Vancouver AI Pods Surrey AI Community Meetup: September 2025
From Classrooms to Clinics: How Surrey AI is Building BC's AI Future
Join Matthew Schwartzman and the Surrey AI community for Meetup #8, where healthcare founders, managed IT operators, photographers, students, and infrastructure builders gathered to share what's actually working with AI in their businesses and lives.
This isn't another hype cycle conversation. It's students explaining how they're using AI when teachers can't teach clearly. It's a life sciences investor breaking down why "do your reg first" could save your startup millions. It's a photographer revealing why magazines are rejecting AI-generated images. It's an IT manager showing how AI email triage reclaims an hour daily.
From FDA approval pathways to Chinese LLM alternatives, from GPU procurement nightmares to the future of persistent AI tutors, this 90-minute session captures the messy, practical, exciting reality of AI adoption across sectors.
Featuring perspectives from:
- Matthew Schwartzman & Cousin Itamar - Host & Surrey AI community architect
- Paul Rex - Life sciences & medical device AI strategist
- Darren - Managed IT services operator using AI at scale
- Michelle Diamond - Professional photographer on authenticity vs. synthetic
- Kris - Educator using transcripts to analyze coaching patterns
- Dean Shev - Infrastructure builder on data sovereignty & multi-model research
- Aliza & Noa - Students showing how Gen Z actually uses AI for learning
Plus insights on BC's data center expansion, the BC AI Task Force consultation, biosimilars, compliance monitoring, wearable sensors, and why community-driven learning beats closed-door innovation.
Part of the BC + AI Ecosystem Association
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ABOUT SURREY AI COMMUNITY MEETUP
Surrey AI Community Meetup is part of the BC AI Ecosystem Association, bringing together diverse practitioners from education, healthcare, business, creative services, and infrastructure to share real-world AI implementations, failures, and successes.
Unlike typical tech meetups focused on demos and pitches, Surrey AI prioritizes cross-industry learning, practical wisdom, and community-driven innovation. With weekly office hours, coworking sessions, and specialized sub-groups, the community creates compounding learning loops that accelerate responsible AI adoption across British Columbia.
Core Values:
- Augmentation over replacement
- Regulation-first roadmapping
- Multi-model approaches
- Authentic human services
- Educational equity
- Data sovereignty
- Human-in-the-loop accountability
- Community-driven learning
Join us for Meetup #9 and become part of BC's most diverse AI community.