What happens when tech workers take ownership of their future? In this episode of Lifestyle Democracy, host Stefan Ivanovski speaks with Steven Deobald, co-founder of Nilenso, India’s first tech worker cooperative.

Steven shares:

• How Nilenso started as an experiment in 2012 and became a thriving worker-owned and worker-managed tech firm
• Why worker cooperatives offer resilience against founder exits and buyouts in the startup world
• The challenges and benefits of horizontal governance in tech startups
• How cooperatives approach AI adoption and ethical decision-making

If you’re a tech or knowledge worker curious about alternatives to Big Tech, this conversation is packed with insights on ownership, autonomy, and meaning at work.

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Massive layoffs have shaken the tech industry—even as Big Tech posts record profits. Is there a better way for tech workers to secure stable, meaningful work? In this episode of Lifestyle Democracy, host Stefan Ivanovski speaks with Yuliy Lobarev, a member of Rad Cop, a cybersecurity worker cooperative in Russia, and an active participant in Patio, an international network of tech cooperatives.

We dive into:

• Why tech workers are turning to worker cooperatives and horizontal governance
• The challenges and opportunities of building democratic firms in the age of AI
• How sociocracy and cooperative principles shape decision-making
• The ethical dimensions of AI and the future of cooperative AI

If you’re curious about workplace democracy, tech cooperatives, or how AI intersects with governance and ethics, this conversation is for you.

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With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots, there are risks to how humans will be treated if robots and AI algorithms ever take over control of our societies. In this video, Stefan Ivanovski and Arpit Chaturvedi (MPA Cornell University) have a provocative discussion, why robots need rights. The full article can be found on the link here.

Stefan Ivanovski is a PhD student at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University studying the democratization of ownership and management of companies that are shaping the future of work, especially those that rely on remote work and cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence. He is also a lead contributor for the Lifestyle Democracy blog, where he writes on the topics of technology, democracy, and society.

Arpit Chaturvedi (MPA Cornell University) is a policy entrepreneur. He is the Founder of the political risk management and policy advocacy firm Insights International. He is a Research Manager to Dr. Kaushik Basu at Cornell University and serves as the Joint-Director of the Global Policy, Diplomacy, and Sustainability Fellowship. He has taught graduate level courses at the San Francisco University, the Indian School of Public Policy, and other institutions across the globe. He is also the author of the book, “Our Egalitarian Universe?”.

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In this interview, I spoke with the Shaun Fensom, a pioneer of worker cooperatives in the internet space with over three decades of experience. As the co-founder of Poptel, one of UK's pioneering Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Shaun connected Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and human rights organizations to the internet, including South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) during apartheid. Collaborating with the US National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA), he launched the .coop top-level domain, empowering cooperatives worldwide. Shaun's recent work includes leading Cooperative Network Infrastructure (CNI), revolutionizing digital infrastructure sharing, and advising city authorities in the UK on deploying digital resources for societal progress. Join us as we explore Shaun's remarkable journey and his endeavors to promote ethical banking and cooperative ideals.

The interview notes can be found on the link here.

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In this interview, I spoke with the co-founder of Blindnet, Dr. Milan Stankovic, about how they are using their open source tool to the internet experience privacy-friendly. Blindnet launched in 2021 and they growing slowly. They are based in the US but have a subsidiary in France. Blindnet is an open-source software company that helps companies build trust with their clients while ensuring regulatory compliance. For more information, you can visit their website: https://www.blindnet.io/

The interview notes can be found on the link here.

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In this interview, I spoke with the co-founder of Plausible Analytics, Marko Saric, about how they are using their open source software tool to help make the web a bit more “human-friendly” with a privacy-first approach. Plausible Analytics launched in 2020 and has experienced remarkable growth in just a year. At the time of the interview, it had numbered over 2,000 subscribers from all over the world and has reached financial sustainability.

Plausible Analytics is “an open-source project dedicated to making web analytics more privacy-friendly. Our mission is to reduce corporate surveillance by providing an alternative web analytics tool which doesn’t come from the AdTech world.”

The full transcript of the interview can be found on the link here.

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