Hello, and happy June!
Unsurprising but true: Austin’s tech calendar is heavy on AI this week, and so is the news with two startups launching AI-related tools and a data center cooling company bringing in new leadership. Plus, medical info from billion-year-old genes and a tax-break denial for a planned billion-dollar autonomous boat yard.
Read on for what we're following this week.asks. And what happens when you’re an AI ethicist accused of using AI for your work?
— Holly Quinn, Technical.ly senior reporter
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7 things to know
📊 Mad Men machine: Measured, an Austin-based startup founded in 2017, launched an MCP server for its clients, which include popular transcription service Otter.ai. The goal: to help companies access marketing data within LLMs. [AdExchanger]
⚽ Pitch-day chips and queso: Austin FC and Q2 named OCA Foods its 2026 Dream Starter winner, awarding the local startup $100K in a competition aimed at underrepresented Central Texas entrepreneurs. [Yahoo Finance]
🎢 Amusement park chatbot: Austin-HQ’d Roller added a new an AI tool to its attraction and venue management platform. It’s a public-facing chatbot for the venue’s website that lets potential guests ask questions and make bookings, with upselling built in. [Roller]
🧫 A billion years, 3 rare-disease leads: UT Austin researchers used protein analysis, animal models and patient data to identify previously unknown genes tied to three rare disorders, leading the way to finding hidden drivers of other conditions. [UT Austin News]
🧊 Hot servers, cool corner office: Liquid cooling startup Accelsius named a new CEO: former Vertiv executive John Hewitt. After closing a $65M Series B earlier this year, the company is working to expand its “direct-to-chip” cooling method for data centers, which does not use water. [Business Wire]
🛥️ Drone boat yard limbo: Austin-based Saronic’s $3.2B “Port Alpha,” a next-gen autonomous shipyard planned for Brownsville, may no longer get a tax break from Cameron County. Officials tabled the company’s request after public comment tilted strongly against it. [MyRGV]
🧪 Biology gets an ops stack: Austin IT stalwart Technology Advisors Group featured Fulton Bio in its May speaker program, with the local company presenting its machine-learning infrastructure for biology, open-source modeling work and diagnostics/R&D applications. [Technology Advisors Group]
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Technical.ly headlines of the week
🗓️ On the Calendar
June 4
Understanding AI
That’s the download for now, Austin. May your servers stay cool and your inbox stay merciful.