Ross DeVol
Chairman Emeritus and Distinguished Fellow

As the third chapter in Heartland Forward’s evaluation of heartland metropolitan-area positioning in the AI race, this issue evaluates the Dallas-Fort Worth (Dallas) metropolitan area, which is among the national leaders and ranked third in the heartland as a hub of AI talent, innovation and adoption, behind Chicago and Austin, which rank first and second, respectively. Its AI ecosystem is less centered on academic frontier research than other AI hubs such as San Jose, San Francisco, Boston or even Austin, but its strengths are attributable to a diverse enterprise base with numerous firms in business and professional services, financial services and anchor hard- (Texas Instruments) and soft- (AT&T) technology firms. Dallas’s multi-sector advantages amplify its leadership potential by ensuring AI applications are not only developed but also widely deployed across health care, finance, telecom, logistics, energy, defense and retail—making the metro one of the most potentially comprehensive AI ecosystems in the US.

Building on these multi-sector strengths, Dallas’s academic institutions play a crucial role in sustaining and expanding the region’s AI momentum. There are top-tiered universities such as the University of Texas Southwestern (UT-Southwestern), University of Texas at Dallas (UT-Dallas) and Southern Methodist University (SMU) anchoring a growing innovation ecosystem, advancing AI in health care, engineering and applied sciences. These universities not only generate breakthrough research but also provide training pipelines—from graduate certificates and executive programs to community-college microcredentials—that prepare talent at all levels.

The universities’ impact is evident not just in research but in how they have seeded a robust and diversified technology sector that continues to attract and retain top-tier talent. As such, Dallas’ technology sector makes up 8.8% of all jobs in the city, compared to 5.3% of all national jobs.[i] The tech sector isn’t the only booming sector in Dallas diverse industry base, low business and housing costs, have served as a magnet for talent from across Texas and the nation. Today, 42% of the population 25-years old or above hold bachelor’s degrees or above, 6 percentage points more than the US average.

As the fourth-largest metro in the US based on population, Dallas combines size and concentration of tech talent into a critical competitive advantage for AI. The Dallas metro area has 531,000 graduates with a bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering or mathematics (STEM). This represents 6.5% of Dallas’ population, slightly ahead of Chicago with 6.4%. Dallas has 2,100 individuals enrolled in PhD or post-doctoral programs in STEM overall.

Within this talent ecosystem, Dallas’s universities are offering highly specialized AI and analytics programs designed to meet industry demand and bridge the gap between business, technology and applied research. The Jindal School of Management at UT-Dallas has a master’s in business analytics & artificial intelligence, providing a novel degree path to better meet future workforce needs. It provides flexible delivery with an on-campus cohort, “flex” pacing, and online variants for working professionals and offers training in Python, R, SAS, Tableau and other languages. It has a core curriculum and has elective tracks across specializations. As an academic starting point, a bachelor’s degree is available in business analytics and artificial intelligence within the Jindal School, as well.

Alternatively, UT-Dallas offers a graduate certificate in applied machine learning that is designed for working professionals, as well as a master’s in artificial intelligence for biomedical sciences. The latter program is highly regarded and is interdisciplinary combining AI, biostatistics and the biomedical sciences. A graduate certification is offered by the program, as well. In the UT-Dallas School of Engineering and Computer Science, a professional certification is available through the AI & Machine Learning Bootcamp powered by Fullstack Academy. It is one of the longest-running and most reputable bootcamp providers in the nation and is geared to professionals looking to switch careers. Other AI certifications are available through the School of Engineering and Computer Science.

SMU additionally offers courses with a distinctive blend of academic rigor and workforce alignment, with advanced degrees programs and professional certifications that meet evolving employer needs. SMU’s Lyle School of Engineering has a master’s program in computer science with a specialization in AI option, in addition to cybersecurity and software engineering. It is known for including applied projects in its curriculum. An entirely online version is available, as well, to expand the program’s reach, and the school additionally offers bachelor’s degrees with some of the same core concentrations. The Cox School of Business at SMU is launching a Master of Science in artificial intelligence for business in Fall 2026. SMU offers graduate certifications in AI for professionals and AI bootcamps.

