SLATE has invited Dr. Simon Knight, Associate Professor at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), to hold a guest lecture on unions and the governance of AI in education in an Australian context. There will be opportunities for discussion and sharing of international experiences.
Abstract
Discussions of ethical artificial intelligence is often framed in terms of guiding principles for the implementation of AI. Participatory approaches, involving stakeholders in decisions about the use and regulation of AI, are sometimes proposed as mechanisms through which to address concerns regarding AI. However, these framings may pre-empt both the inevitability and desirability of AI adoption, while down-grading the potential for AI systems being constrained, or simply not implemented. Established mechanisms for collective negotiation, including trade or labour unions, may provide an alternative mechanism for understanding and navigating the potential for participatory approaches to AI governance. In this talk, Dr. Simon Knight will discuss some preliminary analysis of collective agreements in the Australian context, and the ways in which unions are seeking to address concerns regarding AI these agreements, in relation to working conditions.
Read the preprint of the 2026 paper Artificial Intelligence: A Major Change in Industrial Relations?
Who should attend?
The presentation should be of interest to participatory AI researchers, and those researching union responses to AI. The talk will focus on the Australian context, and emerging responses across industries and specifically in education. The presentation will draw on some experiences of negotiating for AI clauses in Australia, invite sharing of Norwegian experiences, and opportunity to discuss ways unions and participatory AI researchers can learn from international experiences.
Please note: There is no need to register for this event.
Bio
Dr. Simon Knight is an Associate Professor at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Transdisciplinary School, and Australian Research Council, Discovery Eary Career Award (DECRA) Fellow. He is a previous co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Learning Analytics, and inaugural, immediate past Director, of the UTS Centre for Research on Education in a Digital Society (UTS:CREDS).
Dr. Knight researches how people learn to navigate uncertainty, disagreement, and evidence, and the mediating role of technology in that. His work has developed design approaches for learning analytics, exploring the use of data as a form of evidence, and design for learning towards epistemic and ethical reasoning.
