Resisting AI Solutionism through Workplace Collective Action

TL;DR

This paper describes a collective resistance movement at the University of Michigan against AI-driven labor replacement, emphasizing cross-departmental organizing and critical questioning of AI's inevitability.

Contribution

It introduces a novel, cross-departmental coalition actively resisting AI solutionism through workshops and ongoing organizing efforts at a university.

Findings

Successful formation of a diverse coalition including students and staff

Hosting workshops to challenge AI techno-determinism

Developing strategies for sustained resistance

Abstract

In the face of increasing austerity and threats of AI-enabled labor replacement at the University of Michigan, a group of workers and students have coalesced around the project of "AI resistance" since Fall 2024. Forming a cross-departmental coalition including librarians, faculty, staff, graduate workers, and undergraduate students, we have hosted a public workshop questioning the techno-deterministic inevitability of AI use at the University and are working with other campus organizations to maintain an ongoing organizing space. This workshop submission incorporates our reflections thus far on the strategies we've employed, the challenges to collective resistance, and our role as workers in resisting AI within the University. Our aim for this work is to provide concrete inspiration for technologists, students, and staff looking to resist AI techno-solutionism within their own universities.