At Web Summit Vancouver 2026, The Solutioners Labs Argues for AI That Actually Belongs Inside the Building
Founders Jawad Khalil and Nasir Teherany came to Vancouver with a quiet pitch in a loud week. After a decade running cybersecurity for Canada’s most regulated firms, they think the AI conversation has finally arrived where they have been standing.
Jawad Khalil at Web Summit Vancouver, May 2026 · Editorial
◆ Latest update · Sat, Aug 1, 5:10 AM
No new information linking The Solutioners Labs, its founders Jawad Khalil and Nasir Teherany, or their sovereign‑AI platform to any activity at Web Summit Vancouver has appeared in the press since the July 25 update. Recent coverage continues to focus on unrelated national and regional stories: Canada’s C$10 billion investment in the Port of Vancouver announced on August 1, the ongoing series of Canadian Elite Basketball League games, the July 30 reports on a suspected NATO‑related espionage case and the loss of corporate sponsorship for Vancouver Pride, and a July 31 video roundup of local events and international news. None of these items mention a speaking slot, panel participation, product demonstration, partnership announcement, policy brief, or any other public engagement involving The Solutioners Labs.
A substantive development would be signaled by a formal press release announcing a collaboration with a regulated‑industry client such as a bank, law firm or insurance carrier; a scheduled appearance for Khalil or Teherany on a summit stage or side‑event panel discussing AI sovereignty; coverage tying the firm’s “active intelligence” solution to Minister Evan Solomon’s digital‑sovereignty strategy; or the filing of a policy brief that cites the company’s approach. Likewise, any demonstration of the technology at the convention centre, a new funding announcement, or a regulatory filing referencing the platform would constitute a material update. In the absence of such reporting, the narrative remains unchanged: the founders appear to be attending the conference without public engagement, and no official statements have linked their platform to Canada’s broader AI policy discussions.
◇ Earlier update · Sat, Jul 25, 5:04 AM
No new information linking The Solutioners Labs, its founders Jawad Khalil and Nasir Teherany, or their sovereign‑AI platform to any activity at Web Summit Vancouver has appeared in the press since the July 18 update. The most recent coverage continues to focus on unrelated national and regional stories: Minister Evan Solomon’s digital‑sovereignty strategy announced on July 7, the Charlottetown meeting of premiers and Indigenous leaders on July 21, Alberta’s launch of a regulated private iGaming marketplace on July 14, and a series of Canadian Elite Basketball League games and cultural events in Vancouver. Video reports from July 24 highlight Canadian premiers discussing energy policy, the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge and other topics, but none mention a speaking slot, panel participation, product demonstration, partnership announcement or policy brief involving The Solutioners Labs.
A substantive development would be signaled by a formal press release announcing a collaboration with a regulated‑industry client such as a bank, law firm or insurance carrier; a scheduled appearance for Khalil or Teherany on a summit stage or side‑event panel discussing AI sovereignty; coverage tying the firm’s “active intelligence” solution to the federal digital‑sovereignty strategy; or the filing of a policy brief that cites the company’s approach. In the absence of such reporting, the narrative remains unchanged: the founders appear to be attending the conference without public engagement, and no official statements have linked their platform to Canada’s broader AI policy discussions. Future updates will note any announcements, product rollouts or policy engagements that directly involve The Solutioners Labs.
◇ Earlier update · Sat, Jul 18, 4:58 AM
No new information linking The Solutioners Labs, its founders Jawad Khalil and Nasir Teherany, or their sovereign‑AI platform to any activity at Web Summit Vancouver has appeared in the press since the July 11 update. Coverage over the past week has centered on unrelated national issues—Minister Evan Solomon’s digital‑sovereignty strategy announced on July 7, Alberta’s launch of a regulated private iGaming marketplace on July 14, and a series of reports on Canadian wildfires and cross‑border air‑quality alerts dated July 17‑18. None of the articles, news videos or official statements reference a speaking slot, panel participation, product demonstration, partnership announcement, or policy brief involving The Solutioners Labs.
