Welcome to this week’s Sunday Briefing. In this issue:

Now, on to today’s briefing.

-Emily, [email protected]

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Prompt Victoria, which bills itself as Vancouver Island’s largest AI conference, is back at the Victoria Conference Centre on Thursday, November 5. This year’s theme is “From Disruption to Direction,” and the day runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The inaugural conference in 2025 sold out, drawing 350 attendees and 28 speakers. This year’s program is organized into three tracks: Lead Adoption, Build Deeper and Work Smarter. VIATEC presents the event, with the Victoria Data Society, AI4 Enterprise and PlusROI Online Marketing co-organizing. CGI, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, and Airbnb Canada are the sponsors.

CGI’s Diane Gutiw, VP of AI Research and Strategic Advisory, opens the day with a keynote on where AI stands today and what it means for Canadian organizations. Crux Intelligence founder Sid Srinivasan will look at AI’s role in developing antibody-based drugs.

Other sessions include a discussion of how AI-generated code is changing the work of software developers, and another on why some small businesses struggle to get results from AI while others succeed. Organizers say further sessions will cover AI security, sovereign AI, legal considerations, creative industries and organizational adoption.

“It brings together real-world experts, local businesses and the people across Vancouver Island who are using AI every day to share what they’ve learned,” said VIATEC CEO Dan Gunn. The conference is aimed at everyone from people just starting out with AI to developers building advanced systems.

🌊 Weather with you: MarineLabs announced it has secured approval from the U.S. Coast Guard to deploy its weather sensor nodes on aids to navigation, with 20 new sensors already added in Texas and California.

🤝 Talkin’ ‘bout a revolution: SIPP hosted PacifiCan president Naina Sloan at the COAST Hub for a roundtable with Southern Vancouver Island business leaders to discuss how tariffs and the current economic climate are affecting their industries.

🤖 Working 9 to 5: Redbrick marketing director and TEDxVictoria organizer Jessica Murray shared on LinkedIn that an AI tool gave her more childcare duties than her partner while drafting a family schedule, despite her needing to work more hours, so she built the schedule herself.

Find your next career:

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November 5 | ProductHub Victoria - Fall Event

We are a small, trusted room of Island product makers. Come see how your peers really build, test and ship product, and leave with ideas you can actually put to work. In this first meeting we will be hearing from the people behind Harvey AI, which is an internal tool used by PwC. We will learn how this tool combines domain expertise, enterprise controls and frontier AI models.

November 6 | Media Spokesperson Training

If a reporter called today, would you know what to say? Do you twitch at the thought of speaking on stage? This small-group, full-day workshop helps you become a confident and trusted source of information when it matters most. Sharing good news or bad - strengthen relationships with media, customers, employees, donors, investors, decision-makers and local communities. You'll practice custom interview scenarios crafted just for you. Guided by an experienced trainer journalist, each on-camera exercise, paired with helpful peer reviews, offers an effective, one-of-a-kind learning experience.

Have something or someone we should know about?

Reply or email [email protected] so we can work together to spotlight the lesser-known stories of Victoria's tech ecosystem.