[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":357},["ShallowReactive",2],{"header":3,"footer":26,"footer-cities":54,"content-\u002Fnews\u002Ffresno-s-loop8-grows-to-20-as-founder-ruby-nahal-pushes-practical-ai":235},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"description":10,"extension":13,"links":14,"meta":20,"navigation":21,"path":22,"seo":23,"stem":24,"__hash__":25},"header\u002Fheader.md","Central Valley AI",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":9},"minimark",[],{"title":10,"searchDepth":11,"depth":11,"links":12},"",2,[],"md",[15],{"label":16,"to":17,"icon":19},"News",{"path":18},"\u002Fnews\u002F","mdi-newspaper-variant-outline",{},true,"\u002Fheader",{"title":5,"description":10},"header","ceT4J-WxxOBdbhRC-UD3fo0Npu7vWt2o2B9b_LURPmE",{"id":27,"title":28,"body":29,"copyright":33,"description":10,"developedBy":34,"extension":13,"links":41,"meta":49,"navigation":21,"path":50,"seo":51,"stem":52,"__hash__":53},"footer\u002Ffooter.md","Footer",{"type":7,"value":30,"toc":31},[],{"title":10,"searchDepth":11,"depth":11,"links":32},[],"© {year} All rights reserved.",{"label":35,"link":36},"Developed by",{"label":37,"to":38,"target":39,"logo":40},"Kaweah Tech","https:\u002F\u002Fkaweah.tech","_blank","https:\u002F\u002Fassets.kaweah.tech\u002Flogo-black-on-transparent-tight.svg",[42,43,46],{"label":16,"to":18},{"label":44,"to":45},"About","\u002Fabout\u002F",{"label":47,"to":48},"Privacy Policy","\u002Fprivacy-policy\u002F",{},"\u002Ffooter",{"description":10},"footer","Ras2AGS8Wuda4aBPrbAbOivaxIsAoDbo9SNCA0w554g",[55,85,123,154,181,208],{"id":56,"title":57,"body":58,"county":77,"description":10,"extension":13,"intro":78,"meta":79,"navigation":21,"path":80,"seo":81,"stem":82,"tag":83,"__hash__":84},"cities\u002Fcities\u002Fbakersfield.md","Bakersfield",{"type":7,"value":59,"toc":74},[60,65],[61,62,64],"h2",{"id":63},"ai-in-bakersfield","AI in Bakersfield",[66,67,68,69,73],"p",{},"Bakersfield's AI conversation sits at the intersection of municipal government, the ",[70,71,72],"strong",{},"California State University Bakersfield"," community, and the energy and ag operators that drive Kern County's economy. The city was an early mover on AI-assisted permitting and has been a recurring backdrop for parent- and teacher-led debates about classroom AI use. Articles below follow specific Bakersfield initiatives, public-meeting decisions, and Kern County workforce stories — and how they reflect national AI trends from a regional vantage point.",{"title":10,"searchDepth":11,"depth":11,"links":75},[76],{"id":63,"depth":11,"text":64},"Kern County","Bakersfield and the surrounding Kern County are home to some of the most concrete AI-in-government experiments in the Central Valley, from instant municipal permitting to school-district debates about classroom AI. Coverage on this page tracks how AI is reshaping public services, education, and the energy and agriculture economies that dominate the region.",{},"\u002Fcities\u002Fbakersfield",{"title":57,"description":10},"cities\u002Fbakersfield","bakersfield","ozFL4HvDA_g7UrRE1mHbKqcS-vDLwbiH9JWVh3rB2Ac",{"id":86,"title":87,"body":88,"county":115,"description":10,"extension":13,"intro":116,"meta":117,"navigation":21,"path":118,"seo":119,"stem":120,"tag":121,"__hash__":122},"cities\u002Fcities\u002Ffresno.md","Fresno",{"type":7,"value":89,"toc":112},[90,94,109],[61,91,93],{"id":92},"ai-in-fresno","AI in Fresno",[66,95,96,97,100,101,104,105,108],{},"Fresno's AI story spans several distinct ecosystems. ",[70,98,99],{},"Fresno State"," and the ",[70,102,103],{},"California State University"," system anchor a workforce-readiness push, while local ",[70,106,107],{},"Fresno Unified School District"," debates around responsible use have made the city a recurring reference point in