Futureproof Festival of AI
Understand AI. Shape what comes next.
October 28–30, 2026 · Vancouver · Fewer than 25 festival tickets remain.
Naomi Klein. Amber Case. Brewster Kahle. Ben Shneiderman. Thirty-eight speakers bringing AI research, creative practice, public knowledge and the decisions ahead into focus.
Opening night and two full program days at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, with talks worth paying attention to, questions you can put to the people doing the work, and live performances that take the technology somewhere unexpected.
One festival ticket covers all three days, the performances and the closing party. Explore the full program.
Vancouver AI at the Space Centre. Photo: Michelle Diamond.
A FanTrust Conversation with Naomi Klein
Friday, October 30 · 9:30–10:30 AM · Included in your festival ticket
Join us for an intimate conversation with international bestselling author and climate justice advocate Naomi Klein.
FanTrust President Catherine Warren sits down with Naomi to discuss her worldview and new book, End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World, co-written with Astra Taylor. Oligarchs, tech bros, and populist politicians may look like strange bedfellows, but they share an AI ethos and a common toolkit. Together, we’ll unbox it. From harrowing to hopeful, hear how Naomi’s work traces systems of power, who profits from them, and where the rest of us can still push back.
Meet Naomi Klein · Meet Catherine Warren
Opening night: attention, public memory and live AI music
Wednesday, October 28 · Opening party from 5 PM; stage program from 6:30 PM.
Anthony Joseph of the Squamish Nation opens the festival with a welcome to the territory. Amber Case asks what calm technology should feel like in an age of loud machines. Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, asks what a library owes the people who aren't born yet. The AI Builders Fellowship shares its work.
Then Philippe Pasquier of SFU Metacreation Lab brings the opening-night creative AI live set. Generative visuals and live-coded sound, with AI as the instrument. There is time afterward to keep the conversation going.
Two days of ideas you can put to work
Thursday, October 29: AI in drug discovery with Simon Haworth. Consciousness and agency with Loki Jorgenson. Infrastructure with Sev Geraskin. Storytelling with Brett Gaylor. What counts as knowledge with Stephanie Dick. Toshi Anders Hoo explores collaborative intelligence, and Lane Becker asks whether Wikimedia can survive the age of AI. Taleeb Noormohamed and Kris Krüg close the day in conversation about Canada's choices.
Friday, October 30: After Naomi Klein and Catherine Warren, Ana Serrano and Prem Gill take on AI, creativity and cultural policy. Andrew Zolli brings planetary resilience into the conversation.
Michael Running Wolf and Peter-Lucas Jones bring Indigenous language technology, community control and data sovereignty into focus, with shared audience questions. Ben Shneiderman delivers the closing keynote, There is No “I” in AI, on designs that give people more power.
There is time to question the speakers, compare notes over lunch and follow a conversation beyond the stage. Meet the speakers and the current session times.
Your ticket, clearly
CA$950 for the full festival. No single-day tickets. No separate tax or checkout fee is added to the price shown on Luma.
Opening night: keynotes, the live performance, hosted sushi, dessert and alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.
Thursday and Friday: both full program days, breakfast sandwiches, fruit bowls, coffee and lunch.
Friday closing party: performances, hosted food and alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. 8–10 PM at FriendsQuarters, Unit 200, 116 West Hastings Street. Included in your ticket.
Thursday and Friday dinners are on your own before evening activities. BC + AI certification days require separate tickets.
Students: CA$250 for all three days. Email hello@bc-ai.ca from the address you want the ticket issued to, and bring valid student ID. Student tickets are issued directly; there is no student option at checkout.
Active BC + AI members save 25% at checkout. If your member rate is missing, email before buying. BC + AI membership.
Bringing five or more people? Email hello@bc-ai.ca for group pricing. Using a professional-development budget? Here's a guide and a note for your manager.
Refunds have closed. Free transfer requests are accepted through October 27 at 11:59 PM Pacific. The original purchaser must email hello@bc-ai.ca from the purchase email address with the recipient's full name and email; the recipient must complete registration. Full ticket terms.
Built by the community that keeps showing up
Futureproof grew out of Vancouver AI: artists, coders, founders, teachers, researchers and skeptics figuring out what the hell was happening together. People excited about AI, worried about it, and frequently both.
A note from Kris: I take the curator job seriously. You're giving us your time. I want you to understand something you couldn't quite see before, find ideas you can use, and question the people doing the work. You don't need to write code or arrive convinced. Bring a real challenge. I'd love you to leave with new friends and better questions.
Presented by BC + AI, with Internet Archive Canada as founding sponsor and Hootsuite as supporting sponsor. Internet Archive Canada backs the AI Builders Fellowship alongside BC + AI.
Our collaborators include H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, Ethọ́s Lab, FriendsQuarters, Sons of Vancouver, SFU Metacreation Lab, CreativeMornings Vancouver, Data for Good Vancouver, Rival Technologies, DAMA-Vancouver, BC + AI Film Club and Multimodal Media Lab. Meet the sponsors and partners.
Make a plan. Bring your questions.
Main festival: H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver. Friday's closing party is at FriendsQuarters. Venue and access details · Travel · Festival questions.
FriendsQuarters is upstairs; step-free access is not confirmed. For access needs, contact kk@bc-ai.ca before the festival.
October 28–30. Choose your festival ticket at the top of this page. Bring your questions.