[Air-L] Planetary AI Spring Seminar Series: Dr. Rafael Grohmann (April 14)

[Srravya C]

Hi all,

[with apologies for cross-posting]

We are excited to announce the Planetary AI <https://planetaryai.net/>
spring seminar series that centres discussions on alternative visions and
technofutures for more just and equal worlds. The series will engage with
leading thinkers for conversations on developing visions for radically
different futures:

Dr. Rafael Grohmann - April 14 (online)
Dr. Sebastián Lehuedé - May 12 (online)
Dr. Paola Ricaurte Quijano and Dr. Nick Couldry - June 16 (in-person at
Edinburgh)

In the first seminar, Rafael Grohmann will discuss his research on
worker-led AI governance. The seminar is open to all, and will take place
online on April 14, 2026 at 1.30 PM BST. The details of the seminar are
below and you can register here
<https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/03189f86-dd47-4e83-a44f-056440ee03d8@2e9f06b0-1669-4589-8789-10a06934dc61>
to join us online. Kindly circulate among your networks, with interested
students, colleagues and collaborators.

-------------


*Do workers have a voice in AI systems? Worker-led AI governance and
participation*This presentation examines worker-led AI governance,
understood as the collective ability of workers, through unions,
cooperatives, grassroots collectives, and social movements, to shape how AI
is used, managed, deployed, negotiated, or rejected at work. Grounded in
ongoing empirical research with workers in cultural and tech sectors, the
talk develops three dimensions of worker-led AI governance. First, it
examines tech cooperatives in Canada and Argentina that are developing
their own AI projects. Second, it considers cultural workers, especially
screenwriters and voice actors, in the United States, Canada, and Brazil
who are organizing to shape AI policies and regulations at sectoral and
national levels, in different ways. Third, it discusses the methodological
challenges of studying worker-led AI governance, with a focus on shared
learnings among workers through workers’ inquiry and participatory action
research.


*Speaker Bio*Rafael Grohmann is an Assistant Professor of Media Studies
(Critical Platform Studies) at the University of Toronto. He is a research
associate at the University of Oxford, founding editor of Platforms &
Society journal and leader of DigiLabour initiative. His research focuses
on digital labour, AI and work, AI in the cultural sector, workers’
organizing, platform cooperativism and digital solidarity economy,
especially in Latin America. He is currently working on a book manuscript
on how worker collectives are failing and learning to govern platforms.
Grohmann is a co-lead of the Creative Labour and Critical Futures (CLCF)
project. He is also a Faculty Affiliate at the Schwartz Reisman Institute
for Technology and Society, a Senior Fellow at Massey College and an
Advisory Board Member at the Centre for Culture and Technology. He is also
a researcher of the AI Policy Observatory of the World of Work. His
previous affiliations include Weizenbaum Institute (Germany) and University
of Sao Paulo (Brazil). Grohmann published in academic outlets such as Big
Data & Society, New Media & Society, International Journal of
Communication, Communications of the ACM, Information, Communication &
Society, and Social Media + Society. He is an editorial board member of
Communication, Culture and Critique and Big Data & Society.

Best,
Srravya

----
Srravya Chandhiramowuli
Research Fellow | Planetary AI project
University of Edinburgh
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