<div dir="ltr"><div>Hi all, </div><div><br></div><div>[with apologies for cross-posting]</div><div><br></div><div><div>We are excited to announce the <a href="https://planetaryai.net/" target="_blank">Planetary AI</a>
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: </div><div><br></div><div>Dr. Rafael Grohmann - April 14 (online)<br>Dr. Sebastián Lehuedé - May 12 (online)<br>Dr. Paola Ricaurte Quijano and Dr. Nick Couldry - June 16 (in-person at Edinburgh)<br></div><div><br></div><div>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 <a href="https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/03189f86-dd47-4e83-a44f-056440ee03d8@2e9f06b0-1669-4589-8789-10a06934dc61" target="_blank">here</a> to join us online. Kindly circulate among your networks, with interested students, colleagues and collaborators. <br></div><div><br></div><div>-------------</div><div><br></div><div><b>Do workers have a voice in AI systems? Worker-led AI governance and participation<br></b>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.<br></div><div><br></div><div><b>Speaker Bio<br></b>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.</div><div><br></div><div>Best, </div><div>Srravya </div><div><br></div><div>----</div><div>Srravya Chandhiramowuli</div><div>Research Fellow | Planetary AI project<br>University of Edinburgh <div class="gmail-yj6qo"></div><div class="gmail-adL"><br><br></div></div><br></div></div>