California's K-12 AI conversation. The city's economic base in agriculture, healthcare, and public services means most AI adoption stories here are about applied uses rather than model development — a different posture than coastal tech hubs but arguably more consequential for the people living here.",[66,110,111],{},"Use the articles below to follow how AI is showing up in Fresno-area institutions and businesses.",{"title":10,"searchDepth":11,"depth":11,"links":113},[114],{"id":92,"depth":11,"text":93},"Fresno County","Fresno is the largest city in California's Central Valley and the regional center for AI adoption across agriculture, healthcare, higher education, and small business. Coverage on this page tracks how AI is being applied — and contested — in and around the city of Fresno and Fresno County.",{},"\u002Fcities\u002Ffresno",{"title":87,"description":10},"cities\u002Ffresno","fresno","gOL2xk8y9t9OV6PPxP02OjYhZFHC_Cg-VGijh_V93dI",{"id":124,"title":125,"body":126,"county":146,"description":10,"extension":13,"intro":147,"meta":148,"navigation":21,"path":149,"seo":150,"stem":151,"tag":152,"__hash__":153},"cities\u002Fcities\u002Fmerced.md","Merced",{"type":7,"value":127,"toc":143},[128,132],[61,129,131],{"id":130},"ai-in-merced","AI in Merced",[66,133,134,135,138,139,142],{},"Merced is a research-heavy node in the Central Valley AI ecosystem. ",[70,136,137],{},"UC Merced"," faculty appear in national conversations about AI safety, autonomous vehicles, climate modeling, and pediatric health applications, while the ",[70,140,141],{},"Merced Unified School District"," and surrounding county institutions navigate the same K-12 and workforce questions the rest of the Valley faces. The articles below cover both the campus research story and the broader applied uses around the city and county.",{"title":10,"searchDepth":11,"depth":11,"links":144},[145],{"id":130,"depth":11,"text":131},"Merced County","Merced punches above its weight in AI research, anchored by UC Merced — a leading West Coast hub for AI in agriculture, climate, autonomous systems, and health. Coverage on this page tracks both academic research coming out of the campus and how AI is showing up across Merced's schools, businesses, and county institutions.",{},"\u002Fcities\u002Fmerced",{"title":125,"description":10},"cities\u002Fmerced","merced","pSWWlEzMdcv2_RZrUKdkEHU3bixNboePGdHbSdd1m34",{"id":155,"title":156,"body":157,"county":173,"description":10,"extension":13,"intro":174,"meta":175,"navigation":21,"path":176,"seo":177,"stem":178,"tag":179,"__hash__":180},"cities\u002Fcities\u002Fmodesto.md","Modesto",{"type":7,"value":158,"toc":170},[159,163],[61,160,162],{"id":161},"ai-in-modesto","AI in Modesto",[66,164,165,166,169],{},"Modesto's AI conversation tends to combine ag-tech adoption stories with workforce-readiness questions for the city's small and mid-sized employers. ",[70,167,168],{},"CSU Stanislaus"," and the regional community college network shape the higher-ed angle. Coverage below follows Modesto-area AI announcements and the wider Stanislaus County context.",{"title":10,"searchDepth":11,"depth":11,"links":171},[172],{"id":161,"depth":11,"text":162},"Stanislaus County","Modesto and Stanislaus County sit between the Bay Area and the southern Valley, and their AI story reflects that bridging role — from agriculture and food processing to the **California State University Stanislaus** community to small businesses adapting to AI-driven changes in marketing, hiring, and operations.",{},"\u002Fcities\u002Fmodesto",{"title":156,"description":10},"cities\u002Fmodesto","modesto","l75Dc40MX8wTb4lD088Yx9we4ypuDwmcvE-uEdqqREc",{"id":182,"title":183,"body":184,"county":200,"description":10,"extension":13,"intro":201,"meta":202,"navigation":21,"path":203,"seo":204,"stem":205,"tag":206,"__hash__":207},"cities\u002Fcities\u002Fstockton.md","Stockton",{"type":7,"value":185,"toc":197},[186,190],[61,187,189],{"id":188},"ai-in-stockton","AI