The planetarium projector died halfway through Judy Illes’ neuroscience presentation. Perfect metaphor for where we stand with AI – bleeding-edge tech colliding with the mundane reality of blown bulbs. One minute we’re exploring brain-computer interfaces that might decode consciousness; the next, we’re fumbling in the dark. That’s the beautiful paradox of our Vancouver AI community – simultaneously reaching for the stars while keeping our feet planted in what makes us human.
The Gathering of Tribes
Last week, our latest AI meetup drew a kaleidoscope of minds to the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. The place once famous for Pink Floyd laser shows now hosts a different kind of mind expansion. We assembled beneath the dome – data scientists sharing oxygen with artists, academics rubbing elbows with entrepreneurs, indigenous knowledge-keepers conversing with tech founders.
This wasn’t just another tech meetup with sanitized pitches and LinkedIn QR code exchanges. This was humans wrestling with what it means to be human at the threshold of exponential change.
Catherine Warren, whose ear is bent by government decision-makers worldwide, took the mic to share her work with Ray, crafting an ethical economy where content creators actually get paid when AI learns from their work. Revolutionary concept, I know – actually compensating people for their intellectual labor instead of just scraping it.
“We are creating an ethical economy where rights holders can, for the first time, be paid for content training AI systems,” she explained, cutting through the usual rhetoric about AI with the precision of someone who’s been navigating digital transformations for decades. Next week, she’s off to New Zealand to consult with their government on creative and innovation economies – taking our community’s vision global and hopefully connecting with Peter Lucas Jones who shared with us at the NeurIPS Meetup.
The Philosophers Among Us
The night opened with Brittney Smaila’s haunting poem exploring the teleportation paradox – if you’re atomized and recreated elsewhere, are you still you? What if the machine malfunctions and now there are two of you?
Her words echoed through the Space Centre:
“I inhale, and so do I. Too soon, too late, a staggered echo, a misfire, a step forward, a step back, waiting for myself to follow.”
As someone who’s been riding the digital wave since the late ’90s, this hit home. Are we just becoming copies of ourselves as we upload our consciousness to these new systems? When I use AI to help me write, is that me or some shadow version of myself?
Cian Whalley, equally comfortable in the worlds of tech and spiritual practice as CTO at Cognitive Technology and a Zen Buddhist priest, showcased Digital Buddha – an AI spiritual mentor trained on Buddhism, Kabbalah, and Hermetics. “It has been trained not to try to solve your problem as quickly as possible,” he explained with the wry smile of someone who knows that’s not how wisdom works.
The program reflects something I’ve been exploring personally – using AI not just for task completion but for introspection, recording voice memos about my dreams and anxieties, then using AI to analyze patterns and provide new perspectives.
The Builders of New Realities
The demos showcased the raw creativity bursting from our community. Sev Geraskin, always provocative in the best way, presented Wiserbotics – an emotional model aimed at “solving the problem of scarcity of empathy in the world.” Some might dismiss this as techno-optimism, but I’ve seen enough dystopian scenarios to welcome someone trying to increase empathy rather than engagement metrics.
Ed Kennedy, fresh from quitting his corporate job to focus on his startup, explained control vectors for language models – a way to guide AI outputs without brute-force prompting.
“It’s saying ‘no, only talk from this area,'” he explained, showing how fine-tuned control could make interactions with AI more nuanced and meaningful. His art project “Latent Sculptures” explores the infinite possibilities of open-source AI-generated art, transforming structured inputs into endless visual narratives.
Dean Shev and his healthcare team at VHT.ai showcased their work with Northeastern University, developing an AI model built with ethics at its core, designed to help physicians better interpret clinical data and create personalized treatment journeys.
Michael Tippett of Pacific Film, whom I’ve known for over two decades, presented his delightfully subversive “Mr. Canada” AI filmmaking project – an absurdist character interacting with deepfaked politicians to explore Canadian identity. What struck me was his approach to AI filmmaking as an iterative process, much like agile software development, where you discover the story as you go.