SMU additionally offers additional exposure to AI through its high-performance computing capabilities available through the O’Donnell Data Science and Research Computing Institute and the Office of Information Technology where SMU researchers are using AI to tackle a wide range of real-world challenges including drug discovery, education, economics and earth science.

Meanwhile, UT-Southwestern and other research centers demonstrate how Dallas is translating AI innovation into tangible outcomes across sectors—from health care to engineering and beyond. UT-Southwestern Medical has the Program in Applied Artificial Intelligence in Clinical Imaging (PAAICI) in the Department of Radiology, it reflects the broad range of work occurring in the department in the areas of basic discovery, translation and clinical applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in patient care and collaborates with local hospitals for adoption. The Center for Applied AI & Machine Learning (CAIML) at UT-Dallas’s mission to apply leading-edge AI & ML technologies and solutions for its partners’ strategic products and services. It has a novel approach where clients can retain full, unrestricted rights to all developed intellectual property at the Center.

These research achievements, though smaller in scale than those of legacy tech hubs, nonetheless reflect a growing sophistication and application-oriented focus within Dallas’s AI ecosystem. The Dallas metro area produced 49 AI research papers that were published at top AI conferences. In comparison, Chicago produced 136 papers in this category. Dallas’s patents performance in AI was 816; very close to Chicago’s production of 1,100. High performance computing usage at academic centers through the NSF ACCESS program recorded 9.9M credits, substantially below the 31.8m credits recorded in the Chicago metro area.

Outside of traditional four-year schools and university research centers, community colleges in the Dallas area are adapting their curricula, as well. The Dallas Community College has developed workforce-oriented micro-credential programs. Dallas AI is a community initiative that provides peer-to-peer learning and upskilling opportunities, which expands programmatic access to Dallas residents beyond those pursuing a four-year degree.

Equally important, AI adoption in the business community is surging—underscoring the region’s readiness to translate innovation into productivity and economic growth. The strong talent pool in business, professional services and technology are evident in Dallas as the city posted 22,000 jobs requiring skills in AI—which accounts for 3,000 more jobs than those in Chicago with 1 million fewer residents.

Companies around Dallas are additionally embracing AI adoption. Texas Instruments is the leader in sensor integration with edge AI–defined as running artificial intelligence algorithms directly on local devices instead of relying on centralized cloud servers. These are critical for automotive, defense and industrial applications. Additionally, AT&T, which is headquartered in Dallas, has a major initiative to integrate AI into 5G/6G optimization, network management, predictive maintenance and customer service—further strengthening Dallas’s private sector use of AI.

This corporate engagement is not limited to major incumbents; it extends across Dallas’s entrepreneurial landscape, where firms are leveraging AI to transform operations and develop new products. Several examples include the following:

• MicroAI is an innovator in edge AI delivering solutions for manufacturing, oil and gas, automotive, telecom and silicon sectors.
• Radix IoT, LLC is another Dallas-based firm bridging IoT and AI. Their “Mango” platform unifies data from disparate devices and legacy systems used in telecom, energy, property, and data centers.
• Thryv specializes in SaaS in small business applications. It provides customer relations management with AI tools embedded in scheduling, online presence management, and payment processing, all accessible through a single dashboard to help SMBs attract customers, streamline operations, and grow their businesses.

Venture activity reflects this dynamism, with startups and investors fueling a feedback loop of innovation that strengthens Dallas’s overall competitiveness in the AI economy. There are 344 startups creating AI-driven products and 137 VC deals in AI in Dallas. These figures place Dallas behind Chicago and Austin, but not substantively so. Sentiero Ventures established its first AI-dedicated fund and invested in Data Sentinel–an AI-enabled data management firm. Dallas Venture Capital led a round of investment in iTuring.ai. Other Dallas-based VCs include Pero Jain and Goldcrest Capital. Expanding this pool of early-stage VCs will be important to scaling more Dallas-based AI and AI-adjacent firms. The Dallas Regional Chamber is supporting this effort through its Convergence AI event showcasing the region’s most innovative startups and cutting-edge research from its academic institutions.

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[i] Friedman, Edward (August, 2025), Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX, Precis U.S. Metro,