on Toshareproject.it - curated by Bruce Sterling
Week 8 (Thursday, October 16, 2025)
WHAT COOPS ARE ALREADY DOING
AI is reshaping economies, institutions, and everyday life—but its development remains tightly
controlled by firms like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta. These companies dominate through
massive infrastructure, extractive data practices, and profit-driven design, often reinforcing
global inequality and ecological harm. Even open-source challengers frequently depend on
corporate-scale resources. This session asks: What alternatives are not just imaginable, but
already underway?
We examine how cooperatives—and, more broadly, the solidarity economy—are beginning to
intervene in AI’s development. Cooperatives alone already employ nearly 10% of the global
workforce and represent a global movement with real economic and political weight. While
acknowledging the enormous barriers, including centralized infrastructure and capital, we
consider how connections to public digital infrastructure efforts in India (with all their
limitations) and emerging frameworks in Europe might offer viable pathways forward. Through
case studies like IFFCO, FrieslandCampina, MIDATA, Pescadata, READ-COOP, and the
Gamayyar African Tech Workers’ Cooperative, we explore how these models are reclaiming AI
for equity, sustainability, and collective ownership.
Guiding Questions:
— Where are cooperatives and solidarity economy actors already intervening in the AI
space—and what is the scope and impact of their work?
— What structural or legal shifts would enable cooperatives to do more in shaping AI
infrastructure, design, and governance?
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— Beyond cooperatives, how might broader solidarity economy networks provide the resources,
alliances, and scale needed to challenge corporate AI dominance?
Required Readings:
Scholz, Trebor, and Stefano Tortorici. “5 Ways Cooperatives Can Shape the Future of AI.
”
Harvard Business Review , June 25, 2025.
Sarah Hubbard,
“Cooperative Paradigms for Artificial Intelligence,
”
Ash Center for Democratic
Governance and Innovation , Harvard Kennedy School, November 20, 2024.
https://ash.harvard.edu/resources/cooperative-paradigms-for-artificial-intelligence/ .
Explore Cooperative Case Studies:
Research MIDATA.coop , a Swiss health data cooperative that enables member-owned,
consent-based data sharing for ethical AI development. In particular, focus on how MIDATA
uses artificial intelligence through AiDAVA , its virtual assistant that helps individuals curate,
integrate, and manage their health records with human-in-the-loop support.
Guest Speakers (invited):
Stefano Tortorici is a PhD student at Scuola Normale Superiore researching platform
cooperatives and digital labor.
Sarah Hubbard is a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School researching cooperative
governance, emerging technology, and democratic AI.