On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on the TechTO stage in 2023. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about David ↗
In their words
Artificial intelligence is mostly garbage, and people want to put it in control of their lives. People are now trying to do this in very highly regulated large enterprises, and the systems that have been built up around this are largely very manual.
It used to be that you could do that by having a line in a document that said legal signed off on it, so it's all good. But not anymore.
We just had a thousand meetings, and every single time people told us it was laughable. We asked why, how — and we changed it the next day.
More from TechTO ×1
Around the web ×2
Quick answers
Who is David Van Bruwaene?
The co-founder and CEO of Asenion, the AI governance company formerly called Fairly AI, based in Kitchener. He has a background in philosophy and cognitive science, and previously led VISR, a cyberbullying-detection company sold to SafeToNet.
What did he say at TechTO?
On a November 2023 panel at Rotman with Mahshid Yassaei of Tali AI, he argued that AI compliance was still being done by hand at large regulated companies, and described selling into banks as a thousand meetings of being told the idea was laughable and changing it the next day.
What is Asenion?
The company Fairly AI became in June 2025 after acquiring Swedish AI-ethics startup anch.AI. Its platform assesses, tests and monitors AI systems against regulations and internal standards.