Part one · 25 minutes
Fifteen years, four takeaways
Design process and systems thinking for people who build products but were never taught design thinking. Real cases, plain language, no jargon test at the door.
November 25, 2026 H.R. MacMillan Space Centre
Vancouver AI Meetup: Where Humans Go, Where AI Goes
Design strategist Zoë Zaslow on where human judgement belongs in the things we build, and where AI does.
- When
- Wednesday, November 25, 2026
Doors 6:00 PM · Program 7:00 PM - Where
- H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, 1100 Chestnut St, Vancouver, BC V6J 3J9, Canada
The speaker
Zoë Zaslow
Design strategist
Zoë has spent fifteen years in product design, some of it on problems where a bad call could cost a life. Her work sits where design process meets systems thinking: the place a team decides what a person has to own and what a machine can carry.
AI and natural language processing showed up in that work. They helped. They were never enough on their own. AI doesn’t solve the problem. It enables solutions.
“The thing you need is judgement. Human judgement.”
Zoë Zaslow
Her approach is gentle and Socratic. Nobody gets scolded for shipping fast. She leads the room to the water and lets it drink.
The talk
Two parts, one argument
Part two · 20 minutes
One project, start to finish
Twenty minutes on a single project: where the people went, where the machines went, and why.
Bring these questions
- Where does human judgement belong in the thing you’re building, and where is it missing right now?
- When has AI actually earned its place in your work, and when did it fall short on its own?
- How do you design for a decision you can’t afford to get wrong?
You’ll leave with four takeaways you can use on Monday, and a clearer way to decide what a person should own and what a model can carry.
The flow
Wednesday, November 25
6:00 PM
Doors
Open networking. Find the people you came for, and a few you didn’t.
7:00 PM
Program
Community announcements, then Zoë. Questions and the open floor after.
Until 10:00
Networking
More networking and productive arguing about the future.
- Getting there
- 1100 Chestnut St, Vancouver. The #2 and #32 buses stop a 5-minute walk away, and the False Creek Ferry drops off at Vanier Park. Pay parking is in Lot 60. It’s a 10-minute walk from Granville Island.
- Photos and video
- The night is photographed and recorded for the community archive. If you’d rather stay out of frame, tell a volunteer at the door.
- Questions or access needs
- kk@bc-ai.ca
Your host
Kris Krüg
Executive Director, BC + AI
Host and MC. Keeper of the vibe. Puller of threads. Kris opens the night with the community announcements: what’s moving across BC + AI, who needs a hand, and where to plug in.
Who comes
For people who are paying attention
Artists, researchers, builders, students, founders, skeptics, teachers, organizers, and curious weirdos are all welcome. We gather to work through what AI is doing to our tools, our jobs, our stories, our culture, and each other.
We’re not here to clap for every new model or pretend the machine is magic. Bring your demos, doubts, questions, experiments, and strange little sparks. Come late. Leave early. Nobody keeps score.
Partners
The folks keeping the doors open
Venue partnerH.R. MacMillan Space CentreOur monthly home under the dome.
SponsorInternet Archive CanadaPreserving the open internet, together.
SponsorIntelligent OMICSAI-powered drug discovery.
Community partners
- Metacreation Lab for Creative AIPhilippe Pasquier’s lab at SFU’s School of Interactive Arts & Technology.
- CreativeMornings VancouverMore than a decade of building Vancouver’s creative community.
- Ethọ́s LabA Black and Indigenous youth-led studio where young people ship real products.