Love in the Code: AI Ethics, Advocacy & Community — Vancouver AI Meetup #20

Featuring Love Now Media’s Jos Duncan on AI ethics; advocacy, Peter Bitner on the future of work, and Rival’s data storytelling hackathon winners.

Plus: BC +AI (BC +AI Ecosystem Association) launch, Ethos Lab EDU, Surrey AI, and SIGGRAPH demos.

Full Description Welcome to Vancouver AI Community Meetup #20 — a night grounded in place and propelled by purpose.

Land We gathered in the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples, welcomed by Gabriel George with story and Eagle song.

Keynote: Love Now Media Jos Duncan (Philadelphia) shares a values-led path for love & AI: transparent AI use, mission-aligned ethics policies, and a new AI Advocacy Initiative to reduce harms (IP, environment, labor) and uplift what’s working.

Future of Work: The Upgrade Peter Bitner (upgrade.ai) on upskilling as the bottleneck, AI literacy frameworks, and building cultures where experimentation + critical thinking thrive.

Rival Data Storytelling Hackathon
• Prajwal Prashanth: “semantic maps + roundtable voices” that let clusters debate each other.
• Sev Raskin (Bear × Bunny): AGI Data Interface: choose-your-own-adventure insights with dynamic viz and narration (Hall of Fame inductee).
• Dean Shev (aka Chazzz): full album generated from BC AI survey + meetup transcripts; 17 tracks turning community data into music.

Community Launch Introducing the BC +AI Ecosystem Association (BC +AI) — a nonprofit container for meetups, hackathons, EDU, creative industries, public sector collabs, and more.

Join, contribute, and help shape an ethical, inclusive AI future in BC.

EDU & Sub-Communities • Ethos Lab — youth AI experimentation (Grades 8–12) + EDU meetup. • Surrey AI — hands-on monthly sessions (games, “AI or Not?” challenges). • SIGGRAPH Snaps — community demos incl. John Mutter (gen-video compositing) and Ahmed (Creative: no-code, multi-platform game engine).
Calls to Action • Join BCAI and our WhatsApp/meetup ecosystem. • Check out Rival/Reach3 data sets and demo projects. • Support Ethos Lab youth cohorts. • Subscribe for talks, hackathon showcases, and ethical AI resources.

About Vancouver AI
Welcome to Vancouver AI, part of the BC + AI grassroots ecosystem. We host monthly meetups, hackathons, and jams where developers, artists, researchers, and community leaders explore what it means to build human-first, ethical AI. Everyone’s welcome… whether you’re coding models, writing poems, or just curious about where AI is headed.

About BC + AI
The BC + AI Ecosystem Association is Canada’s first community-powered AI association. We help businesses, institutions, and citizens navigate artificial intelligence through education, advocacy, and collaboration. Guided by principles of ethics, inclusivity, transparency, and sustainability, we champion AI that serves public good from climate resilience and healthcare equity to Indigenous language revitalization and creative expression.

👉 Get involved
• Join Vancouver AI Meetups → https://luma.com/vancouver-ai
• Join BC + AI Ecosystem Association → https://bc-ai.ca/membership/