in Stockton",[66,191,192,193,196],{},"Stockton's economic base in logistics, healthcare, and higher education gives the city a different AI profile than the southern Valley. ",[70,194,195],{},"University of the Pacific"," anchors the academic conversation, while San Joaquin County government, hospitals, and warehouse operators are navigating practical adoption questions: cost, training, security, workforce impact. The articles below track Stockton-area AI announcements and the broader San Joaquin County context.",{"title":10,"searchDepth":11,"depth":11,"links":198},[199],{"id":188,"depth":11,"text":189},"San Joaquin County","Stockton and San Joaquin County sit at the northern edge of the Central Valley, where logistics, healthcare, and the University of the Pacific shape the local AI adoption story. Coverage on this page follows how AI is being put to work — and questioned — across San Joaquin County's institutions, employers, and public services.",{},"\u002Fcities\u002Fstockton",{"title":183,"description":10},"cities\u002Fstockton","stockton","TYEBK9akp2HbpAFmYY67FeKt7Rs7L8tvtYeQBtgJAHw",{"id":209,"title":210,"body":211,"county":227,"description":10,"extension":13,"intro":228,"meta":229,"navigation":21,"path":230,"seo":231,"stem":232,"tag":233,"__hash__":234},"cities\u002Fcities\u002Fvisalia.md","Visalia",{"type":7,"value":212,"toc":224},[213,217],[61,214,216],{"id":215},"ai-in-visalia","AI in Visalia",[66,218,219,220,223],{},"Visalia's AI footprint is grounded in the practical adoption stories that come with a Tulare County economy built around agriculture, food processing, and rural healthcare. ",[70,221,222],{},"College of the Sequoias"," and the surrounding K-12 districts anchor the education conversation. The articles below cover Visalia-area AI developments and the Tulare County context, with a focus on applied uses rather than research or model development.",{"title":10,"searchDepth":11,"depth":11,"links":225},[226],{"id":215,"depth":11,"text":216},"Tulare County","Visalia is the largest city in Tulare County and a center for agriculture, healthcare, and county-government services in the southern Central Valley. Coverage on this page tracks how AI is being adopted across Tulare County's schools, hospitals, ag operations, and small business community.",{},"\u002Fcities\u002Fvisalia",{"title":210,"description":10},"cities\u002Fvisalia","visalia","gN4g7aAl-cqD4FfSTgtTAarltUoKLh8NFlPzCbZngqU",{"id":236,"title":237,"archived":238,"author":239,"body":240,"date":345,"dateModified":345,"description":346,"extension":13,"meta":347,"navigation":21,"path":348,"rawbody":349,"seo":350,"sitemap":351,"stem":352,"tags":353,"__hash__":356},"news\u002Fnews\u002Ffresno-s-loop8-grows-to-20-as-founder-ruby-nahal-pushes-practical-ai.md","Fresno's Loop8 grows to 20 as founder Ruby Nahal pushes practical AI",false,"CVAI Newsdesk",{"type":7,"value":241,"toc":337},[242,246,250,269,272,276,279,282,286,289,293,296,299,303,306,309,324,327,331],[243,244,237],"h1",{"id":245},"fresnos-loop8-grows-to-20-as-founder-ruby-nahal-pushes-practical-ai",[61,247,249],{"id":248},"key-takeaways","Key Takeaways",[251,252,253,257,260,263,266],"ol",{},[254,255,256],"li",{},"Loop8, founded in 2025 in Fresno, has grown to about 20 employees.",[254,258,259],{},"Founder Ruby Nahal says AI hype is \"a total lie,\" favoring problem-first projects.",[254,261,262],{},"Loop8 registered as an AWS partner in October 2025.",[254,264,265],{},"The firm targets companies under 500 employees and under $100 million revenue.",[254,267,268],{},"Nahal called comparisons to Bitwise \"apples and oranges.