Ecosystem
BC + AI Ecosystem
Community infrastructure for a responsible, inclusive, place-rooted AI future in British Columbia.
AI keynote speaker. Creative technologist. Community builder.
Authored judgment in the age of generative everything.
The machines now spill out adequate everything. The scarce thing – and the thing the world will pay for – is taste that can be explained, defended, and taught. I help organizations and creative pros build it.
Photo: CreativeMornings Vancouver
Source: Punk Rock AI media archive
Featured in
Proof without the logo soup.
BBC
WIRED
Forbes
Reuters
Time
The Guardian
Fast Company
NPR
What I’m building now
Living projects, not dusty credentials.
These are the current rooms, portals, workshops, and communities where the AI conversation becomes something people can use.
Ecosystem
Training
TheUpgrade.ai
Practical workshops and executive briefings that build human capacity alongside machine capacity.
Keynote portal
Punk Rock AI
Make culture, not content. A creative rebellion with tools, prompts, and stage receipts.
Both Hands Full
Critique in one hand. Agency in the other. A portal for filmmakers in the age of synthetic everything.
What I get hired for
Rooms that need clarity, courage, and a useful next step.
Keynotes that move rooms
Plain-English talks on AI, taste, ethics, creativity, and human agency. No hype. No doom sermon. A better frame for the room.
Book a keynoteWorkshops that change teams
Practical AI learning for creative teams, leadership offsites, associations, and organizations that need shared language fast.
Work with meEcosystem work that builds durable networks
Community strategy, salons, partner rooms, and public-interest infrastructure for people trying to build with the future, not just talk about it.
See current workRecent and recurring stages
The rooms already know the work.
TEDx
SXSW
Web Summit
PopTech
CreativeMornings
World AI Film Festival
UN
Microsoft
Adobe
Grammys
What people say
Fresh proof belongs here before launch.
The Stewart Butterfield quote can stay as an anchor. This slot is designed for two or three current organizer quotes from 2024-2026 work.
“Kris brought a rare mix of clarity, cultural fluency, and practical next steps. The room left with language they could actually use.”
Event organizer quote – replace with verified 2024-2026 attribution
“He made the AI conversation feel less abstract, less performative, and much more human.”
Workshop host quote – replace with verified attribution
“The value was not just inspiration. People left with a working frame for what to do next.”
Leadership audience quote – replace with verified attribution
Field notes
Essays from the edge of AI, creativity, community, tools, taste, and what happens after the demo.
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The AI Mindset: Adapting to the New Creative Paradigm
A field note on the AI mindset: thinking with machines without surrendering taste, agency, or the human weirdness that makes the work worth doing.
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You Can’t Drink Data
Kris Krug marches in Vancouver’s first anti-AI, anti-data-centre protest, and argues that ‘shut it all down’ and ‘more compute, trust us’ are the same…
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Make Culture, Not Content
Generative engines now spill out adequate everything. Your value is shifting from production to selection, orchestration, and meaning-making — a field manual.
Get the dispatch
The dispatch from the edge.
Weekly field notes on AI, creativity, and what’s still ours to make. Sharp, useful, and short enough to actually read. Free.