A substantive development would be signaled by a formal press release announcing a collaboration with a regulated‑industry client such as a bank, law firm or insurance carrier, a scheduled appearance for Khalil or Teherany on a summit stage or side‑event panel discussing AI sovereignty, or coverage tying the firm’s “active intelligence” solution to the federal digital‑sovereignty strategy outlined by Minister Solomon. Likewise, filing of a policy brief that cites the company’s approach, or any public demonstration of its technology at the convention centre, would constitute a material update.
In the absence of such reporting, the narrative remains unchanged: the founders appear to be attending the conference without public engagement, and no official statements have linked their platform to Canada’s broader AI policy discussions. Future updates will note any formal announcements, product rollouts or policy engagements that directly involve The Solutioners Labs.
◇ Earlier update · Sat, Jul 11, 4:52 AM
No new information linking The Solutioners Labs, its founders Jawad Khalil and Nasir Teherany, or their sovereign‑AI platform to any activity at Web Summit Vancouver has emerged since the July 4 update. Recent coverage continues to focus on unrelated national and local stories: the federal AI minister’s July 7 announcement of a “digital sovereignty” strategy aimed at big‑tech firms, a series of Canadian Elite Basketball League games, and video reports from the NATO summit in Ankara. None of these pieces reference a speaking engagement, product demonstration, partnership announcement, or policy brief involving The Solutioners Labs.
A substantive development would be signaled by a press release announcing a collaboration with a regulated‑industry client—such as a bank, law firm, or insurance carrier—or by a scheduled appearance for Khalil or Teherany on a summit stage or in a side‑event panel discussing AI sovereignty. Coverage tying the firm’s “active intelligence” solution to the government’s digital‑sovereignty strategy, or a filing of a policy brief that cites the company’s approach, would also constitute a material update. In the absence of such reporting, the narrative remains unchanged: the founders appear to be observing the conference without public engagement, and no official statements have linked their platform to Canada’s broader AI policy discussions. Future updates will note any formal announcements, product rollouts, or policy engagements that directly involve The Solutioners Labs or its AI‑governance framework.
◇ Earlier update · Sat, Jul 4, 4:46 AM
No new information has emerged linking The Solutioners Labs, its founders Jawad Khalil and Nasir Teherany, or their sovereign‑AI platform to any activity at Web Summit Vancouver since the June 27 update. Recent coverage continues to focus on unrelated national initiatives and local events: the federal government’s $2.3 billion “AI for All” strategy announced on June 8, a series of World Cup‑related celebrations across the city, and various cultural and sporting stories ranging from a new Amazon Prime series to a raw‑sewage spill in the Strait of Georgia. None of the reports reference a speaking slot, panel appearance, product demonstration, partnership announcement, or policy brief involving The Solutioners Labs.
A development would be signaled by a formal press release announcing a collaboration with a regulated‑industry client—such as a bank, law firm, or insurance carrier—or by a scheduled appearance for the founders on a summit stage or in a side‑event panel discussing AI sovereignty. Likewise, coverage tying the firm’s “active intelligence” solution to the government’s AI‑for‑All program, or a filing of a policy brief with federal officials that cites the company’s approach, would constitute a substantive update. In the absence of such reporting, the narrative remains unchanged: the founders appear to be observing the conference without public engagement, and no official statements have linked their platform to Canada’s broader AI policy discussions. Future updates will note any official announcements, demonstrations, or policy engagements that directly involve The Solutioners Labs.
◇ Earlier update · Sat, Jun 27, 3:35 AM
No new developments have emerged concerning The Solutioners Labs, its founders Jawad Khalil and Nasir Teherany, or any activity tied to their sovereign‑AI platform at Web Summit Vancouver since the June 14 update. Recent Canadian business and technology coverage continues to focus on unrelated stories: the federal government’s $2.3 billion “AI for All” strategy announced on June 8, and the G7 summit’s discussion of AI and tech sovereignty on June 17, as reported in France 24 English and CNBC TV18. Neither piece references The Solutioners Labs, its “active intelligence” solution, or any engagement with the summit’s programming.
