This Month's Latest Tech News in Tallahassee, FL - Sunday August 31st 2025 Edition

Weekly commentary: Tallahassee at the crossroads of AI growth and governance - the recent H.I.G. Capital merger that created Pellera Technologies has planted a heavyweight tech firm in the state capital (pro forma revenue ~ $4 billion in 2024) and signals real investment in AI, cybersecurity, hybrid cloud and managed services; the H.I.G. Capital announcement frames Pellera as a major partner for enterprise IT, and that scale raises immediate questions about workforce readiness, local oversight, and responsible deployment.

Balancing opportunity and accountability will mean fast, practical training for the region: programs such as Nucamp's AI Essentials for Work bootcamp (15 weeks) can equip accountants, managers and civic teams to apply AI safely, while the H.I.G. press release offers company and strategy details for planners and policymakers to consider.

Bootcamp	Length	Early bird cost	Registration
AI Essentials for Work	15 Weeks	$3,582	Register for AI Essentials for Work bootcamp
Solo AI Tech Entrepreneur	30 Weeks	$4,776	Register for Solo AI Tech Entrepreneur bootcamp
Cybersecurity Fundamentals	15 Weeks	$2,124	Register for Cybersecurity Fundamentals bootcamp

“We're combining the bold vision, unmatched talent, innovative solutions, and trusted partnerships of Mainline and Converge to deliver differentiated value and elevate the customer experience. With H.I.G.'s support, we're accelerating investments in areas like AI, cybersecurity, hybrid cloud, app modernization, data, and managed services, with the goal of becoming the provider of choice for comprehensive technology solutions.”

Pellera Technologies forms in Tallahassee after Converge–Mainline merger - H.I.G. Capital has combined Converge Technology Solutions with Mainline Information Systems and rebranded the result as Pellera Technologies, creating a Tallahassee‑headquartered enterprise pro forma for approximately $4 billion in 2024 revenue and positioned to scale services across AI, cybersecurity, hybrid cloud, application modernization, data and managed services; the move names Greg Berard as CEO and Jeff Dobbelaere as President & COO and, according to the H.I.G. Capital press release announcing the Pellera Technologies merger and Converge's official announcement of Pellera Technologies formation, signals H.I.G.'s intent to build a large, full‑stack IT services platform out of Florida's capital - a vivid reminder that major private‑equity plays can suddenly put billion‑dollar tech operations and their hiring, training, and oversight needs right on a city's doorstep.

Fact	Detail
Headquarters	Tallahassee, Florida
Pro forma 2024 revenue	≈ $4 billion
CEO	Greg Berard
President & COO	Jeff Dobbelaere
Focus areas	AI, cybersecurity, hybrid cloud, app modernization, data, managed services
Transaction announced	April 22, 2025

“We're combining the bold vision, unmatched talent, innovative solutions, and trusted partnerships of Mainline and Converge to deliver differentiated value and elevate the customer experience. With H.I.G.'s support, we're accelerating investments in areas like AI, cybersecurity, hybrid cloud, app modernization, data, and managed services, with the goal of becoming the provider of choice for comprehensive technology solutions.”

H.I.G. Capital press release announcing the Pellera Technologies merger | Converge official announcement of Pellera Technologies formation

Governor DeSantis signals upcoming state AI regulations, seeks law enforcement input - speaking at the Florida Sheriffs' Association Summer Conference in Orlando, the governor warned that artificial intelligence will create “major, major issues” for police and said Florida is “thinking very deeply” about a statewide roadmap that could include new laws to protect residents; he openly invited sheriff's offices to weigh in on guardrails and “rules of the road” so policymakers can craft practical, enforceable standards rather than cede control to a few big tech firms.

Coverage at the conference notes concerns about AI being used to “scam, to cheat, to steal, to harm people,” and DeSantis told attendees the administration expects to tackle this in the coming months as it gathers input from frontline agencies (reporting from ClickOrlando: DeSantis to speak at 2025 Florida Sheriffs' Association Summer Conference and Florida Politics: DeSantis warns AI will create challenges for police).

