[Air-L] Silicon Empires. Book Talk with Nick Srnicek, March 4
Rafael Do Nascimento Grohmann
rafael.grohmann at utoronto.ca
Mon Feb 23 03:00:00 PST 2026
Hi AoIR,
DigiLabour invites you to this online book talk with Nick Srnicek (King's College) on Silicon Empires: The Fight for the Future of AI, published by Polity.
It will take place on March 4, 10 am ET on DigiLabour YouTube Channel. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85Ey_86PocQ
After the talk, there will be two discussants: Helena Martins (University of Ceara, Brazil) and David Nieborg (University of Toronto)
Description
Since the emergence of ChatGPT, generative AI has been heralded as a technology poised to revolutionize our world. But beyond the hype and hyperbole, who truly wields power over this transformative technology? In Silicon Empires, Nick Srnicek explores the geopolitical economy of artificial intelligence, revealing how a handful of powerful corporations and states are engaged in a monumental struggle to control its future. Srnicek moves beyond the headlines to lay bare the elaborate strategies that these silicon empires - from tech giants to great powers - are deploying to capture the immense value of AI. This incisive analysis uncovers the deep-seated tensions between corporate ambitions and national interests, and the profound consequences of this new era of technological competition. As the race for AI supremacy accelerates, Srnicek compellingly demonstrates that the decisions being made in the boardrooms of Silicon Valley and the halls of government will shape the distribution of wealth and power on a global scale for decades to come.
best,
Rafael
--
dr. Rafael Grohmann
Assistant Professor of Media Studies
Department of Arts, Culture and Media<https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/acm/rafael-grohmann>
Faculty of Information<https://ischool.utoronto.ca/profile/rafael-grohmann/>
University of Toronto
Leader, DigiLabour<https://digilabour.com.br/>
Research Associate, University of Oxford<https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/profiles/rafael-grohmann/>
Founding Editor, Platforms & Society<https://journals.sagepub.com/home/PNS>
Principal Investigator, Worker-Owned Intersectional Platforms (WOIP)<https://digilabour.com.br/worker-owned-intersectional-platforms-woip/>
Co-Lead, Creative Labour and Critical Futures (CLCF)<https://criticaldigitalmethods.ca/creative-labour-critical-futures/>
Researcher, AI Policy Observatory for the World of Work<https://www.essex.ac.uk/research-projects/ai-policy-observatory-for-the-world-of-work>
Senior Fellow, Massey College<https://www.masseycollege.ca/>
Faculty Affiliate, Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society<https://srinstitute.utoronto.ca/> <https://srinstitute.utoronto.ca/>
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