AI will have a "generational" impact on Dallas-Fort Worth, experts say

• "I see AI as the enabler, as one of those things which is not good to have anymore — it is required," Aamer Charania, president of the nonprofit Dallas AI, said at an Axios event in downtown Dallas on Wednesday.

State of play: Texas tends to be business friendly, enabling innovation like AI, Jennifer Sanders, executive director of the North Texas Innovation Alliance, said at the event.

• And Dallas has the space and people to accommodate the infrastructure for AI, Sanders said.

Yes, but: AI tools are still relatively new and don't have many guardrails yet.

• Conservationists are also concerned that data centers, which house AI infrastructure, could threaten Texas' already strained water supply.

What they're doing: Beth Van Duyne (R-Irving), said policies and regulations are necessary for mitigating concerns around data centers' power and water consumption.

• Texas became the third state to adopt a comprehensive AI law, which took effect Jan. 1 and bans harmful AI systems that encourage a person to commit physical self-harm or engage in criminal activity. It also prohibits discrimination, constitutional rights violations and exploitation of minors.
• Meanwhile, organizations such as Dallas AI and the North Texas Innovation Alliance are trying to keep up with AI's rapid transformation while helping companies and workers understand how to use it.

• "When tech transformations happen, people have the time to train themselves to adapt. For this one, there isn't much time," Charania says.

The bottom line: "AI will never take the place of human decision making in shaking a hand and knocking on a door," Van Duyne says.

Go deeper: Watch the event recording to hear what our guests said about deepfakes, AI super PACs and cybersecurity.