Hey friends,
Okay. I can finally start showing you what I meant. Last time I wrote, I called Futureproof the most honest AI conversation happening anywhere this year.
Fair enough. That is a cocky thing to say about an event that hasn’t happened yet. Here are the first three people helping me back it up…
Brewster Kahle
Founder & Digital Librarian, Internet Archive
What does a library become when the machines are doing the reading?
Brewster built the Internet Archive and the Wayback Machine around a civic ambition: universal access to all knowledge. At Futureproof, he is asking what kind of library the future will need.
Amber Case
Founder, Calm Tech Institute
What would AI look like if it knew when to leave us alone?
Your phone is full of software fighting for your attention.
Amber helped build an entire discipline around the opposite: technology that respects human attention, agency and everyday life. Good tools should know when to get out of the way.
Ana Serrano
President & Vice-Chancellor, OCAD University
Culture decides what technology is for.
We keep talking about culture like it’s the garnish on top of technological change.
Ana co-founded DemocracyXChange, founded the CFC Media Lab and IDEABOOST, and now leads OCAD University. She has spent decades putting artists, educators and citizens inside decisions too often left to technologists.
Different work. Same stubborn question: what are the machines for, and who gets to decide?
A festival for people with receipts, doubts, tools and taste.
That isn’t the whole lineup. It’s the first proof.
These are people who built durable things before this market got frothy and who will still be doing useful work after today’s pitch decks are forgotten.
Put your ass in the room.
I can invite people worth listening to. You make it a festival by showing up.
The Earlyworm Festival Pass is CA$650 through August 15.
On August 16, it becomes CA$950.
Your pass covers opening night, two full program days and the closing party. In between: talks, film, performances, demos, startup exhibits and hackathon finals. Registered attendees can also opt into private co-founder matchmaking, capacity permitting.
The future is still up for discussion.
See you in the room,
Kris Krüg
Founder & Curator, Futureproof Festival
Executive Director, BC + AI Ecosystem Association
P.S. For the BC people: BC + AI members get 25% off Futureproof. Join the association, use your member code, and the CA$650 Earlyworm pass drops to CA$487.50.
The discount is useful. The membership is bigger than that. BC + AI is part solarpunk R&D lab, part community potluck: a province-wide network connecting people, opportunities and the practical work of building an AI ecosystem rooted here.