A development would be signaled by a scheduled speaking slot, panel participation, or product demonstration by the founders at the summit; a press release announcing a partnership with a regulated‑industry client such as a bank, law firm, or insurance carrier; a formal submission of a policy brief to federal officials that cites the firm’s approach to AI sovereignty; or media coverage linking the company to the national AI strategy or the G7 dialogue on sovereign technology. Absent such reporting, the narrative remains unchanged: the firm’s presence at the conference has been limited to informal observation, and no public statements have been made linking its platform to Canada’s broader AI initiatives. Future updates will note any official announcements, collaborations, or policy engagements that directly involve The Solutioners Labs or its AI‑governance framework.
◇ Earlier update · Sun, Jun 14, 3:01 AM
No new developments have emerged regarding The Solutioners Labs or its founders’ participation in Web Summit Vancouver since the May 13 briefing. The recent feed of Canadian business and technology news includes a range of unrelated items—Purecore Metals’ CSE listing, Emtar Technologies’ startup award, and a series of cultural and sporting events tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup—but none mention the Toronto‑based firm, its sovereign‑AI platform, or any statements made on the summit floor.
A development would be signaled by any of the following: a scheduled speaking slot or panel appearance by Jawad Khalil or Nasir Teherany at Web Summit Vancouver; a press release announcing a partnership between The Solutioners Labs and a regulated‑industry client, such as a Canadian bank or law firm; a demonstration of the “active intelligence” solution at a trade‑show booth; commentary from the founders on Canada’s newly unveiled $2.3 billion “AI for All” national strategy announced on June 8; or coverage of a policy brief submitted to federal officials that references the firm’s approach to AI sovereignty.
Absent such reporting, the story’s narrative remains unchanged. Future updates will note any formal announcements, product rollouts, or policy engagements that directly involve The Solutioners Labs or its AI‑governance framework. Until then, the article’s focus stays on the background context provided in the original briefing.
☐ Background · published Wed, May 13, 7:47 AM
Vancouver on a Tuesday in May is grey-blue and a little cool, the kind of West Coast morning that softens the edges of everything. The Convention Centre sits right on the harbour. Seaplanes lift off behind the speakers’ tent. The mountains on the North Shore look closer than they are.
Twenty thousand people are walking past a giant white-and-blue "websummit Vancouver" wordmark on the plaza. They have come from a hundred countries for the second edition of Web Summit Vancouver — year two of a three-year run the city has committed to. Among them are Jawad Khalil and Nasir Teherany, the two founders of The Solutioners Labs, a Toronto-based firm that has spent the last eighteen months building what they call sovereign active intelligence for regulated industries.
They are not here to demo a new chatbot. They are here, by their own description, to argue against the chatbot — against the idea that AI is just a window you type into.
Ten Years Of Watching The Real Workflow
Before The Solutioners Labs, there was a cybersecurity practice. For more than a decade Jawad and Nasir’s team worked alongside law firms, banks, dealers, and accounting practices — the kinds of organizations where trust isn’t a marketing line, it is the entire business.
That decade taught them something most technology vendors never get to see: the real workflow. Not the workflow on the slide deck. The workflow at 4:50 p.m. on a Friday, when the deal needs to close and the partner is on a plane. The little gaps between systems. The compliance pressure sitting quietly behind every decision.
"You can’t architect for regulated work from the outside," Jawad says, standing near a coffee cart at the back of the AI Summit track. "You can wrap it. You can bolt onto it. But you can’t build for it until you’ve lived inside it long enough to understand what people actually do when the clock is ticking."
Then Commercial AI Arrived
Almost overnight, professionals at the firms they had spent a decade defending began pulling consumer AI tools into their day. Drafting client memos. Summarizing privileged correspondence. Pasting financial data into chat windows that were never designed for any of it.
