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- Coders Wanted, Deepfake Nudes, and More | AITX Newsletter #24
Coders Wanted, Deepfake Nudes, and More | AITX Newsletter #24
AITX Team
June 21, 2024
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 news, a few important things:
June AITX Meetup:
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
Capital Factory is closed at the end of this month so there’s a few changes to the venue for this upcoming meetup:
New space: The meetup this month will be held at Palm Venture Studios.
Max Capacity: 100 people
We would like to thank Palm Venture Studios for being so generous in offering their space for our community this month so we can keep the good times rolling!
About Palm Venture Studios:
At Palm Venture Studios, we are dedicated to supporting early-stage companies that are building products with a positive human and planetary impact. Our network of venture studios provides the rescue capital, expertise, and support that startups need to thrive.
We collaborate with founders and investors to revitalize promising early-stage startups that have not yet reached their potential. We can deploy capital discreetly and quickly, followed by hands-on support to help them excel. Whether it’s preserving the company’s vision, creating something new, or integrating into our existing portfolio, we work with founding teams to define a path to support their growth.
We look forward to connecting with founders and builders at the AITX Meetup to explore how we can collaborate!
We will still have the next meetup on Tuesday, June 25th—make sure to 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:
We recently started a 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.
Big Announcements
We are excited to announce our very first AI Hackathon in collaboration with the Austin AI Tinkerers!
Here’s a breakdown of what we’ve got cooking:
Event Details:
Pre-Event Kickoff: Thursday, July 18th | 5:30 - 7:00 pm
Main Event: Saturday, July 20th | 8:30am - 7:00 pm
Registration Form: Here
Agenda
July 18th, 5 - 7pm
Team building session & judging criteria overview
July 20th
8:30-9am: Intro and Welcome Reception
9am-4pm: Hackathon Kickoff: Build your Project
4-5pm: Prelims Judging
5-5:30pm: Final Judging
5:30-7pm: Prizes and Networking
Prizes
We'll be handing out prizes in the following 3 categories, and dropping more info about the Prize Package in the coming weeks!
Best Hack - Overall best project will be awarded our best prize
Best Vision based Hack - Best image/vision application
Smartest dumb use of AI - Make us laugh at your ingenuity!
Thank you to our Sponsors making this event possible!
Lambda was founded in 2012 by AI engineers with published research at top machine learning conferences.
Our mission is to be the leading AI compute platform, supporting developers throughout the entire AI development lifecycle.
At Lambda, we empower AI engineers to easily, securely, and affordably build, test, and deploy AI products at scale. Our offerings include high-performance on-prem GPU hardware and flexible cloud-based GPU solutions.
We aim to make access to powerful computation as effortless and ubiquitous as electricity.
Antler is an on ramp to venture capital and helps you launch your startup from scratch.
We surround you with everything you need to build at lightning speed in our eight-week, in-person residencies. For more information on Antler US 👉 https://www.antler.co/location/us
A Note to the Community:
If you are not able to Hack, but would like to participate as a Judge or Mentor for participating teams, please apply and we will reach out to get you involved. Additionally, we are looking for some additional sponsors to increase the prize pool offered to attendees - if you are interested or have any introductions you can make to interested parties please reach out!
In this week’s edition you’re getting:
5 Upcoming Events
3 Austin AI Community Stories
1 Community Highlight
So let’s jump in!
UPCOMING EVENTS
When: Wednesday, July 3 | 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM CST
Where: Capital Factory 701 Brazos St · Austin, TX
What: We are thrilled to host Darby Rollins, the visionary founder of Gen AI University and the world's first Jasper AI user. Dive deep into the world of Generative AI and discover how it can revolutionize your business strategies.
When: Thursday, June 27 | 5:30 PM to-7:30 PM CST
Where: PMG 515 Congress Ave. # 1800 · Austin, TX
What: The monthly in-person AI meetup in Austin, in collaboration with PMG. Join us for deep dive tech talks on AI/ML, food/drink, networking with speakers and fellow developers.
