Vancouver AI Safety Hub

Where the work begins.

UPCOMING IN PERSON

VASH Coworking Session

A coworking session for people actively working on AI safety. Come make progress on your work and connect with others in Vancouver!

UPCOMING VIRTUAL

VASH Office Hour

Interested in getting involved in AI safety but not sure where to start? Join our mailing list for access to one-on-one conversations with the VASH team.

More to be announced

Working groups, applied sprints, and project-matching sessions are taking shape. Partner with us to help define them.

Get involved →

Five principles that shape how we work.

01

High-agency

Designed for people who want to build, test, organize, write, analyze, or implement.

02

Action-oriented

Prioritizing work that becomes useful outputs, relationships, and follow-on projects.

03

Interdisciplinary

Connecting technical, governance, policy, operational, and sector-specific expertise.

04

Locally rooted

Attentive to Vancouver and British Columbia's specific strengths and needs.

05

Globally connected

Aligned with AI safety and governance efforts across Canada and internationally.

From interest to contribution: a clear path.

01

Identify & connect local talent

We bring people working in or well-positioned for high-impact AI safety work in Metro Vancouver together.

02

Build collaboration pathways

We create structured pathways for collaboration through events, working groups, project matching, mentorship, and applied sprints.

03

Prioritize grounded, high-impact projects

We focus on projects that are concrete, decision-relevant, and connected to real-world needs.

04

Strengthen Vancouver's role

We mobilize high-impact AI safety talent and connect them to AI safety networks across Canada and beyond.

Krystal Pan, M.Sc.

Executive Director & Co-Founder

Krystal is a field builder, generalist, and independent researcher working across AI safety, strategy, and ecosystem development. She is interested in what it takes to turn promising ideas and people into lasting capacity.

Her current focus is building regional capacity for AI safety in Vancouver and British Columbia, including identifying gaps, supporting new work, and creating the practical infrastructure that helps a local ecosystem grow.

Her background spans technical research, organizational leadership, operations, and community building. She holds a Master’s from Mila, was a Google DeepMind Scholar, and co-authored an ICLR 2025 Spotlight paper.

Sana Shams

Co-Founder

Sana has been working in AI safety through governance research and field building in Vancouver for the past 2 years. She has been helping lead UBC AI Safety since 2024 and, in that role, has convened AI safety researchers and professionals throughout Vancouver. Additionally, she is involved with AI Governance and Safety Canada as a Vancouver chapter organizer and has recently completed research operations work at the Vector Institute. She is now working on AI x democracy research at the Center for the Studies of Democratic Institutions.

Dr. Ibrahim El-Chami

Co-Founder

Ibrahim is a researcher and technology entrepreneur with a PhD in sensors microfabrication for IoT and edge AI. He advises governments on responsible AI governance, with a focus on agentic and embodied AI, and has developed AI governance frameworks and curricula internationally.

Building Vancouver's AI safety ecosystem.

The ingredients are already here.

Three streams, one ecosystem.

Technical Safety

Governance

Field Building