What are the possibilities and challenges for workers to collectively govern AI in the cultural sector? This project, led by Rafael Grohmann, argues that the governance of generative AI is not shaped solely by states and corporations, but must also be understood as a component of class struggles and as a site of contestation by workers. Through bargaining, campaigning, organizing, negotiating parameters, and advancing bottom-up policy initiatives, worker-led AI governance refers to the ways in which workers can meaningfully intervene in how generative AI is used, managed, challenged, or refused in the workplace, and how these struggles translate into workers’ rights.
Grounded in the power resources approach, with analysis of the possibilities and limits of worker power, this research investigates concrete cases of strikes, protests, and worker organizing in the cultural sector in relation to generative AI. It pays particular attention to inequalities embedded in AI global value chains and the potential for transnational cooperation among workers. The methodology includes interviews with workers, the organization of workshops and collective meetings, and desk research.
The first phase, launched in 2024, involved an empirical analysis of worker-led AI governance through the case of the 2023 Hollywood writers’ strikes. This research was published in the journal Information, Communication & Society, in an article entitled Worker-led AI Governance: Hollywood Writers’ Strikes and the Worker Power (by Rafael Grohmann, Andre Campos Rocha, and Guilherme Guilherme).
The second phase focuses on cultural workers in Latin America, particularly in Brazil and Mexico, who are mobilizing and organizing for AI regulation in their respective countries. One key area of focus is the role of voice actors in shaping worker-led AI governance.
Furthermore, the project is currently mapping strikes, protests, and mobilizations by cultural workers related to AI, which will result in the publication of a public database on the topic.
The project team includes Rafael Grohmann (lead), Daphne Idiz, Helena Wright, Elena Altheman, Andre Campos Rocha, and Guilherme Guilherme.
Themes addressed by this project:
