MS AI Collaborative

Less than 100 days until Southern Spark!

In just 86 days, innovators, educators, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and community leaders will gather at Jackson State University for Southern Spark 2026.

Get your early bird attendee and exhibitor tickets now! 🌐mississippiai.org

Over three days we’ll explore:
-Hands-on AI workshops
-AI in education and workforce development
-Business and startup applications
-Community and policy conversations shaping the future of AI in the region

Southern Spark is about ensuring the South helps shape the future of AI.
📍 Jackson State University
📅 June 10–12, 2026

👀 Agenda preview coming soon. We’ll be announcing speakers and sessions over the next few weeks.

TechEcosystem

Announcing our first keynote speaker!

Before AI was a headline, “AI strategy” was a slide deck, and cybersecurity was a crisis topic…

Dr. Loretta Moore was building intelligent systems where computing was mission-critical.

Her career runs through AT&T Bell Laboratories, NASA, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory; places foundational to modern AI where systems had to work and engineering decisions carried real consequence.

At NASA, she helped develop computer-based tools for evaluating graphical user interfaces, including an expert-system approach for intelligent design and usability assessment - core work in the era of rule-based AI.

Register now via mississippiai.org

Don’t wait... share your ideas today!
Visit mississippiai.org to learn more.

🚀 Early bird registration for Southern Spark is LIVE!
Southern Spark brings together leaders, builders, educators, students, and community organizations to explore how AI, technology, and innovation are shaping Mississippi’s future.

🎟️ Early bird discounts available for attendees
🏢 Early bird exhibitor pricing for organizations looking to showcase their work, connect with partners, and engage directly with a statewide audience

🔗 Register or sign up to exhibit: mississippiai.org/registration26

Join us as we spark ideas, collaboration, and momentum across Mississippi’s AI ecosystem.

Our 2024 keynote speaker Dr. Nashlie Sephus reminded us that AI is not a distant future: it is a present-day opportunity.

Southern Spark is building pathways so that innovators, educators, entrepreneurs, and communities across Mississippi can access, understand, and shape artificial intelligence in ways that are locally grounded.

🔗 Learn how to support Southern Spark:
mississippiai.org/sponsorships

When you support Southern Spark, you are investing in:
• Workforce readiness
• Community-based AI education
• Innovation across the South
If you believe technology should serve everyone, this work needs you.

CommunityPoweredAI

Happy New Year! 2025 was a defining year for the Mississippi AI Collaborative.
From classrooms to small businesses, and from students to educators, we focused on one goal: making AI education practical and rooted in Mississippi communities. Swipe through our 2025 Year in Review to see what we built together 👇

This work is only possible because of our educators, students, partners, fellows, sponsors, and community members across the state.
Thank you for building with us.

We’re excited for what’s next in 2026.

November 2025 Mississippi AI Collaborative Newsletter ✨
Read all about it on the mississippiai.org blog!