AI event at Art House Cafe cancelled after community backlash

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Geneviève Bétournay, owner/artistic director of Art House Cafe, said she underestimated how the AI event would be perceived by a community that included many artists worried about its impact on creative work. Photo by Jean Levac /Postmedia

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Bétournay said she understood the intensity of the reaction.

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“The feeling of there being a threat is very real,” she said. “Considering the seriousness of the issues that have come up around AI and how disruptive and destabilizing it might be and how much uncertainty it is creating, it is entirely understandable that people would have very strong reactions.”

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Among those reacting was frequent customer Emily Tower, who said the announcement changed how she viewed the café.

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“It felt weird to see a space that I love so much sign off on an event that feels really not rooted in community,” Tower said. “I was really put off.”

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Tower said she believed public pressure was the reason for the cancellation.

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“This would have gone on had people not spoken up,” she said. “It has given me a shift in perspective of how I see Art House. There’s a lot of other spaces in the community that I might turn to now.”

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The original event advertisement identified organizer Simon Bergeron as the founder of Lemonbrand.io and described him as someone teaching people and companies “how to actually build with AI agents instead of just talking about them.” The post said he ran the club as the Ottawa chapter of AGI Ventures Canada.

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Neilda Gagné, chief ecosystem officer at AGI Ventures Canada and a co-organizer of the event, said the meetup was intended as an open discussion and had nothing to do with AI art.

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“It was just a discussion forum,” Gagné said. “We wanted to bring people together and just have a discussion.”

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Gagné said organizers hoped to explore not only AI development, but also broader questions about the technology’s impact on society.

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“We wanted to bring people interested in learning more about AI and also explore what AI means to humanity and society,” she said. “We emphasize with our community to never forget the human side of things.”

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While she said she understood why some people reacted negatively, Gagné said she hoped more venues would be willing to host conversations about AI in the future.

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“AI is already a part of our lives, whether we can see it or not,” she said. “I just think that it is better for us to understand it a little bit more and just open a dialogue in a very productive and respectful way.”

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The event’s cancellation has also exposed divisions within the arts community about how institutions should respond to AI.

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Pearly Pouponneau, a local creative director and visual artist whose work focuses on erotic art, said Art House was one of the few venues in Ottawa willing to showcase her work.

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“My particular niche and line of work is erotic art, and most places would not allow me to host an exhibit and Art House would,” she said.

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Pouponneau was initially surprised when she saw the event advertised.

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“My immediate reaction was, ‘Oh, this is an odd direction for Art House,’” she said.

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However, Pouponneau said the café’s response persuaded her to continue supporting the business.

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“If we want to have a healthy arts community in Ottawa, I think we do need to make room for people to listen and learn and correct the course, and I think that’s what Art House did,” she said.

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Pouponneau added that she felt some of the online criticism left little room for the café to respond.

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“I felt like they were really listening,” Pouponneau said. “They were really taking in comments that were probably difficult to process.”

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Customer Matt Casey described the original announcement as unsettling because Art House had become one of the few spaces many artists saw as a refuge from AI.