SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Inside a glass-walled office in Old Town Scottsdale, a growing Arizona-based AI community is trying to redefine what it means to be human in the age of artificial intelligence.
That community is led by Dallas Clounch and Matt Proud, co-founders of The AI Surfer. Across social media, the movement has grown exponentially, and AI has been involved every step of the way. AI even made the logo and picked the color scheme for the business.
“That was a little less than three years ago, and we have 1.2 million AI Surfer fans and a massive paid community,” Clounch said.
As the brand grew online, Clounch and Proud wanted to build a local hub for people in Arizona to learn and collaborate on AI.
“So we created the Arizona AI Syndicate, and it’s for people that are AI-forward, business owners and creators that want to come together and mastermind,” Clounch said.
The Syndicate now hosts about 50 events a year in Old Town Scottsdale, from workshops to networking sessions open to anyone curious about the technology.
“When you surround yourself with people that are motivated by AI and figuring it out, you start to learn,” Clounch said. “It’s not as daunting.”
The group held its first-ever AI Surfer Summit this month, drawing nearly 70 people from across the country.
“We were hoping we could get 50 people,” Clounch said. “So not just sold out, but like, oversold.”
Co-founder Matt Proud said the Summit’s goal is to spotlight Arizona’s growing role in AI innovation, especially as the state becomes known for its data centers and semiconductor plants.
“We’re big proponents of Arizona,” Proud said. “Our goal is to help attract eyes to the state, to recognize it as an AI-innovative place.”
He said while Arizona has long been recognized for hardware, like Intel’s chip manufacturing and new data-center construction, there’s now momentum to grow the software and creative side of AI.
“There’s a lot of compute power and data centers being built in Arizona, which is great,” Proud said. “But we just want to be the matchmakers between what is that, and how is it actually useful to me?”
Both founders say the first step for anyone curious about AI is to use it.
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“You can train ChatGPT very easily, just give a little context on who you are, what your goals are in life. It could be fitness, right?” Proud said. “So you could say, ‘Here’s a little bit about my health. Here’s a little bit about my goals. How can you help me get there?’ Very simple applications like that.”
The duo says their in-person community, the Arizona AI Syndicate, helps bridge that learning curve.
“We bring people in for all different types of events,” Proud said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or a large enterprise company. It’s really been a place facilitating AI innovation, which is our goal, to put Arizona on the map.”
Despite global uncertainty about how AI will reshape society, Clounch said his optimism is rooted in human potential.
“I want my kids and grandkids to wake up and still be proud to be human,” he said. “To protect the human, all we got to do is start being a better human and actually focus on what we love doing. Imagine that world. That’s a beautiful world.”
