Vancouver AI Meetup #30 — June 2026

Vancouver AI Meetup #30 landed under the dome of the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre on June 24, 2026 — a fitting room for a milestone night. The evening moved from golden-hour conversations on the plaza into a packed planetarium, with "Ethọ́s Lab — Mission Crew" badges setting the tone for a program about who gets to shape AI, not just use it.

The public program opened with host remarks and an Indigenous welcome, documented in the event recording. We are keeping that here as factual context rather than excerpting ceremonial language. The point for the recap is simpler and sturdier: the night began by locating the community in place before moving into the technical, creative, and policy work ahead.

Anthonia Ogundele of Ethọ́s Lab made the education question feel immediate. Her talk connected youth innovation, community AI charters, Blackathon, and the need for young people to become creators and decision-makers with AI. That thread is bigger than a single talk: it is the practical, cultural work of making AI literacy something communities can shape for themselves.

The Honourable Rick Glumac, Minister of State for AI and New Technologies, addressed the meetup directly. His presence gave the room a useful signal: responsible AI is no longer just an internal company concern or a research topic. It is becoming part of provincial economic development, public-sector capacity, governance, and workforce readiness.

Mayumi Rollings, co-founder of Tiny Ghost Studios, brought the creative counterweight: if AI can generate images, motion, and sound, what still makes a film human? Her talk connected the BC + AI Film Club lens with the practical production questions now showing up in the AI Animation Accelerator: taste, direction, story, authorship, and the discipline to turn tool experiments into finished work.

Thirty meetups in, the most important thing may be the mix itself: builders, artists, students, founders, educators, and public servants in the same room, comparing notes without pretending the answers are settled. The next layer is turning that room energy into durable capacity — public recaps, event recordings, community programs, and learning paths like the Responsible AI Professional certification.

Photos by Michelle Diamond. Watch the event videos above, browse the full gallery, and find the next gathering on the BC + AI events page.