Format: Invited Talk
Speaker: Balu Iyer
What can 175 years of cooperative experience contribute to the age of artificial intelligence? Beginning with the Rochdale Pioneers, concerns that shaped the early cooperative movement, including technological disruption, inequality, access, democratic voice and concentration of economic power, remain relevant today. What has changed is where power increasingly resides: in platforms, data and algorithms. Are existing cooperative principles sufficient for the AI era, and how should they apply to data rights, algorithmic accountability, and human oversight? The session explores how cooperatives, particularly in the Global South, can respond through shared AI services, data stewardship, AI literacy and common digital infrastructure. It makes the case that the cooperative contribution to AI must go beyond ethical adoption to democratic ownership, meaningful member control, and shared benefit.
Reporter 1: Balu Iyer
Reporter 2: Dulce Bustamante
Speakers
-
Balu G. Iyer Regional Director Asia and Pacific International Co-operative Alliance