Futureproof Festival of AI
The most honest AI conversation happening anywhere this year. No hype. No panic. Just real people shaping what comes next.
The festival brings artists, engineers, researchers, founders, educators, skeptics, filmmakers, builders, students, policy people, and community leaders into the same arc: opening night, two program days, demos, live performance, and the kind of conversation AI deserves.
This is year one, so we are keeping it simple: one opening night, two program days, one shared arc, and a deliberately small crowd.
The point is not to make another generic AI conference. The point is to set the foundation for a different kind of festival: human, specific, useful, public, and honest enough to hold critique beside curiosity.
Who belongs here
Futureproof is for artists, engineers, educators, ethicists, filmmakers, founders, students, healthcare workers, researchers, investors, policy people, organizers, skeptics, and curious citizens.
You do not need to arrive with a polished opinion about AI.
Come excited. Come skeptical. Come unsettled. Come with the question you keep asking after the demo ends.
Visit the Futureproof website: https://www.futureproof.website/
What the three days look like
Wednesday, Oct 28: Opening night. Badges from noon, the party from five. A welcome to Squamish territory opens the festival, then Amber Case on calm technology in the age of loud machines. Two AI Builders Fellows show what they made after six weeks inside a hundred thousand Canadian government publications, then Brewster Kahle on public memory and the open web. A creative AI live set carries the night, and the room lets loose after.
Thursday, Oct 29: What AI is already doing to us. Loki Jorgenson on what is actually going on in there, Shane Gibson on the judgment you are outsourcing, Jos Duncan-Asé on who it is being built for, Simon Haworth on the room where care happens. Sarah Downey and Kristen Delphos on telling the truth about risk. Brett Gaylor and Stephanie Dick on who gets to tell the story. Taleeb Noormohamed and Kris close the day with the policy fireside.
Friday, Oct 30: What we build. Alexandra Samuel on working with the thing. Ana Serrano and Mayumi Rollings on where the work gets made. Zaro on holding a community together, Sev Geraskin on what is actually shipping, Sara Blenkhorn at planetary scale, Michael Running Wolf on land, language and memory. Ben Shneiderman closes the festival. The closing party is included in your pass.
The program is live, with SET, WORKING and TBA labels showing where each session stands.
https://www.futureproof.website/program/
Built from the community already showing up
Futureproof is presented by BC + AI and grows out of the rooms already forming around AI in British Columbia: Vancouver AI Meetups, film nights, hackathon stages, ethics conversations, creative experiments, and people who keep showing up before the answers are tidy.
We started this thing in a room full of people trying to figure out what the hell was going on with AI. Artists, coders, founders, teachers, researchers, skeptics, people who were excited, people who were worried, people who were both.
Mostly both.
This did not appear overnight. It is an extension of a thriving creative technology community already gathering, questioning, building, teaching, experimenting, and debating together in public.
Partners already in the room
Presented by BC + AI.
BC + AI membership
BC + AI membership supports the community infrastructure around the festival: in-person events, scholarship seats, documentation, and the work that keeps people connected after the ticket lands.
Active BC + AI members save 25% on Futureproof Festival passes.
Join BC + AI membership: https://bc-ai.ca/membership/
Kris Krüg is the Festival Director and Founder/Executive Director of BC + AI. He runs the Vancouver AI Meetups and has been building Futureproof Festival from the physical community first.
Featured speakers
The people announced so far. More names to come.
Amber Case, Founder, Calm Tech Institute
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/amber-case/
Ana Serrano, President & Vice-Chancellor, OCAD University
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/ana-serrano/
Lynda Brown-Ganzert, CEO, RxPx Inc
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/lynda-brown-ganzert/
Zaro, Community Futurist, Electronic Arts
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/gabe-zaro/
Kris Krüg, Founder & Festival Director, BC + AI Ecosystem Association
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/kris-krug/
Mayumi Rollings, CEO & Co-Founder, Tiny Ghost Studios
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/mayumi-rollings/
Peter Bittner, AI Trainer & Consultant, Independent
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/peter-bittner/
Kevin Friel, Festival Director, BC + AI Film Club
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/kevin-friel/
Brewster Kahle, Founder & Digital Librarian, Internet Archive
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/brewster-kahle/
Jos Duncan-Asé, Founder, Love Now Media
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/jos-duncan-ase/
Sara Blenkhorn, Director of Innovation, Buckminster Fuller Institute
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/sara-blenkhorn/
Brett Gaylor, VP Creative, Hololabs
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/brett-gaylor/
Sarah Downey, Founder, Sarah Downey Consulting
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/sarah-downey/
Philippe Pasquier, Professor & Director, Metacreation Lab, Simon Fraser University
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/philippe-pasquier/
Simon Haworth, CEO, Intellomx
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/simon-haworth/
Loki Jorgenson, CTO & Director, Innovation, Circle Innovation
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/loki-jorgenson/
Alexandra Samuel, Technology Journalist & Author, Independent
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/alexandra-samuel/
Sev Geraskin, Co-Founder & VP of Engineering, PolarGrid · Economy of Wisdom Foundation
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/sev-geraskin/
Stephanie Dick, Assistant Professor, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/stephanie-dick/
Taleeb Noormohamed, Member of Parliament, Vancouver Granville
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/taleeb-noormohamed/
Michael Running Wolf, Chair, Board of Directors, IndigiGenius
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/michael-running-wolf/
Shane Gibson, Founder & Keynote Speaker, Professional Sales Academy
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/shane-gibson/
Kristen Delphos, Vice President, Communications and Public Affairs, UL Research Institutes
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/kristen-delphos/
Kerris Hougardy, Senior Vice President, People, Ting Internet · Tucows
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/kerris-hougardy/
Raj Parmar, HR Leader and Business Partner, Tucows
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/raj-parmar/
Dean Shev, CTO and co-founder, VHT.ai
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/dean-shev/
Suzy Easton, Musician and technologist, Independent
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/suzy-easton/
Ashley Smith, AI Visibility Strategist, Show Your Proof
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/ashley-smith/
Ben Shneiderman, Emeritus Distinguished University Professor of Computer Science, University of Maryland
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/ben-shneiderman/
Andrew Zolli, Chief Impact Officer, Planet
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/andrew-zolli/
Lane Becker, President, Wikimedia Enterprise, Wikimedia Foundation
https://www.futureproof.website/speakers/lane-becker/