“I don’t really know where I’m going when I start,” Michael admitted. “AI filmmaking is like software development – it’s iterative.”
Jackson Wu AKA Shyang showed up and synced with the room. Beatboxing that controlled the lights, flipping raw sound into an interface. No FX, no backing track—just pure analog human signal bending digital systems to its will. Beyond that, he’s a public speaking coach, teaching people to wield their voice like a weapon. AI can generate words, but it can’t command a room like this.
The Wisdom Keepers
The night’s keynote came from Judy Illes, Distinguished Professor at UBC specializing in Neuroethics. Despite our failing projector, she delivered a masterclass on responsibility and humility in the face of technological possibility.
“With possibility comes humility,” she reminded us, walking through the 4,000-year history of humans trying to understand the brain – from Sumerians noticing the effects of poppy plants to today’s AI-powered brain-computer interfaces.
Her words on humility struck a chord: “It’s thinking about and learning from lessons of the past, scrutinizing authentically and with passion your design, promising to the limits of promise and not over-sensationalizing.”
As someone who’s witnessed multiple technological revolutions, I can testify to how rare and precious this kind of humility is. Technologies come and go, but wisdom accumulates if we’re paying attention.
After Judy, Jackson Wu (aka SHYANG) broke the intellectual tension with mind-blowing beatboxing, controlling the room’s light show with his vocal percussion – a perfect illustration of the analog human interfacing with digital systems. Beyond his performance art, he’s also a public speaking coach helping others find their voice.
The Future We’re Building
Sissi Wang’s passionate talk on conscious, exponential organizations framed our collective challenge: “We stand at extraordinary times with two mega trends – the rising of exponential technology and consciousness awakening.”
The former corporate rebel who led teams across 120 countries with IBM and Novartis walked us through how traditional organizational hierarchies are giving way to more fluid, network-based structures, and how AI can shift humans from “capacity units” to empowered creators: “What if AI could take away the 20-30% of your job you hate, what would you do with that elevated capacity?”
This strikes at the heart of what I believe – that technology should free us to be more human, not less. I’ve been evangelizing this since my early days in the social media revolution, when I traveled the world showing creatives how to break free from traditional gatekeepers.
The night culminated with the announcement of our $10,000 Vancouver AI Data Storytelling Hackathon, funded by Rival Technologies. Four cycles, $2,500 prizes each, challenging our community to reinvent how we interpret and visualize data.
The first challenge topic? Whether hot dogs are sandwiches. Because why not inject a little absurdist humor into our serious revolution? For anyone inspired to join, all the details live at hackathon.bc-ai.net.
The Ecosystem Emerges
What I’m witnessing is an ecosystem forming in real-time. Matthew and Ryv announced they’re spinning off a Surrey AI Community Meetup based on our model.
Anthony Green (Co-Founder of OpenRep, who appeared via video) and I are mapping Vancouver’s AI landscape, advocating for a BC AI Center that could secure government funding and infrastructure.
I’m not naive about the challenges. As Anthony pointed out, we face a high cost of living driving talent south, gaps in venture funding (especially at pre-seed and late stages), and no flagship AI institute despite our concentration of talent.
But I’ve been here before – at the dawn of web building in the late ’90s, at the beginning of the social media revolution in 2004. I got lucky then; my timing and interests aligned as those technologies emerged. Now I feel the same buzz in the emerging BC + Ai Ecosystem.
Quanna Parker made the trek from Hornby Island—three ferries away—to be here, and his story is one of true grassroots AI exploration. Before most people had even heard of ChatGPT, Quanna was already building his own AI rig. Back in summer 2022, he was the first guy in my orbit to get GPUs up and running, training his own models off-grid, thinking about compute sovereignty before it was a buzzword.
