At a Glance

Format

SAAIC 2026 is a virtual conference. Session access details will be shared with registered participants.

Date and Time

The conference takes place Friday, July 24, 2026. Published session times will use Mountain Time.

Who Should Attend

Researchers, practitioners, students, educators, public-sector teams, and business professionals interested in how AI systems are being designed, adopted, and governed.

What You Will Gain

Expect practical examples, research perspectives, governance questions, and a clearer view of how intelligent systems are changing work and organizations.

About SAAIC 2026

Artificial intelligence is moving beyond systems that simply generate responses to prompts. New developments in machine learning, autonomous agents, and integrated AI systems are enabling technologies that can plan, coordinate tools, and participate in complex workflows. As organizations experiment with these capabilities, questions are emerging about how intelligent systems should be designed, deployed, and governed. The next phase of AI is not only about generating content, but about building systems that interact with people, data, and institutions in meaningful ways.

The Southern Alberta AI Conference 2026 invites researchers, practitioners, and students to examine the expanding possibilities of AI and the implications for business, technology, and society. This year’s theme explores how intelligent systems are reshaping decision making, organizational processes, and human work. By bringing together perspectives from industry, academia, and public policy, the conference aims to clarify where AI is creating value, where risks and uncertainties remain, and how organizations can responsibly navigate the evolving landscape of intelligent systems.

Conceptual illustration of the future of intelligent systems at SAAIC 2026

Conference Schedule

Friday, July 24, 2026 · Mountain Time (MST). Each session features three 15-minute presentations followed by 15 minutes of audience questions. Launch is scheduled from 12:00 to 1:00 PM.

Friday, July 24, 2026

Introduction

8:45 – 9:00 AM MST

Session 1 — Agentic AI in the Enterprise

9:00 – 10:00 AM MST

9:00 AM Cherie Griffith-Dunn LinkedIn The Rise of Intelligent Systems That Think, Plan, and Act
9:15 AM Marcio Gomes LinkedIn Gen AI Beyond the Chatbot
9:30 AM Vinh Lam LinkedIn The New Org Chart: Managing a Hybrid Human-Agent Workforce
9:45 AMQ&A

Session 2 — Governance, Ethics, and Public Discourse

10:00 – 11:00 AM MST

10:00 AM Chikee Ifeoma Christiana LinkedIn From Grok to Governance: Hard Law Responses to AI-Generated Non-Consensual Intimate Imagery
10:15 AM Frank Onuh LinkedIn Pluriversal Verification as a Service (PVaaS): A Decentralized Architecture for Fact-checking
10:30 AM Kris Hodgson-Bright LinkedIn The Future of Journalism in the Age of AI
10:45 AMQ&A

Session 3 — Designing Trustworthy Intelligent Systems

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM MST

11:00 AM Prithvipal Singh LinkedIn The Neural Black Hole Clear-Box Network (NBHC-Net): Interpretable and Efficient Deep Learning
11:15 AM Anurag Yadav LinkedIn Building Human-Centric Intelligence Systems with Hybrid Octopus OS
11:30 AM Daniel O'Donnell LinkedIn Crack the Whip: Designing AI Collaborators That Resist Drift
11:45 AMQ&A

Lunch Break

12:00 – 1:00 PM MST

Session 4 — Human-Centered AI and Social Change

1:00 – 2:00 PM MST

1:00 PM Aiswarya Saji LinkedIn Beyond the Prompt: Building Human-Centered AI from Caregiving, Displacement, and Real Life
1:15 PM Safa Boukleka LinkedIn Artificial Intelligence's Role in Diagnosing and Treating Learning and Speech Difficulties
1:30 PM Shara Merrill Website The Third Great Surge: Class Formation and Social Reorganization in the Age of Intelligent Systems
1:45 PMQ&A

Session 5 — Language, Industry, and Applied AI

2:00 – 3:00 PM MST

2:00 PM A K M Iftekhar Khalid LinkedIn The Mississippi of AI: Linguistic Singularity and the End of Postcolonial Hybridity
2:15 PM Jupsimar Singh LinkedIn From Models to Agents: The Rise of Practical AI Systems
2:30 PM Laxman KC LinkedIn Applied AI in Full-Stack Software Development
2:45 PMQ&A

Session 6 — Specialized and Domain AI Applications

3:00 – 3:45 PM MST

3:00 PM Roy Golsteyn LinkedIn AI Applications in Natural Product Research
3:15 PM Hubert Yi Email Trading Algorithms and Quantitative AI Systems
3:30 PMQ&A

Conclusion

3:45 – 4:00 PM MST

Organizers

2026 Organizers

Dan Pearson

MSc Student, Dhillon School of Business, specializing in Business Analytics.

Vinh Lam

Data Scientist | Data Analyst | Developer.

Sanad (Toghoj) Al-Khatib

Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, Al Hussein Technical University (HTU).

Julia Oystrick

Western University Business (BMOS) Student, Honours in Finance.

Ziyu Liu

Majoring in English and Financial Management, Nankai University.

Aurora Pinzón Arzola

Bachelor's degree in Physics, Physical Sciences, Universidad de Guanajuato. #WomanInSTEM ✨

Alssa Thomas

BSc in Computer Science.

Rehan Ahmed

BSAI at DHA Suffa University, focused on Machine Learning & Generative AI.

Wahaaj Nasir

BS Computer Engineering student at NUST - Pakistan | ex-ML Intern @RiseTECH.

Emiliano González

Business Engineering Student | Business Consultant for SMEs.

Sidney Shapiro

Assistant Professor of Business Analytics, Dhillon School of Business, University of Lethbridge.

Past Organizers (2024–2025)

Our past conferences were organized by faculty and students from the University of Lethbridge Dhillon School of Business and the Computer Science Program.