Vancouver AI Meetup #31 — full livestream from the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre (July 29, 2026).Dave Olson returns from Okayama, Japan for a
Today we have a special mashup post, a reunion with Dave Olson, who has returned for a storytelling reprise from far across the Pacific.
This event was held at the 31st Vancouver AI meetup at the Space Centre/Museum of Vancouver on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. Channelling Vincent van Gogh with a stylish hat and beard, Dave invokes the realms of storytelling, digital and analogue archiving, and the world of AI to unite and work together for a common good.
If you happen to have missed this event in person, you are in luck, in that you can watch the entire evening presentation on YouTube. It was great to see Dave, his family, and his many friends in person again.
Before the event, as I wandered around the building at Vanier Park, I peered again into the corner office of the museum, and saw an illustrated rendering of the building on the wall. Unfortunately, there was quite a glare reflecting off the glass, but I decided to see if AI could help to remove the reflection. And of course, it did so immediately. The resulting illustration is remarkable, although not 100% accurate, it does give a very good re-visualization of the artwork.
AI recreation of the work below, without reflections:
I cannot decode the artist’s signature, but I do wonder if it was the original architect of the building, Gerald Hamilton. Perhaps someone will help to fill in the blanks.
Later that evening, as I wandered along the seawall past Kits Beach, I took a photo of a tree creatively stretching towards the heavens. Again, I was tempted to use AI just to see what this scene might look like as a lithographic print. With some time shifting and a most colourful gradient sky, the results proved worthy enough to share here.
This is in fact, my first significant post regarding AI, and it really is just an introduction. There are many things that can be done with AI, both in the world of digital and analog archives and in the world of art and craft.
Along those lines, I should also repost the plug that was made that same evening, announcing the AI Builders Scholarship in partnership with the Internet Archive Canada, and BC AI. As they say:
The public record is huge. Make it do something weird and useful.
One builder anywhere in the world gets six weeks and a $5,000 award to turn a massive Canadian public archive into an open-source experiment people can use, question, or get lost in.
A huge public archive, six weeks, and $5,000 to build the open-source experiment only you can see.
There you have it! The perfect opportunity to start making something. Be bold, and build something!
