Artificial Intelligence: To Participate or to Abolish?
Artificial Intelligence is a threat and a promise; as the world grapples with understanding its prospects and dangers, we invite you to join us in London on the 17th of November for a talk and open discussion to explore these questions and consider their implications for social movements.
17th November, 18.30 – 20.30, May Day Rooms (88 Fleet Street, EC4Y 1DH)
Free entry.
How should we position ourselves in relation to today’s powerful technology companies and data-intensive systems? Among critics, views often swing between two stances. One is participatory: the idea that if enough people are included and represented, technologies can be reshaped. The other is abolitionist: the view that capitalist dynamics are built into these systems, so the only honest response is refusal and dismantling.
In this talk, Dr Vassilis Galanos will show how participatory methods – originally designed for collective resistance and empowerment – have often been co‑opted by those in power, which can make exploitative data practices seem normal. Even so, participation remains one of the most workable tools we currently have for shaping how we live with technology. By contrast, abolitionist approaches, drawing on anti‑racist and decolonial work, call for ending harmful systems rather than reforming them. Yet they can sometimes overlook people’s right to access and use technologies in empowering ways.
Rather than choosing a side, Galanos treats these approaches as overlapping, diverging, and intersecting depending on context and power relations. Through theory, case studies, and critical discussion, he invites us to rethink expert/non‑expert boundaries, the meaning of engagement, and the varied forms resistance can take.
We are honoured to be joined by Tanu I (Article 19), Daibhéid De Búrca (tech industry worker and member of the Industrial Workers of the World), and Dr Sevra Guzel (Bath Spa University/ Through the Cracks collective), who will participate in an open discussion with the audience following the talk.
This talk is particularly relevant to anyone with an interest in positioning themselves with respect to data-intensive computer technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, the internet, smart technologies, and so on. Entrance is free.
Galanos will largely draw on a forthcoming chapter titled "Stay or Leave? Mapping Participatory and Abolitionist Approaches in Critical Data Studies" co-authored by Benedetta Catanzariti, Lara Dal Molin and Vassilis Galanos.
Many thanks to Sevra Guzel for the poster.
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