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.
Before we jump into the regular news, a few housekeeping items:
Upcoming AITX Events:
Austin AITX Monthly Meetup: Tuesday, July 22 | sign up here!
Houston AITX Monthly Meetup: Thursday, July 24 | 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.
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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, July 16 | 5:30 PM - 8:30 PM CST
Where: Capital Factory 701 Brazos St · Austin, TX
What: Deep dive tech talks on AI, GenAI, LLMs and Agents, hands-on experiences on code labs, workshops, and networking with speakers and fellow developers.
When: Tuesday, July 22 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM CST
Where: Cosmic Saltillo 1300 E 4th Street, · Austin, TX
What: Totally free-form. Bring your laptop (or not) and settle in under the patio lights. Whether you’re cranking on Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini-CLI, Cline, or Roo-Code—wiring up LangGraph agent-graphs, building a dynamic interface with AG-UI, tinkering with MCP or A2A demos, or just curious to see what others are creating, this is your sandbox. Grab a drink, pair up, show off, or people-watch—the night is what you make it.
When: Tuesday, July 22 | 5:15 PM - 7:45 PM CST
Where: Howson Branch, Austin Public Library 2500 Exposition Blvd · Austin, TX
What: Join us for a presentation by Doa Jafri, CTO extraordinaire and currently researching Emerging Technology & AI at Twilio. She will share cutting edge insights, as well as some important tooling any software engineer should be using to stay current and ride the wave of AI into their future careers.
When: Thursday, July 17 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM CST
Where: Improving 10111 Richmond Ave #100 · Houston, TX
What: As developers and testers work with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems and LLM-powered applications, one big question keeps popping up: how do we evaluate the quality of these AI responses—at scale, and with context? At our 4th Houston Meetup, we’re diving deep into RAGAS, an open-source framework that is reshaping how teams assess and improve their AI applications with clarity, structure, and precision.
When: Wednesday, July 16 | 5:30 PM - 8:30 PM CST
Where: Capital Factory 701 Brazos St, 16th Floor · Austin, TX
What: Generative AI unlocks remarkable capabilities such as transcribing speech to text, creating personalized assistants, and composing multilingual essays. But building a successful GenAI product is not just about what your model can do. It depends heavily on how you deploy it. The difference between a cost-effective solution and a budgetary black hole often comes down to infrastructure decisions.
In this talk, we will share practical strategies for right-sizing your infrastructure to match your GenAI use case, striking the right balance between performance and cost. Then, we will dive into a hands-on demo showing how to deploy an open-source LLM with Ollama on a self-managed Kubernetes cluster. This live walkthrough will be accompanied by a reproducible tutorial so you can replicate the setup on your own time.
COMMUNITY STORIES
Covasant Technologies has announced an exciting merger with Texas-based konaAI and California’s DCube Data Sciences. This strategic move aims to speed up the adoption of agentic AI in enterprise risk management.
Why it matters: This merger is set to position Texas as a key player in the growing field of AI-driven risk management solutions.
Need-to-know:
The merger combines expertise from Texas and California, creating a powerhouse in AI.
This move could significantly enhance Texas's reputation in AI and tech innovation.
Expect more job opportunities and advancements in AI technologies in the state.
Learn more here.
Texas is stepping up as a leader in AI development by aligning with President Trump’s tech initiatives, showcasing its potential to revolutionize the industry.
Why it matters: Texas’s proactive approach could set a benchmark for AI innovation across the nation.
Need-to-know:
Texas is positioning itself as a tech titan by aligning with federal policies.
The state is attracting investments and talent, boosting local economies.
AI initiatives might influence legislative changes that favor tech growth.
Learn more here.
Texas’s July 4 flash flood saw the Guadalupe River surge from 1.73 ft to 34.29 ft in just three hours, killing at least 108 people and swamping Camp Mystic near Kerrville.
Why it matters: “We need to drastically improve the current methods for precipitation nowcasting and flash floods,” says Auroop Ganguly. He says solutions may come from the best available physics and data-driven tools including but not limited to AI.
Need-to-know:
Record-breaking surge: Gauge readings jumped over 32 ft in three hours on the Guadalupe River at Kerrville.
Runoff runaway: Hard-packed, shallow soil in “flash flood alley” funneled rainfall directly into rivers, outpacing infiltration.
Hybrid forecasting on deck: NASA-backed Zeus AI’s physics + data models are already being tested by the Tennessee Valley Authority for better short-term predictions
Learn more here.
Community Highlight
This week we’re spotlighting Michael Dreger, a founder with a background in Computer Science and Math, focusing on AI.
He was previously the Head of Engineering at Revedy, where he led the technical team and built the SaaS and AI systems that helped the company reach $1.1M in annual revenue.
Here’s his ask from the community:
I am launching a closed alpha for Maidin this August and am looking for feedback from fellow founders and creators.
You can sign up at Maidin.ai and by participating you will help guide the next set of features and improvements. Thank you!
You can connect with him on LinkedIn here.
That’s all for now, folks!
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