When: Thursday, June 27 | 7:30 PM - 10:00 PM CST
Where: Central Machine Works 4824 E Cesar Chavez St · Austin, TX
What: Join the Novo team at Central Machine Works. Novo is new startup in town and want to hear about all of the cool things that people are working on. They’ll provide free pizza, first come first serve!
When: Tuesday, June 25 | 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM CST
Where: MongoDB Office 3711 S MoPac Expy #200 · Austin, TX
What: Join the next MongoDB User Group Meetup in Austin. They’ll be reviewing recent MongoDB announcements from the .local events in New York and Mexico City.
They will also break down what it takes to build an AI chatbot using OpenAI and MongoDB Vector Search.
When: Thursday, July 11 | 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM CST
Where: 701 Brazos St 701 Brazos St · Austin, TX
What: Connect with other artists, creatives, and technologists and stay updated on the latest developments in the arts and AI-tech space.
COMMUNITY STORIES
Need-to-know:
Emma is a virtual assistant powered by AI, specifically built for the City of Amarillo by Dell Technologies
She is one of the first AI-powered virtual assistants to be implemented in a U.S. city hall
Emma answers phones at Amarillo City Hall, providing efficient and personalized service to citizens
This innovative approach to city government interaction is likely to be adopted by other cities in the near future
Rich Gagnon, assistant manager for the City of Amarillo, provides further insights into Emma's implementation and impact
In a groundbreaking move, the City of Amarillo has introduced Emma, a virtual assistant powered by AI and developed by Dell Technologies.
As one of the first of her kind in the country, Emma is revolutionizing the way citizens interact with City Hall by answering phones and providing efficient, personalized service.
Learn more here.
(Not using her name out of respect for the situation)
Need-to-know:
A male classmate used AI software to create fake nude images of a 14-year-old Texas teen, and circulated them on social media
The images were convincing and left Berry feeling ashamed and afraid at school
Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) are sponsoring the bipartisan "Take it Down Act" to combat AI exploitation
The bill aims to criminalize the publication of non-consensual intimate imagery and require social media platforms to remove such content
Offenders could face up to 3 years in prison if the victim is a minor
The 14-year-old from Texas, recently experienced a disturbing ordeal when she discovered that a male classmate had used AI software to generate fake nude images of her and circulated them on social media.
The incident left the teen feeling shameful and fearful at school, prompting her and her mother to speak out about the dangers of AI exploitation.
The rise if generative AI is a double edged sword…
It’s important to recognize the valid concerns about this technology, proactively mitigating these risks and build a better future we want to see.
Learn more here.
Need-to-know:
ERCOT expects energy demand in Texas to almost double in the next six years
The growth of AI and data centers is a major contributor to the increased power demand
Data centers are power-intensive, requiring significant energy for operation and cooling
Running an AI-powered internet search consumes 10-30 times more energy than a traditional search
Experts believe Texas' power grid is not keeping pace with the growing demand
Concerns arise over potential frequent outages and higher energy bills for consumers
AI is projected to drive a 15-20% increase in data centers and their power requirements within the next five years
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has announced that energy demand is expected to nearly double within the next six years, largely due to the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and the data centers required to support it.
The increase in power-hungry data centers across Texas, such as the expanding H5 Data Center in San Antonio, is putting significant strain on the state's power grid.
Learn more here.
COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHT
This week's spotlight is on AITX member Shep Bryan , founder of Galaxy Brain.
Shep's innovative AI workflow suite helps businesses leverage AI power with one-click playbooks, even without in-house expertise.
Galaxy Brain offers custom AI teams for complex tasks and optimized strategy playbooks, all through a flexible API.
Beyond his startup, Shep is actively involved in our community, lending his expertise to help plan the upcoming AITX hackathon.
Thanks for your contributions, Shep!
That’s all for now, folks!
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