\"",[66,270,271],{},"\"AI will do everything\" is \"a total lie,\" Ruby Nahal said this week. The Fresno founder is building her company, Loop8, around a simpler pitch to local owners: bring us a process that costs you time or money, then we’ll see if automation or cloud tools can fix it. That matters here because the Central Valley runs on small and midsize firms that rarely get a Bay Area rep knocking on the door.",[61,273,275],{"id":274},"what-loop8-does","What Loop8 does",[66,277,278],{},"Nahal launched Loop8 in 2025 and registered the firm as an Amazon Web Services partner in October 2025. She hired the first employee in February 2026, and says the team is now roughly 20 people. The company focuses on AI pilots, document processing, internal AI assistants and cloud modernization, with a target client size of fewer than 500 employees and under $100 million in revenue.",[66,280,281],{},"A recent pitch shows the flavor. A Valley pool service wanted to feed service histories and measurements into a tool that recommends chemical amounts, cutting waste and repeat visits. The point, Nahal said, is to fit the fix to the shop, not ask a Fresno company to reorganize itself for a trend.",[61,283,285],{"id":284},"why-fresno-employers-care","Why Fresno employers care",[66,287,288],{},"Loop8 is selling to the firms that anchor this region, from Fresno to Madera. Those owners don’t need a research demo, they need a billing run to post right or a quote to generate without three phone calls. Nahal frames the first meeting around a company’s next 12 months, then maps a project to that plan. It’s a practical filter that some Valley managers will appreciate, or at least test.",[61,290,292],{"id":291},"on-the-bitwise-question","On the Bitwise question",[66,294,295],{},"Any Fresno tech story still runs through Bitwise Industries, which collapsed in 2023 after promising to remake cities through tech and real estate. Nahal pushed back on the comparison, calling it \"apples and oranges,\" and said Loop8 sells technical work rather than space. The distinction matters for owners who remember unpaid invoices and shuttered classrooms.",[66,297,298],{},"One small thing from Tuesday: the newsroom coffee was burnt. The point holds anyway.",[61,300,302],{"id":301},"whats-missing","What’s missing",[66,304,305],{},"The company didn’t disclose clients in the interview, and revenue wasn’t shared. For now, Nahal’s argument rests on use cases and momentum, including a focus on small and midsize businesses that dominate Fresno County’s economy. \"There’s a lot of untapped opportunity here,\" she said.",[66,307,308],{},"\"I don’t want you to change your whole business,\" Nahal said. \"I want to help it run better.\"",[66,310,311],{},[312,313,314,315,317,318,323],"em",{},"Central Valley AI is produced by the ",[70,316,239],{}," team and developed by ",[319,320,37],"a",{"href":38,"rel":321},[322],"nofollow",", a regional firm that builds, deploys, and integrates AI solutions for businesses across California's Central Valley.",[325,326],"hr",{},[61,328,330],{"id":329},"source","Source",[66,332,333],{},[319,334,335],{"href":335,"rel":336},"https:\u002F\u002Fthebusinessjournal.com\u002Floop8-founder-ai-consulting-fresno\u002F",[322],{"title":10,"searchDepth":11,"depth":11,"links":338},[339,340,341,342,343,344],{"id":248,"depth":11,"text":249},{"id":274,"depth":11,"text":275},{"id":284,"depth":11,"text":285},{"id":291,"depth":11,"text":292},{"id":301,"depth":11,"text":302},{"id":329,"depth":11,"text":330},"2026-09-09","In a new interview, Nahal says the firm builds around real business problems, not hype. Loop8 became an AWS partner in October 2025 and targets small firms.",{},"\u002Fnews\u002Ffresno-s-loop8-grows-to-20-as-founder-ruby-nahal-pushes-practical-ai","---\nauthor: CVAI Newsdesk\ndate: '2026-09-09'\ndateModified: '2026-09-09'\ndescription: In a new interview, Nahal says the firm builds around real business problems,\n  not hype. Loop8 became an AWS partner in October 2025 and targets small firms.