launching a Podcast 🎙

Since AITX Community started 2+ years ago, we've met many exciting technical founders, researchers, and engineering operators in Texas.

Now, we want to share what they’ve been working on to the world.

Introducing the AITX Community Podcast, where we interview the most interesting AI researchers, operators, and builders across Texas in long form diving into their backgrounds, war stories, and opinions on where this technology is headed.

So far, we've interviewed leaders from Twilio, Cloudflare, Nvidia, Circuit, webAI, Base Power, and more. The first episode launches next Tuesday and we’ll release every Tuesday.

Want get notified when we drop? Follow the link below 👇

Join the AITX Talent Network

Looking for new roles or open to opportunities in AI?

We’re building a network to connect local talent with great companies.

🛡️ 100% private: we’ll always reach out before connecting you with anyone.

In this week’s edition you’re getting:

5 Upcoming Events

3 AI Community Stories

1 Community Highlight

So let’s jump in!

UPCOMING EVENTS

  • When: Wednesday, September 3 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM CST

  • Where: Register to see address

  • What: Join AITX and The AI Innovation & Law Program at Texas Law for an insightful meetup exploring how artificial intelligence is reshaping public policy and the legal profession.​

  • When: Wednesday, August 27 | 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM CST

  • What: Part co-working, part mentorship, all good vibes. ​Whether you’re just starting out or leveling up your skills, this is your chance to code with others, get unstuck, share your work, and learn something new.

  • When: Tuesday, September 9 | 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM CST

  • Where: ACC - RGC 3000 1218 West Avenue · Austin, TX

  • What: New updates, lightning talks​, showcase + hands-on lab

  • When: Wednesday, August 20 | 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM CST

  • Where: SHI International 3828 Pecana Trl · Austin, TX

  • What: ​A thought-provoking evening where we explore what happens when Large Language Models play like humans.

    Featured Talk: “Raising the Bar on Benchmarks: Simulation of Right Brain Games with LLM”:

    • Discover how word association games like Codenames are being used to test and quantify creativity in AI.

    • Includes a live AI-vs-AI match and real-time audience interaction!

  • When: Wednesday, September 3 | 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM CST

  • Where: Capital Factory 701 Brazos St · Austin, TX

  • What: Eddy Hernández, AI Builder • 2x Founder • Computer Science Graduate now working at the edge of AI automation with n8n—a breakthrough platform for creating AI agents without code.

COMMUNITY STORIES

Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) is drafting an AI bill that would let companies apply for temporary waivers from certain rules to pilot new systems faster—part of his promised “light-touch” approach.

Why it matters: If it lands, Austin startups could run real-world trials with less red tape—though state/local preemption fights are still a live wire.

Need-to-know:

  • Waiver path = regulatory “sandbox” for experimental AI.

  • Strategy: light-touch, outpace China; not the E.U. model.

  • Context: Cruz earlier backed a 10-year pause on state AI laws—hotly contested.

Learn more here.

Dallas is partnering with Hazel AI to modernize procurement—standardizing solicitations, boosting transparency, and opening doors for small and local vendors. The city pegs about $1M in savings as it overhauls its procurement office.

Why it matters: This sets a blueprint for city hall adoption statewide—and a new buyer channel for Texas govtech and AI startups.

Need-to-know:

  • First major Texas city to use AI in procurement; partner: Hazel AI.

  • Procurement overhaul targets ~$1M in savings from reduced staff costs.

  • Use cases: draft solicitations, identify vendors, spotlight local/small businesses, ensure legal compliance.

Learn more here.

Texas power prices rose a modest 4.4% year-over-year (May ’24 → May ’25), but analysts warn the AI-fueled data center boom could drive sharper increases as grid demand spikes and infrastructure races to catch up.

Why it matters: Power-intensive AI work in Austin–San Antonio faces rising energy costs and potential curtailments—shaping where teams build, how they procure power, and which workloads they run here.

Need-to-know:

  • Demand could 2–4x by 2035; risk of a 27–40 GW shortfall without upgrades.

  • CPS Energy seeks 400 MW of new wind; ERCOT now has emergency data-center shutoff authority (SB6).

  • SA–Austin data center market has quadrupled since 2020; TX residential price hit 15.49¢/kWh (May ’25).

Learn more here.

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHT

This week, we’re highlighting Jordaaan Hill, an AI native, building tools, training, and private hiring networks for the community.

Here’s his message to the community:

If you are new to the field and looking to land a job in AI, I’ve done it and would love to help.

Organized AI meets monthly to cover different topics related to new processes and approaches for software engineering using AI tools. We host hackathons with workshops for guided support.

Join our calendar to keep up, we hope to see you soon!

You can connect with him on LinkedIn here.

That’s all for now, folks!

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