AI Counter Governance: Alternative Mechanisms for Resisting Power

Blair Atard Frost, a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto, discusses AI counter governance as a means to resist or contest power in AI systems and the organizations behind them. Counter governance involves community-led and worker-led approaches to AI governance, focusing on the social, material, and ethical aspects often overlooked in traditional methods. Frost highlights the lack of coherence in defining artificial intelligence, making it difficult for cohesive regulation and governance. They emphasize the need for a bottom-up approach, giving examples such as Google canceling the Project Maven initiative due to employee protests, and the community backlash leading to the cancelation of the Sidewalk Toronto project. Frost suggests four main activities for countergovernance: talking, investigating, building awareness, and opposing AI systems that don't serve community interests. They stress the importance of participatory policymaking and the need for a balanced understanding of AI's potential benefits and risks within specific contexts.