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

Weekly commentary: AI in Tyler - momentum, promise, and new risks - Tyler's ecosystem is riding the same statewide wave where campus pilots and security alarms collide: students will soon test the UT Sage personalized AI tutor, a campuswide assistant that

raises questions about assessment and equity

(UT Sage personalized AI tutor pilot details), even as recent AI impersonation security incidents have prompted urgent government advisories on authentication and disinformation risks (national AI impersonation security alerts).

Practical training is emerging as the bridge between opportunity and risk: new AI courses for professionals and students across the region (regional AI upskilling programs) plus workforce-ready bootcamps that teach prompt-writing and applied AI can help Tyler capture local job growth while shoring up defenses; the coming months will show whether policy, education, and cybersecurity align to make that promise real.

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

UT Tyler awarded $174,740 NSF grant to improve EKG/ECG diagnostics - UT Tyler landed a National Science Foundation award of $174,740 to fund a two‑year effort led by Dr. Sagnik Dakshit to build computationally efficient deep‑learning models that can generate synthetic ECG signals for rare cases, quantify model uncertainty, and produce clinician‑friendly explanation reports so clinicians can see the “why” behind AI recommendations; the project pairs computer science undergraduates with medical experts from the UT Tyler School of Medicine and aims to make AI decision‑support more transparent and usable in real clinical workflows (details in the UT Tyler press release on the NSF grant for ECG AI and local coverage by CBS19 reporting on the UT Tyler NSF ECG AI grant).

Funded by	National Science Foundation
Amount	$174,740
Principal Investigator	Dr. Sagnik Dakshit (UT Tyler)
Duration	Two years
Primary goals	Generate synthetic ECGs for rare cases; identify model uncertainty; produce clinical explanation reports
Collaborators	UT Tyler undergraduates; Dr. Bhavani Suryadevara; Dr. Lindsey Stockton

"We already have a lot of smart systems, AI-based or non AI-based in healthcare, but they have certain challenges, and in this particular grant with National Science Foundation is going to help us allow to address some of those challenges. We are just trying to build smarter ECG systems that are more clinically aligned and thus leading to better healthcare outcomes."

UT Tyler to launch an AI teaching assistant this fall - led by Dr. Sagnik Dakshit and Dr. Kouider Mokhtari, the campus is piloting an in‑house conversational tool that lets faculty upload course material and generates a course‑specific assistant students can query, promising answers drawn only from professor‑provided content to reduce the misinformation that general chatbots can introduce; interactions will be monitored for insight (without revealing student identities) and can even surface changes in a student's emotional engagement over a semester, the team says, with real‑time updates as instructors revise lessons and initial testing targeted at tougher courses before a planned campus‑wide spring rollout (coverage: CBS19 coverage of UT Tyler AI teaching assistant and UT Tyler Teaching & Learning Resource Hub on the AI assistant pilot).

“We are building an all-in-one conversive system where the faculty members can login, upload their class material. An automatic AI system will be created based on the class material. It's like ChatGPT.”

UT Tyler forming an education-healthcare AI hub - a string of NSF-backed projects and student-centered programs is fast turning campus research into clinical tools, from the recent over $174,000 award to build explainable AI that can interpret rare EKGs to a separate NSF CAREER effort on biosensor-enabled hip implants that wirelessly report patient data; together these projects knit computer science, medicine, and hands-on training into a local hub that aims to move models from notebooks to bedside monitors.

The EKG initiative will pair undergraduates with medical experts to generate synthetic signals for rare cases, quantify uncertainty, and produce clinician-friendly explanation reports, while other grants show UT Tyler's capacity to pair algorithms with embedded hardware and real-world validation - a tangible pipeline for healthcare innovation and workforce-ready experience (CBS19 report on UT Tyler NSF EKG grant, UT Tyler press release on NSF CAREER hip-implant project).

The result feels immediate: students building models today that clinicians could consult tomorrow, bridging education and patient care in one campus ecosystem.

"We already have a lot of smart systems, AI-based or non AI-based in healthcare, but they have certain challenges, and in this particular grant with National Science Foundation is going to help us allow to address some of those challenges. We are just trying to build smarter ECG systems that are more clinically aligned and thus leading to better healthcare outcomes."

East Texas A&M (Commerce) launches M.S. in Artificial Intelligence - the new, STEM‑designated master's is built for working adults and campus students alike with hybrid and fully online delivery, a two‑year timeline, and flexible thesis or non‑thesis tracks, letting learners tailor a 34–37 credit program around one of four emphases (Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, Mathematics, or Psychology) to match industry goals and research interests; detailed degree plans and course lists are available on the program page (ETAMU M.S. in Artificial Intelligence program page) and the official catalog outlines the Option I (37 credits, thesis) and Option II (34 credits, non‑thesis) pathways (ETAMU Artificial Intelligence master's catalog details).

The program emphasizes career readiness - applied coursework, Brightspace delivery, and CID scholarships - and the STEM designation means F‑1 students may be eligible for a 24‑month OPT extension, a concrete advantage for international graduates seeking on‑ramp experience in data science, computer vision, NLP, and related AI roles.

Feature	Detail
Delivery	Hybrid (online + face‑to‑face) with fully online option
Duration	2 years
Credits	34–37 (non‑thesis/thesis)
Emphases	Computer Science, Computational Linguistics, Mathematics, Psychology
STEM Designation	Yes - 24‑month OPT extension eligible

“AI mixes linguistics and algorithms to teach machines to converse with perceived understanding.”

Restb.ai's latest push - adding 10 more MLSs, including the Longview Area Association of REALTORS® (LAAR) - brings practical AI-powered computer vision tools to East Texas agents and roughly 45,000 additional real estate professionals, expanding a platform that now reaches hundreds of thousands of brokers nationwide; according to the company, these integrations speed listing input with auto-populate and image tagging, surface photo captions and ADA-friendly alternate text, and flag compliance issues so agents spend less time on forms and more time selling (read the Restb.ai press release on the 10 MLSs or the GlobeNewswire coverage of Restb.ai MLS deployments); imagine an assistant that can parse the roughly one million property photos uploaded daily to identify room types and missing listing fields - the kind of behind-the-scenes automation that quietly tightens data quality across local markets and makes a busy agent's day measurably shorter.

MLS Joining Restb.ai	Region
MARIS (Mid‑America Regional Information Systems)	Midwest (St. Louis)
MIBOR Broker Listing Cooperative (BLC)	Central Indiana
All Jersey MLS (formerly CJMLS)	New Jersey (Statewide)
Maine Listings	Maine
Montana Regional MLS	Central & Western Montana
Capital Area Technology & REALTOR® Services (CATRS)	Tallahassee, FL
Bryan‑College Station MLS	Bryan‑College Station, TX
Vail Multi‑List Service (VMLS)	Vail Valley, CO
St. Augustine & St. Johns County Board of REALTORS®	St. Augustine, FL
Longview Area Association of REALTORS® (LAAR)	East Texas

“MLSs are embracing artificial intelligence to deliver real, tangible value to their members. By deploying AI-powered solutions, they are reducing manual work for agents and ensuring more complete, accurate, and searchable property listings – benefits that directly impact both agents and consumers.”

Sam's Club deploys Scan & Go and AI exit archways in Tyler and Longview - members in Tyler and Longview will soon shop with the app, scan items as they go, and walk out through AI‑powered exit archways that use cameras and computer vision to confirm paid carts and alert door staff in seconds, a setup already trialed at Grapevine and rolling wider across the chain; the result is a faster, phone‑first trip (employees even greet and thank members as they leave) and part of a plan to redesign roughly 600 clubs and phase out traditional checkout lanes in favor of the Scan & Go/“Just Go” flow (local rollout details and context at ETsn.fm, corporate rollout and exit‑tech overview from Sam's Club).

Early results point to meaningful time savings - exit arches can cut door‑to‑parking time by about 23% - while raising practical questions about shrink, accessibility for less tech‑savvy shoppers, and privacy rules that clubs will need to manage as the in‑aisle app becomes the new default way to pay.

Location	Status / Note
Tyler, TX	Rollout of Scan & Go + AI exit arch
Longview, TX	Rollout of Scan & Go + AI exit arch
Grapevine, TX	Prototype site where Just Go was tested
Nationwide	Plan to remove staffed & self‑checkout lanes across ~600 clubs

“This is one of the fastest, most scalable transformations happening in retail today. We're investing with intention - in our fleet, our associates and the member experience - to become the world's best club retailer.”

Smith County Sheriff's Office warns of AI-generated scam calls - local deputies flagged a wave of robocalls that use an AI-generated voice and the name

“Sgt. Terry Brunk”

(a real deputy constable) to gain trust, ask for a name and phone number, then promise to call back; investigators say callers are likely trying to

“phish”

victims into returning the call but crews could not reach the scammers when they tried to call back.

Read the CBS19 report for full details: CBS19: Smith County Sheriff's Office warns of new scam using AI-generated voice.

The episode echoes a wider trend - scammers can now clone voices from short audio clips to impersonate loved ones or officials - so experts urge skepticism, identity verification through another channel, and prompt reporting; see broader coverage of AI phone-call scams: WYMT: Officials warn about potential AI phone-call scams and federal guidance on hanging up and reporting unwanted, suspicious calls: FTC consumer alert: How to hang up on unwanted calls and report them.

To report the local scam, call the Smith County Sheriff's Office at 903-566-6600.

Students disciplined after AI surveillance false alarms: lessons for local districts - recent reporting shows that AI monitoring on school accounts can quickly escalate ordinary or out‑of‑context student speech into serious administrative or even criminal responses, from a Tennessee eighth‑grader who was arrested, strip‑searched and held overnight after an offhand chat remark to districts where hundreds of automated alerts end up being “nonissues”; the pattern is a caution for Tyler‑area schools weighing safety tech: vendor dashboards and keyword dictionaries should not replace local judgment, districts must publish clear notice and opt‑out pathways, and scarce counseling resources should be bolstered so alerts trigger support rather than punishment (read the Associated Press coverage of arrests and false alarms for background and urgency).

Vendors like Gaggle emphasize human review and privacy commitments in their Student Trust and Privacy Center, but critics and privacy advocates urge transparency, independent evaluation, and tighter settings to reduce false positives; the practical takeaway for local leaders is simple - preserve student trust by calibrating AI, documenting escalation protocols, and keeping clinicians (not just law enforcement) at the center of responses so a school's safety net doesn't become a surveillance snare.

Metric	Reported figure / example
Students monitored (approx.)	~4.8–5 million (Gaggle reporting)
Polk County (FL)	~500 Gaggle alerts over 4 years → 72 involuntary hospitalizations
Lawrence, KS	~1,200 alerts in 10 months; nearly two‑thirds later deemed nonissues

“It has routinized law enforcement access and presence in students' lives, including in their home.”

Texas lawmakers have moved from debate to action with the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act (TRAIGA) - signed into law on June 22, 2025 - creating a statewide, innovation‑minded framework that takes effect January 1, 2026.

TRAIGA centers on an intent‑based liability standard (so regulators must show purposeful misuse), gives exclusive enforcement power to the Texas Attorney General with a 60‑day cure window, and pairs tough transparency rules for government and health‑care AI with business‑friendly features like a 36‑month regulatory sandbox; the mix means firms that “develop” or “deploy” AI for Texans must inventory systems, document intended uses, and tighten vendor controls now.

Penalties are steep and layered - curable violations start in the low five figures while uncurable or continuing breaches can escalate into high daily fines - so businesses and public agencies should review the law and compliance playbooks; read a practical legal summary at Baker Botts' practical legal summary of TRAIGA and a detailed briefing on what TRAIGA means for companies from Dickinson Wright's briefing on TRAIGA implications for companies.

Feature	Key detail
Effective date	January 1, 2026
Enforcement	Texas Attorney General (exclusive)
Liability standard	Intent‑based (must show intentional misconduct)
Regulatory sandbox	36 months for approved participants
Penalty ranges	Curable: $10k–$12k; Uncurable: $80k–$200k; Continuing: $2k–$40k per day

Wider governance debate: opaque AI influence and calls for transparency - as AI slips into everything from benefit determinations to policing, local leaders are under pressure to make the invisible visible: cities and counties are publishing policies, inventories, and guardrails so constituents know when algorithms touch decisions (see the Center for Democracy & Technology's review of municipal approaches in New York and San Francisco and the National Association of Counties' AI County Compass for local playbooks).

The debate now centers on two linked demands - disclosure and human accountability - with advocates urging pre‑ and post‑deployment testing for bias and accuracy, clear legal alignment for sensitive uses, and required human oversight so automated outputs don't become final judgments.

Toolkits from county groups underscore a pragmatic path: borrow federal standards, document intended uses, and invite public feedback before systems scale. Without those steps, algorithmic influence risks remaining opaque to the very people it affects, which is why transparency measures and public inventories are gaining traction across jurisdictions.

Common trend	Why it matters
Borrowing federal/state guidance	Creates consistent standards and reduces reinvention
Align with existing law	Protects privacy, records, and civil rights
Mitigate risks	Targets bias, reliability, privacy, and security
Public transparency	Inventories and notices build trust and accountability
Human oversight	Ensures review, intervention, and responsibility for outcomes

Conclusion: what to watch next in Tyler's AI and tech scene - momentum is real, but the next few months will test whether training, transparency, and real‑world validation keep pace: follow UT Tyler's NSF‑backed EKG project and campus pilot work that aim to make clinical AI more explainable (CBS19 coverage of the UT Tyler NSF EKG grant: CBS19: UT Tyler NSF EKG grant coverage); watch classroom pilots and workforce signals - KLTV's profile of Dr. Sagnik Dakshit and students shows how courses are retooling skills and even spawning startups (KLTV profile on UT Tyler AI and the job market: KLTV: UT Tyler on AI and the job market).

For researchers and students, UT Tyler's AI research tools page is a practical hub for discovery and productivity (UT Tyler Library AI research tools guide: UT Tyler Library: AI Research Tools).

If Tyler wants jobs, safer hospitals, and fewer false alarms, the missing piece is skills at scale - workforce programs like Nucamp's AI Essentials for Work can help bridge classroom learning and employer needs while policymakers and campus leaders nail down guardrails.

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

“We have to understand how AI tools work, even how to build or maintain them,”