From the outside, it looked like productivity. From where Jawad and Nasir stood — inside the compliance perimeters of those firms — it looked like a privacy problem and an ethics problem waiting to surface.
"The professionals weren’t being reckless," Nasir says. "They were being efficient. People do this with every new tool. The issue isn’t the user. The issue is that the tool, as shipped, doesn’t belong inside the building."
That observation is the founding story.
Active, Not Artificial
The Solutioners Labs was built in response. The thesis fits on one line: convert artificial intelligence into active intelligence.
"Models that sit in a chat window are artificial," Jawad says. "Systems that understand your context, run inside your compliance perimeter, and do real work for you — that’s active."
The difference is more than a slogan. An artificial-intelligence chatbot is something you have to remember to use, paste things into, and check after the fact. An active-intelligence system runs in the background — watching the case file, the policy folder, the advisor’s book — and surfaces what matters without being asked. Crucially, it does that without the data ever leaving the firm’s regulatory envelope. No outbound API call to a model the firm doesn’t control. No quiet logging of privileged content. No off-perimeter inference.
That last part is non-negotiable for the customers they serve. A Canadian advisor cannot ship a client portfolio to a US-hosted chat assistant and expect to remain on the right side of provincial regulation. A litigation partner cannot drop a draft pleading into a black-box completion endpoint and still call the result confidential. The whole point of the architecture is that they don’t have to.
A Conference Catching Up
The room they are walking through is, in a way, catching up to them. The big sessions on Vancouver’s schedule this week put the word sovereignty on the marquee without irony. Canada’s first Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, Evan Solomon, takes Centre Stage with Cohere’s Joelle Pineau for a panel titled "AI for All: Canada’s AI Moment." B.C. Premier David Eby joins a separate panel on growing the province’s tech sector. The week’s biggest geopolitical announcement is the Canada–Germany Digital Alliance, signed in the building between sessions: a joint commitment on AI, digital sovereignty, infrastructure, and quantum.
The opening keynotes frame the whole conference as a single question: who owns the future? Who owns the models, the compute, the training data, the inference path. Three years ago that question was niche. This year it is the headline.
"We have spent two years arguing about model placement," Nasir says, watching the crowd thin between sessions. "Where the model lives. Whose perimeter it sits in. Whose data it can see. It is a strange feeling to look around the floor this week and find that everyone is finally having the same argument."
What That Looks Like In Practice
What The Solutioners Labs is actually building reads less like an AI product and more like back-office plumbing with a model threaded through it. A connector layer talks to the systems the firm already pays for — the back-office, the document management system, the CRM, the email archive. A sovereign model runs on infrastructure the firm itself can audit. An orchestration layer turns the model’s reasoning into concrete actions: draft this memo, surface this anomaly, flag this exception, suggest this rebalancing.
None of it is glamorous. None of it photographs well on a conference stage. That, Jawad and Nasir argue, is the point.
"Conference AI is built to demo," Jawad says. "Regulated AI is built to disappear into the work. The day a partner stops noticing the system is the day it has earned its keep."
The Quiet Bet
The real bet The Solutioners Labs is making is on the unfashionable kind of patience. The bet is that the firms who quietly built the boring infrastructure underneath the wow demos will be the ones still standing when the regulators show up. That the dealer who needs to scale tens of thousands of active client accounts across three regulatory codes will pick the platform that never requires a single confidential document to leave the building. That the law partner trying to keep three jurisdictions of privilege intact will choose the system whose architects spent a decade understanding what privilege actually is.
In Vancouver this week, that bet does not look as contrarian as it did a year ago. The hallway conversations have started to circle the same hard questions. The decks have started to use the same words.
"We don’t need to be the loudest company at the conference," Nasir says, as the harbour breeze picks up off the seawall. "We need to be the company that’s still standing when the regulators show up. That is a different optimization."
The clouds are moving. The mountains are sharper now. The second day of the second edition of Web Summit Vancouver is starting.
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