Advancing AI Systems, Governance & Society
July 17-18, 2026 | Second Student Centre , York University, Toronto
The Centre for Artificial Intelligence & Society (CAIS) at York University is pleased to invite you to our two-day conference exploring the cutting edge of AI systems, governance, and societal impact. This conference brings together researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and industry leaders to advance the state of the art in the theory and practice of artificial intelligence systems.
Our systems approach emphasizes how AI technologies operate when embedded in real-world contexts, interacting with humans and other technologies. Join us for engaging presentations, workshops, and discussions on AI systems that address societal priorities in health care, smart cities, sustainability, and ensure fairness, explainability, reliability, and trust.
Program updated from the conference document for July 17-18, 2026 at the Second Student Centre, York University.
Participant arrival, registration, and informal networking.
Welcome from the CAIS Director and Conference Co-Chairs.
Application of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: From Research to Practice
This session explores how AI is experienced, evaluated, and governed in practical settings, including healthcare, human-computer interaction, physical activity, and institutional oversight.
A Hopeful Case for Generative AI in Software Engineering
25-minute presentation slot.
AI Governance and the IPC-OHRC Privacy Principles
25-minute presentation slot.
AI Pose Analysis and Kinematic Profiling of Range-of-Motion Variations in Resistance Training
25-minute presentation slot.
Evaluating Generative AI Transparency Policy: What Companies Disclose about Ground Truthing, Training, and Implementing Machine Learning Systems
25-minute presentation slot.
This session connects advances in AI methodology and computational efficiency with broader questions of ethics, interpretability, accountability, and responsible decision-making.
Grounding LLM-Based Program Analysis via Natural-Language Abstract Interpretation
25-minute presentation slot.
Thinking Big about AI Ethics: A Perspective from Public Health
25-minute presentation slot.
Keyless Attention: Value-Space Routing and Value-Only Caching for Efficient Transformers
25-minute presentation slot.
Ethical Decision-Making through Artificial Intelligence
This interdisciplinary panel considers how AI is reshaping democratic institutions, education, communication, public accountability, healthcare training, and community resilience.
What AI Knows: We May Have Democracy, or We May Have Wealth Concentrated in the Hands of a Few, but We Can't Have Both
Dynamic Prediction of Waiting-Time Intervals in Cancer-Care Facilities
Teaching Empathy in the Age of AI: Augmented Reality and Responsible AI Design for Dementia Care Training
"It Became My Buddy, But I'm Not Afraid to Disagree": A Multi-Session Study of UX Evaluators Collaborating with Conversational AI Assistants
Approximately 27 minutes.
Poster presentations, informal discussion, and judging for the best poster awards.
Schulich Executive Education Centre, Schulich School of Business
Brief introduction and summary of the themes for the second day by the Conference Co-Chairs.
Deep Residual Fingerprinting: A Self-Supervised Spatio-Temporal Transformer for Network Anomaly Detection
This session examines advanced AI models and their application in biomedical imaging, healthcare resource allocation, higher-education services, and the governance of emerging agentic systems.
Foundation Models for Biomedical Image Analysis
25-minute presentation slot.
Lost in Translation: Do LVLM Judges Generalize Across Languages?
25-minute presentation slot.
Reinforcement Learning for Optimizing Physician Effort Allocation in Emergency Departments
25-minute presentation slot.
Innovation Cartography as a Governance Framework for Agentic AI Systems
25-minute presentation slot.
This session considers how AI moves from research into operational environments, including organizational decision-making, healthcare technologies, urban resilience, and institutional services.
When Artificial Intelligence Meets Organizational Intelligence
25-minute presentation slot.
Diagnostic and Prognostic Medical Devices: From Research to Real-World Impact
25-minute presentation slot.
BRIDGE: An AI-Augmented Framework for Flood-Geotechnical Risk Intelligence and Urban Resilience
25-minute presentation slot.
AI Chatbots as Frontline Service Systems in Higher Education: Key Takeaways from Studying Administrators' Ethical Perceptions and Decisions
25-minute presentation slot.
Conference synthesis and reflections; announcement of best poster awards; recognition of speakers, reviewers, volunteers, and conference partners; and closing remarks from the CAIS Director and Conference Co-Chairs.
Explore the invited speakers featured in the 2026 CAIS Conference schedule.
For more information about our steering committee, please visit the CAIS Team page.
Register now to secure your spot at the CAIS Conference 2026. The deadline is July 7th 2026.
All registrations include access to all sessions, conference materials, coffee breaks, lunches, and the welcome reception.
Register NowSubmit your Abstract here, The deadline is June 30th 2026:
Submit Now Second Student Centre , York University
15 Library Lane
Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3
Canada
The conference will be held at York University's Keele Campus in Toronto. The campus is easily accessible by public transit via the TTC York University Station (Line 1) and offers ample parking for those driving.
Schulich Executive Learning Centre (ELC)
For questions about the conference, please contact:
Email: wangsong@yorku.ca | divya03@yorku.ca | andrew.sarta@yorku.ca
Phone: (416) 736-2100
Website: www.yorku.ca/research/cais/
