AI Ethical Futures Lab #6: AI Transparency, Power & Trust
Canada has opened a public consultation on AI transparency. On August 4, we're putting the actual questions on the table.
Not a panel. Not another vague conversation about “trust.” A working civic policy lab.
We are going to take disclosure labels, system cards, incident reporting, and AI agent receipts apart and ask the question underneath all of them: does this give people more agency, or just more fine print?
The Lab has done this kind of work before. In March, we worked through the People's AI Consultation together. In May, the laptops came out and we started mapping where civil society should show up. This time, the federal government has handed us a live policy window and a September 23 deadline.
So let's use it.
We walk forward holding both. We can be excited about what AI makes possible and serious about who has power, who carries risk, and who gets a say.
The federal consultation asks where transparency matters across five areas:
AI-generated content
knowing when you're interacting with AI
information about AI systems
AI incidents
AI agents that can take action on your behalf
But a label that says “AI was used” is not enough. Meaningful transparency should help people understand what is happening and do something about it: choose, refuse, contest, correct, reverse, or seek redress.
What we'll do
1. Put the five federal questions under pressure
Where does disclosure genuinely help? Where does it become compliance theatre? What needs to be visible, to whom, and at what moment?
2. Test three practical tools
We will work with a layered interaction notice, an AI system information card, and an agent action receipt. Plain-language prototypes, not policy theatre.
3. Decide what BC should tell Ottawa
We will compare real examples, rank the strongest recommendations, and capture the useful disagreements instead of sanding them down.
Bring one AI interaction, system, incident, or agent you think people deserve to understand better. We'll work in small groups, compare what different communities actually need to know, and turn the strongest ideas into public-safe notes.
What leaves the room
Public-safe session notes and a short set of prioritized recommendations. The work may inform BC + AI's response to the Government of Canada's consultation before it closes on September 23, 2026.
Taking part does not mean you endorse a final submission. We will not attribute comments or quotes without consent.
Who should come
Builders, artists, educators, workers, researchers, policy people, small business owners, community organizers, and anyone living with the consequences of AI systems.
No policy or technical background required. Curiosity, lived experience, and a willingness to participate are enough.
Details
When: Tuesday, August 4, 2026, 6:30-8:30 PM
Where: Parker Street Studios, 1000 Parker St, Vancouver
Tickets: $20 standard / free BC + AI member ticket
Format: Facilitated discussion and hands-on policy work
Bring: One real example or question you want the room to make clearer
Parker Street Studios is Tanya Slingsby's working art studio and the home of BC + AI. It is not a hotel ballroom or a tech office. The setting matters. We are talking about power, consent, and legibility in a place built for making and looking closely.
House rules
Questions over positions: bring something you are willing to examine
No pitching: this is a working room, not a sales floor
Generous listening: make room for experience that is not yours
No attribution without consent: share the ideas, protect the people
About the AI Ethical Futures Lab
AI Ethical Futures Lab is where builders, artists, researchers, educators, policy thinkers, and community members wrestle with the choices underneath the technology. We hold both hands full. We do not pretend the harms are imaginary, and we do not pretend the possibilities are small.
The point is not to perform ethics. The point is to turn community knowledge into better questions, practical tools, and places where people can act together.
About BC + AI
BC + AI is the member-supported nonprofit association growing out of Vancouver AI. We keep rooms like this open across British Columbia, connect people doing practical work, and turn community questions into shared programs and public-interest action.
Membership pays for the connective tissue between events: the rooms, the working groups, the follow-through, and the people keeping it all moving. Members can request the free ticket for this event.
Links
See you at Parker Street.
Bring one real example. We'll do the rest in the room.
Kris, Tanya, Jesi, and the AEFL crew