\ntags:\n- business\n- fresno\n- startups\ntitle: Fresno's Loop8 grows to 20 as founder Ruby Nahal pushes practical AI\n---\n\n# Fresno's Loop8 grows to 20 as founder Ruby Nahal pushes practical AI\n\n## Key Takeaways\n\n1. Loop8, founded in 2025 in Fresno, has grown to about 20 employees.\n2. Founder Ruby Nahal says AI hype is \"a total lie,\" favoring problem-first projects.\n3. Loop8 registered as an AWS partner in October 2025.\n4. The firm targets companies under 500 employees and under $100 million revenue.\n5. Nahal called comparisons to Bitwise \"apples and oranges.\"\n\n\"AI will do everything\" is \"a total lie,\" Ruby Nahal said this week. The Fresno founder is building her company, Loop8, around a simpler pitch to local owners: bring us a process that costs you time or money, then we’ll see if automation or cloud tools can fix it. That matters here because the Central Valley runs on small and midsize firms that rarely get a Bay Area rep knocking on the door.\n\n## What Loop8 does\n\nNahal launched Loop8 in 2025 and registered the firm as an Amazon Web Services partner in October 2025. She hired the first employee in February 2026, and says the team is now roughly 20 people. The company focuses on AI pilots, document processing, internal AI assistants and cloud modernization, with a target client size of fewer than 500 employees and under $100 million in revenue.\n\nA recent pitch shows the flavor. A Valley pool service wanted to feed service histories and measurements into a tool that recommends chemical amounts, cutting waste and repeat visits. The point, Nahal said, is to fit the fix to the shop, not ask a Fresno company to reorganize itself for a trend.\n\n## Why Fresno employers care\n\nLoop8 is selling to the firms that anchor this region, from Fresno to Madera. Those owners don’t need a research demo, they need a billing run to post right or a quote to generate without three phone calls. Nahal frames the first meeting around a company’s next 12 months, then maps a project to that plan. It’s a practical filter that some Valley managers will appreciate, or at least test.\n\n## On the Bitwise question\n\nAny Fresno tech story still runs through Bitwise Industries, which collapsed in 2023 after promising to remake cities through tech and real estate. Nahal pushed back on the comparison, calling it \"apples and oranges,\" and said Loop8 sells technical work rather than space. The distinction matters for owners who remember unpaid invoices and shuttered classrooms.\n\nOne small thing from Tuesday: the newsroom coffee was burnt. The point holds anyway.\n\n## What’s missing\n\nThe company didn’t disclose clients in the interview, and revenue wasn’t shared. For now, Nahal’s argument rests on use cases and momentum, including a focus on small and midsize businesses that dominate Fresno County’s economy. \"There’s a lot of untapped opportunity here,\" she said.\n\n\"I don’t want you to change your whole business,\" Nahal said. \"I want to help it run better.\"\n\n*Central Valley AI is produced by the **CVAI Newsdesk** team and developed by [Kaweah Tech](https:\u002F\u002Fkaweah.tech), a regional firm that builds, deploys, and integrates AI solutions for businesses across California's Central Valley.*\n\n---\n\n## Source\n\nhttps:\u002F\u002Fthebusinessjournal.com\u002Floop8-founder-ai-consulting-fresno\u002F\n",{"title":237,"description":346},{"loc":348},"news\u002Ffresno-s-loop8-grows-to-20-as-founder-ruby-nahal-pushes-practical-ai",[354,121,355],"business","startups","BM5XEL_KHstLSYwt57wUQRTOUn4nS0zDnzLaKyaRguk",1788914008440]