When people think about the birthplace of artificial intelligence, they naturally think of Silicon Valley. It’s where the research labs are, where the big tech companies release their products, and where the headlines about new breakthroughs come from.

But the future of AI won’t just be about where the technology is invented. It will be about where it’s applied, where businesses and individuals put it to work in the real world.

And I believe that place can be San Antonio.

In 2016, I was running ReadItForMe, a business book summary service with customers around the world. That year, I flew down to San Antonio to meet with leaders in the startup scene. What I found was a mission driven community determined to build a thriving technology ecosystem.

It was unlike other cities where the ecosystem can feel closed and competitive. San Antonio was open and collaborative, a place where you could contribute directly to building something new.

That experience left me with more than admiration for what had already been built. It gave me conviction that San Antonio had untapped potential. By 2017, I had moved both my business and my family here from Canada.

For years, my company delivered value by reading and summarizing business books for leaders pressed for time. But in November 2022, OpenAI released ChatGPT, and suddenly, what had taken me hours could be done in less than a minute.

I realized that clinging to the old model was a dead end. The only way forward was to adopt the technology ourselves.

So we did. We started using AI in our operations. When people asked how, we showed them. Before long, our company had pivoted, not just summarizing books but helping consultants and businesses learn how to adopt AI and become AI first.

As we embraced this new direction, we began hosting AI summits right here in San Antonio. At first, we thought they would be local gatherings. But then something remarkable happened, people flew in from across the country and even from as far away as the UK and Australia to learn how to apply AI in their own work.

Think about that for a moment. The technology may be coming out of Silicon Valley, but people were getting on planes to come to San Antonio to learn how to use it. That is not an accident. It speaks to the unique opportunity we have here, to become the world’s hub for applied AI.

San Antonio already has deep strengths in cybersecurity, and that matters. As AI becomes woven into every industry, security will be one of the most urgent concerns. Pair that with a culture of practical, roll up your sleeves problem solving, and you have the ingredients for a city that leads in real world adoption.

By 2025, our focus had expanded beyond businesses to individuals. AI is not just transforming companies, it is transforming careers. Some jobs are disappearing. New ones are emerging. Every role is changing.

I will never forget one story from our network. A professional from my personal network lost their job in a round of layoffs. They enrolled in our AI Black Belt training, and within weeks, they had mastered skills that set them apart. That training was instrumental in helping them land their next role quickly.

That experience inspired the launch of the AI Career Institute here in San Antonio. Its mission is simple but urgent, help people in every role, from HR to finance, from marketing to operations, reskill and upskill with AI.

This is an enormous white space in the market. While Silicon Valley pushes the boundaries of what AI can do, hardly anyone is building the education infrastructure needed to ensure the workforce can actually use it. We intend to fill that gap, starting here.

One of the things I love most about San Antonio is that it is not finished. Unlike cities that feel set in stone, San Antonio is still writing its story. That means anyone can have a hand in shaping it.

And what better story to write than becoming the city where the future of work is redefined?

San Antonio can own a unique position, not the birthplace of AI technology, but the hub of AI application. A place where businesses come to learn how to adopt AI productively, where individuals come to reinvent their careers, and where security and practicality ensure that what is built here endures.

My journey, from running a book summary business, to confronting disruption, to embracing AI, to building training programs, has mirrored what many businesses and individuals are now experiencing. The technology may have been born in Silicon Valley, but its future will be written in cities like ours.

San Antonio has the strengths, the culture, and the opportunity to lead. What we need now is the commitment, from entrepreneurs, educators, business leaders, and citizens alike, to seize the moment.

Because if Silicon Valley gave the world AI, San Antonio can give the world something just as important, the playbook for how to use it.

This is our chance. Let’s make San Antonio the center of applied AI.