Evan Buhler moved to San Francisco’s Hayes Valley three months ago to construct an AI company that might mix the buzzy technology and his experience as a startup attorney. On the time, he didn’t realize he had moved to the guts of a movement.

Hayes Valley, which has been nicknamed “Cerebral Valley” by tech enthusiasts and builders, is exploding with blissful hours, networking events and hackathons focused on one thing: artificial intelligence. Some attribute the highlight to an increase in hacker homes in the world, others think San Francisco just needed some good press, but perhaps most significantly to eager entrepreneurs amid a downturn, it has the eye of top-tier investors.

“It almost seems like destiny. I feel it’s going to develop into the economic and spiritual center of San Francisco,” Buhler said of his recent stomping grounds. “I saw a competitor raise $5 million from OpenAI; the frothy environment is inspiring to a whole lot of entrepreneurs” who wouldn’t have made the jump otherwise, he described.

Buhler, seeking to spread word of his recent startup, was considered one of the 200 founders, investors, engineers and entrepreneurs on the one-day Cerebral Valley Summit, hosted by tech journalist Eric Newcomer and AI gaming startup Volley. Early-stage startups and storied entrepreneurs, buzzing with excitement, discussed the chance of the present moment on stage and on the literal watercooler.