From Reflection to Action: AI Workers, Geopolitics, and Algorithmic Collective Action

Although responsible AI discourse has historically overlooked International Re-lations (IR) and International Political Economy (IPE), it helps to explain thestructural limitations of responsible AI efforts, especially AI governance. Ac-cording to IPE, states are incentivized to rely on rather than restrain powerfulcorporations. Anchored in Responsible Innovation (RI) and IPE, this position papermakes the timely argument that governance alone cannot ensure responsible AIdevelopment, and more attention should be paid to bottom-up interventions at thesite of AI development. AI workers themselves should be situated as individualagents of change, especially when considering their potential to foster Algorith-mic Collective Action (ACA). Drawing on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)research, the paper proposes a reflection tool designed to help AI workers criticallyengage with the geopolitical implications of their work and create the conditionsnecessary for ACA.