But Quanna isn’t just another engineer—he’s a critical thinker, someone who questions the whole structure AI is being built on. He’s written a book, Thinking Critically in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, co-authored (with AI, of course), as an early exploration of what these tools mean for thought, authorship, and human creativity.
Now? He’s working deep in the world of large language models and chat interfaces for one of the FANG companies, but still keeps his independent streak. He’s a reminder that you don’t need to be in San Francisco or New York to be ahead of the curve. You just need curiosity, a DIY spirit, and the willingness to experiment.
What makes this time different is that we’re not just creating new technologies – we’re creating new ways of being human. When Irwin Oostendie of Voor Urban Labs talked about decolonizing public policy through technology and Dean Shev discussed ethical AI in healthcare they were talking about reshaping fundamental human relationships.
Shane Gibson from The Professional Sales Academy showed how AI tools can transform sales processes while still maintaining the human connection that makes sales work.
That’s why I’m here. That’s why we’re all here. Not just to ride the wave of the next tech boom, but to ensure that as these technologies reshape us, they do so in ways that amplify our humanity rather than diminish it.
As the night ended and we cut the wedding cake for James McKenzie, I looked around the room at this community we’ve built – technologists and poets, scientists and mystics, all wrestling together with what comes next.
None of this happens without our partners who fuel the revolution – SEGEV LLP bringing legal expertise to the tech frontier, Dimitri Schwartzman connecting real estate to community building, Sons of Vancouver with their spirit of independent creativity, and Goodness Distributors spreading support through our ecosystem.
From that Midjourney moment in November 2022 when AI first reached its tendrils into my brain, to now, hosting these gatherings of brilliant minds at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre (once famous for Pink Floyd laser shows, now hosting a different kind of mind expansion), I’ve never felt more energized about our collective possibility. The future isn’t something happening to us; it’s something we’re creating together, one community at a time.
And yes, even when the projector dies mid-presentation, we keep going – because that’s what humans do. We adapt, we connect, we create meaning in the darkness.
We’ll see you at the next one on March 26th. The edge of tomorrow awaits, and it looks a lot like us.
What are people saying?
Great event, speakers were great, video documentation has been huge, love that I can catch up and share good talks. I miss the late nights of the old venue but it’s actually nice since it’s on a weekday that it ends a bit earlier. I’d like to see some rotation of the long time speakers, maybe bring on some new “residencies” of regular speakers and make a set time frame like 3-4 events for “regular” speakers/acts? Addition of non alcoholic drinks greatly appreciated. Another thing I miss from the events at the old loft is the feeling that anyone could show up with a laptop and show off their stuff, I notice that vibe is missing from the new venue because of all the organization with tables / signs. It would be neat if we had some more tables maybe in the food room or tables area that was designated as open tables for anyone to demo. Something that may help is a stronger web presence on it’s own domain with a more comprehensive website. vancouverai.buzz , vanai.community, vanai.club etc. Past video archives, descriptions of each event / speakers / luma links, Contest details, and big SPEAK AT OUR EVENT, DISPLAY YOUR WORK, SPONSOR US links, donations, etc. Seems to be missing, one place to go to for everything van AI.
Great networking and learning. My fourth event and every time the diversity of folks attending, the creativity the thought leadership shared by some amazing humans has blown me away.
Hi Kris, Thanks for organizing such a valuable meetup tonight. I really appreciated Judy and Sissi’s presentations; I walked away with a lot of new knowledge. Your efforts in putting this event together were evident, and I’m excited for the next one.
Hey Kris, great session tonight! Judy was awesome! I’d love to find an opportunity to collaborate. As you know, my focus is on AI as a productivity tool for small and medium sized businesses. Something I really value is that your community showcases topics outside of this focus. At the same time, that makes it hard to figure out opportunities to connect our work. You mentioned John Bondoc tonight and maybe he’s a link for both of us. Let’s grab a coffee in the next week or two and see what we can come up with. I’ll send you an email to find a time that works for us all.
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