Item	Detail
Event	Florida Sheriffs' Association Summer Conference - ClickOrlando coverage
Dates / Sources	July 29, 2025 - reporting by Florida Politics: DeSantis AI and law enforcement and WCTV
Takeaway	State seeking law enforcement input; possible legislation and guardrails ahead

“People are going to use AI to scam, to cheat, to steal, to harm people. And I think we're going to have to come to grips.”

City of Tallahassee expands AI in utilities and policing - the city is quietly rolling out practical AI tools across departments to shave hours off routine work and sharpen emergency response: utility customer‑service chatbots and an AI that instantly compiles a resident's 12‑month billing history aim to deliver near‑instant answers and 24/7 support during peak volumes or crises, while the Tallahassee Police Department uses OCR‑powered license‑plate readers (helping recover more than 219 stolen vehicles), firearm‑detection alerts from the Real‑Time Crime Center, AI‑assisted compilation of body‑cam footage into police reports, and drones with AI navigation that have logged over 100 flight hours between police and fire units to reach 911 coordinates safely and quickly.

These targeted pilots - documented in local coverage and city briefings - show how automation can free staff for complex work while improving situational awareness and response time, turning slow spreadsheet jobs into instantaneous insights that matter when lives or service continuity are at stake (Tallahassee AI customer service and public safety report; Complete AI Training Tallahassee AI utility customer service summary).

Area	Key AI uses & impacts
Utilities / Customer Service	Chatbots, automated 12‑month billing summaries, voice recognition for 24/7 support - faster responses, fewer manual spreadsheets
Policing / Public Safety	License‑plate OCR (219+ recoveries), firearm detection alerts, AI body‑cam processing - improved searches and faster, data‑driven responses
Drones	AI navigation for 911 dispatch, collision avoidance, optimized flight paths - 100+ collective flight hours for TPD and fire

Federal judge allows wrongful‑death suit against Character.AI to proceed - A Florida federal court has denied the defendants' attempt to dismiss Megan Garcia's wrongful‑death lawsuit over the February 2024 suicide of 14‑year‑old Sewell Setzer III, ruling that chatbot outputs cannot be summarily shielded by the First Amendment and clearing the way for discovery into design, moderation and safety practices; the ruling reframes AI chatbot responses as products that can give rise to negligence and product‑liability claims (read a concise analysis from Goldberg Segalla analysis of the federal AI ruling Goldberg Segalla analysis of the federal AI ruling) and is being tracked by advocates and counsel at the Social Media Victims Law Center (Social Media Victims Law Center coverage of Character.AI lawsuits SMVLC coverage of Character.AI lawsuits).

That shift - from “speech” to a potentially hazardous product - makes this case a test of whether and how courts will hold AI firms accountable when conversational agents harm vulnerable users.

Item	Detail
Case	Garcia v. Character Technologies (federal, Florida)
Plaintiff	Megan Garcia
Victim	Sewell Setzer III, 14
Judge / Ruling	U.S. District Judge Anne Conway - denied First Amendment dismissal; suit proceeds
Key claims	Wrongful death, negligence, defective design, failure to warn, product liability

“This is the first time a court has ruled that AI chat is not speech. But we still have a long hard road ahead of us.”

Florida's Chief Information Security Officer Jeremy Rodgers is stepping down after three years leading the Florida Digital Service and has accepted a private‑sector role, a move first reported by Industry Insider on May 13, 2025; Rodgers - a former U.S. Navy information‑warfare officer and long‑time security architect who joined FL[DS] on Jan.

5, 2022 - brings deep public‑ and private‑sector cyber experience to the transition and is listed as Field Chief Technology Officer at Armis in the governor's June 30 announcement.

His departure removes a steady operational hand at a moment when state IT and security priorities are shifting, and it underscores how talent moves between government and industry shape statewide resilience and procurement choices.

Read the coverage in the Industry Insider report on Jeremy Rodgers' departure and the Governor's official press release for details: Industry Insider report on Jeremy Rodgers' departure and Governor's press release announcing Rodgers' role at Armis.

Item	Detail
FL[DS] start date	Jan. 5, 2022
Tenure	Three years (reported May 13, 2025)
New role	Field Chief Technology Officer, Armis (per Governor's announcement)

“I look forward to working with the fantastic team State CIO Grant has in place. Together, we will empower our people to solve problems and deliver solutions for all stakeholders.”

