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!
MCP Build Night with Goose by Block: Monday, July 21 | 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: Monday, July 21 | 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM CST
What: Join AITX and the team behind codename goose by Block for MCP Build Night, a hands-on event for anyone curious about building with MCP (Model Context Protocol), an open source standard for managing and sharing context between AI models and applications.
When: Wednesday, August 6 | 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM CST
Where: TBD
What: Join AITX and Organized AI for a beginner-friendly evening exploring simple yet powerful starter tech stacks. We'll walk through easy-to-use tools like Replit, Gumloop, Cursor, and Lovable, perfect for anyone just getting started with code. This is an interactive event. Make sure to bring your laptop!
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.
COMMUNITY STORIES
Texas has officially rolled out a groundbreaking model for AI regulation that could reshape the landscape of tech governance.
Why it matters: This sets a precedent for how states can effectively manage AI innovation while protecting citizens' rights, showcasing Texas as a leader in tech regulation.
Need-to-know:
The model emphasizes collaboration between state agencies and the tech industry.
It aims to ensure transparency and accountability in AI systems.
Texas is positioning itself as a beacon for responsible AI development in the U.S.
Learn more here.
Dallas Fed’s July TBOS shows 59.1% of Texas firms now use AI (generative or traditional)—up from 38.3% in April 2024—and about a quarter plan to ramp up AI/automation to offset soaring tariff costs, though most are already AI users.
Why it matters: With tariffs squeezing margins, demand for AI-driven cost-savings gives our local ecosystem a chance to showcase powerful, practical solutions.
Need-to-know:
59.1% of Texas firms use AI—up 21 pts since April 2024; generative AI at 36%
~25% will ramp up AI/automation to offset tariffs; 85% already users, <10% new adopters.
8% report reduced headcount; 16% shifted roles to higher-skilled work; 3% increased hiring.
Learn more here.
Texas Governor Abbott signed S.B. 1188, requiring covered entities to keep all electronic health records of Texas patients physically in the U.S. and setting strict conditions for AI use in diagnostics.
Why it matters: Clear data-localization rules and AI-diagnostic standards create opportunities for local AI compliance, security, and health-tech solutions.
Need-to-know:
Effective dates: Most provisions kick in Sept 1, 2025; U.S.-only EHR storage retroactive to Jan 1, 2026.
AI diagnostic guardrails: Practitioners must disclose AI use, operate within their license, comply with applicable laws, and review all AI-generated records per Texas Medical Board standards.
Enforcement & penalties: HHSC, the Medical Board, and others can discipline repeat violators; the AG may seek injunctions and levy $5K–$250K fines per violation.
Learn more here.
Community Highlight
This week we’re spotlighting Trent Tully, the founder of Venu.
Here’s a bit about him
We’re building an SMS-first AI assistant named Venus that helps people find the best comedy shows and social plans in their city. Think of it like having a funny, plugged-in friend you can text anytime you’re bored.
We’ve worked with over 20,000 users and 100+ venues to figure out how to make spontaneous planning actually work, starting in Austin and expanding fast.
Our long-term vision is way bigger than comedy: we’re building the future of marketing via SMS — with AI as the engine. Comedy is just our wedge.
His Ask For The Community:
We’re looking for a technical partner who’s excited by fast builds, real user feedback, and owning product.
Ideally someone full-stack who wants to help scale Venus from a local assistant into a national product. If you’re interested in AI, social discovery, and shipping quickly with impact — let’s talk.
You can connect with him on LinkedIn here.
That’s all for now, folks!
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