​AI's Real Cost

Creative Power vs. Planetary Limits

​The machines are thirsty. While AI transforms how we create content, it's consuming water like never before.

​Join us for a raw conversation about AI's double-edged reality: the creative revolution happening in your pocket versus the environmental reckoning happening in our backyards.

​We'll explore how Vancouver's creative community can lead by example… from indigenous-led data sovereignty to local compute clusters that heat your neighbor's home.

AI Climate Paradox

​Creative Power vs. Planetary Limits explores the tension between AI’s: explosive creative potential and its real-world environmental costs.

​Let's dig into water and energy use in data centers, corporate responsibility, and community-led alternatives like indigenous-governed data and compute, heat recapture, and edge/local clusters.

​Opening: Is'gh'li-ya: Anthony Joseph

​Panelist: Amanda Silvera Amanda founded the Society for Original Biometric Identity Rights (SOBIR) and Sobir Technologies (SOBIRTECH), two initiatives focused on protecting human voice identity and building ethical frameworks for biometric rights.

​Panelist: Liz Marshall: Documentary filmmaker investigating AI’s water and energy footprint and the human-planet health link, from Great Lakes data center buildouts to right-to-water movements.

​Panelist: Kei Baritugo: Montreal AI Ethics Institute strategist highlighting power gaps and pushing for AI as an assistive tool, transparency, and policy that protects creative labor.

​Panelist: Kevin Friel: AI filmmaker advancing ethical, local-first production workflows, from edge compute to heat reuse, and championing accountable tools like carbon impact tracking.

​Moderator: Catherine Warren: Entertainment and innovation leader with climate physics roots, former CEO of Vancouver Economic Commission, and founder of Fan Trust, steering ethical AI and sustainability across media.

​How creators, technologists, and policy folks in BC can measure impact, make better choices, and build an ethical, resilient creative economy together.

​ABOUT VANCOUVER AI & THE BC + AI ECOSYSTEM

​Vancouver AI was just the start. BC's AI Ecosystem continues to grow, with new community hubs emerging in Surrey, Victoria, Kelowna, and beyond—each contributing unique perspectives to a thriving, interconnected network.

​BC + AI represents a collective, province-wide effort to democratize AI knowledge, innovation, and opportunity.