FSU launches computational linguistics master's track (Fall 2025) - Florida State University is rolling out a new computational linguistics track within its Interdisciplinary Data Science M.S. this fall, pairing linguistics with machine learning, text analysis and ethics to prepare students for roles in language technology, government, health care and tech firms; the program - which the university frames as the only master's offering of its kind in Florida - offers full‑ and part‑time study, tuition‑waiver opportunities for state and university employees, and hands‑on exposure via the FSU Innovation Hub, AI seminars and research labs in Tallahassee.

The track trains students to work with massive language datasets (linguists here routinely analyze millions of words), with coursework in machine learning, regression methods and data ethics plus electives like deep learning and eye‑tracking methodology.

Learn more in FSU's announcement and on the program page to see admission prerequisites and course options for Fall 2025.

Item	Detail
Start term	Fall 2025
Degree	Interdisciplinary Data Science M.S. - Computational Linguistics track
Study options	Full‑time or part‑time; tuition waivers for eligible employees
Core coursework	Machine Learning, Applied Regression Methods, Data Ethics, Professional Development Seminar
Prerequisites	Calculus II, Introductory Statistics, experience with an object‑oriented language (Python/R)

“AI software that uses voice recognition, such as Apple's virtual assistant Siri, is developed by computational linguists using natural language processing engineering.”

Tallahassee to open Florida's first AI‑integrated middle school - the Innovation Academy of Excellence, a CSUSA‑managed microschool on the Tallahassee State College campus, opens this August to serve grades 6–8 with roughly 100–125 students and a tight staffing model (up to eight teachers); the public charter embeds AI across the curriculum to help teachers craft lesson plans and tailor interventions - not replace them - and aims to have eighth‑graders ready for high‑school credit courses at nearby Tallahassee Collegiate Academy.

The school's small size and hands‑on design are meant to speed learning (over 50 seats were still open as of late July), while campus symbolism - the Heron mascot aligned with TSC's eagle - underscores a college‑pathway promise.

Read local coverage on the Innovation Academy rollout and TSC's approval for more details on staffing, enrollment and the school's mission to teach ethical AI use in STEM learning (Tallahassee Democrat: Innovation Academy soars with AI‑powered learning, Tallahassee State College: TSC approves Innovation Academy of Excellence).

Item	Detail
Opening	August 11, 2025
Grades	6–8 (microschool)
Capacity	100–125 students (120 cited)
Operator	Charter Schools USA (CSUSA)
Location	Tallahassee State College campus
AI focus	AI‑infused curriculum, ethical use, teacher support
Enrollment status	50+ seats open; apply at IAExcellence site

“This is an interesting opportunity – and a groundbreaking opportunity.”

CLARKE trains Tallahassee responders to turn drone footage into rapid disaster maps - Texas A&M's CLARKE (Computer vision and Learning for Analysis of Roads and Key Edifices) uses computer vision to process drone imagery into damage overlays, spreadsheets of addresses, and Google‑Maps‑style route plans in minutes, with researchers noting it can assess a neighborhood of about 2,000 homes in roughly seven minutes; the tool was trained on drone images from more than 21,000 houses across 10 major disasters and is designed to work even with limited wireless connectivity.

That capability moved from lab to field in Tallahassee when a Florida State University–hosted awareness session drew more than 60 emergency responders from 38 agencies and eight private companies for hands‑on training, a practical step toward cutting days‑long damage assessments down to minutes and getting aid flowing faster - read Texas A&M's overview of CLARKE and local reporting from KBTX for technical and on‑the‑ground context.

Item	Detail
Tool	CLARKE (Computer vision and Learning for Analysis of Roads and Key Edifices)
Training data	Drone images from >21,000 houses across 10 disasters (including Hurricanes Harvey and Ian)
Assessment speed	≈7 minutes for ~2,000 homes; under 10 minutes reported
Outputs	Damage maps, spreadsheets of addresses/damage levels, route planner for responders
Tallahassee training	60+ responders from 38 agencies and 8 private companies; hosted by Florida State University

“This is the first AI system that can classify building and road damage from drone imagery at this scale and speed. We're talking about assessing a neighborhood of 2,000 homes in just seven minutes. That kind of speed can save lives and resources.”

FSU mathematician Martin Bauer has won a U.S.–French joint research grant to sharpen the AI and machine‑learning algorithms behind 3D modeling used in medical imaging, biology and computer graphics, bringing more than $650,000 in funding to an interdisciplinary team (with roughly $300,000 of that awarded to Florida State); the project blends shape analysis and infinite‑dimensional differential geometry to improve mesh‑extraction and deformation modeling so a printed prosthetic or architectural prototype more closely matches the real‑world scan that produced it.

The work promises practical payoffs - from more reliable phone‑based 3D scanning apps and AR/VR assets to better text‑to‑3D pipelines through integration with large language models like ChatGPT - and includes student exchanges with the University of Houston and collaborators in France, positioning FSU as a hub for geometric deep learning and applied shape analysis (read the full FSU announcement and visit the Florida State University Department of Mathematics for program details).

Item	Detail
Principal Investigator	Associate Professor Martin Bauer (FSU)
Funding	Joint NSF & French National Research Agency - > $650,000 total; ~$300,000 to FSU
Collaborators	University of Houston; IMT Nord Europe (University of Lille); University of Lille researchers
Core methods	Shape analysis, infinite‑dimensional differential geometry, mesh‑extraction
Applications	Medical imaging, prosthetics, AR/VR, CGI, manufacturing, text‑to‑3D integration

“We plan to analyze complex structures of data from current 3D models and improve the algorithms powering them, which will generate more accurate models in medical prosthetics, graphic design prototyping, architecture systems, manufacturing customizable parts and other areas.”

Research shows news audiences demand transparency and human oversight for AI in journalism - studies find readers are skeptical and want clear signals about where AI was used and how humans checked output: Trusting News reports that about 94% of people want journalists to disclose AI use, but simple labels can backfire (disclosures often decrease trust in a specific story unless they explain how humans verified the work), and placement matters - bottom or sidebar notices are seen by over 80% of readers while hover labels are noticed by only a quarter to two‑fifths; complementary research from the University of Florida shows that an explicit AI ethics policy and clear statements about fact‑checking boost perceptions of trustworthiness and value, and policy analysis warns that without stronger transparency readers feel manipulated (roughly 60% say they'd feel manipulated if not told content was AI‑generated).

Newsrooms that couple visible disclosures with concise explanations of human review, links to ethics policies, and reader engagement tools are best positioned to preserve credibility as AI tools scale (see Trusting News' research and the UF summary for practical disclosure language and experiment results).

Finding	Source
94% of people want newsrooms to disclose AI use	Trusting News research on AI disclosures
Disclosures often reduce trust unless they detail human oversight	Trusting News analysis of disclosure effects
Bottom/sidebar disclosures noticed >80%; hover labels noticed ~26–44%	Trusting News visibility findings
AI ethics policies increase perceived trustworthiness of AI‑written news	University of Florida summary of AI in the newsroom studies
~60% would feel manipulated if not informed content was AI‑generated	Policy analysis on AI Act transparency provisions

“It just transfers the responsibility to users who, in an already confusing information landscape, will be expected to check if information is true or not.”

Conclusion: Navigating opportunity and accountability in Tallahassee's AI moment - the sudden arrival of Pellera Technologies (a pro forma enterprise with roughly $4 billion in 2024 revenue) and the city's practical pilots (utility chatbots, OCR license‑plate readers and drones that have logged 100+ collective flight hours) make Tallahassee both a testbed and a target for AI's promise and risks; with state leaders signaling new rules for law enforcement and communities demanding transparency, the path forward is practical: pair sensible oversight with fast, job‑ready training so local workers, civic staff and educators can deploy tools safely.

Planners and civic IT teams can review the Pellera announcement for scale and strategy via H.I.G.'s press release, see how municipal pilots are already reshaping service delivery in local reporting, and equip teams with hands‑on skills through courses like Nucamp's AI Essentials for Work to turn oversight into operational competence.

Item	Detail
Pellera (pro forma)	≈ $4 billion 2024 revenue (H.I.G. press release)
City AI deployments	Utility chatbots, OCR LPRs, drones - 100+ flight hours reported
Nucamp: AI Essentials for Work	15 Weeks; early bird $3,582 - Register for Nucamp AI Essentials for Work bootcamp

“People are going to use AI to scam, to cheat, to steal, to harm people. And I think we're going to have to come to grips.”