Legal Rights & Collective Bargaining
Featuring Isaro Carter, Andrew Foglia, Alexandra Mateescu, Linda Powell (during panel discussion), and David Carroll
F(r)ictions: Creative Work in an Age of AI {2026 symposium}
Right after F(r)ictions' second panel, Legal Rights and Collective Bargaining, wrapped, panelists Isaro Carter of The Carter Firm, Andrew Foglia of the U.S. Copyright Office, Alexandra Mateescu of Data & Society, Linda Powell (video), and moderator David Carroll of The New School stayed in conversation, documented in the video below. Review the Symposium Proceedings for the full panel conversation.
If the law only goes so far, what actually closes the gap? That is the question running underneath this conversation. Andrew returned to something Stephanie Jenkins said on the first panel, about the duty of care creative industries owe to the past as much as the present, and asks what that duty looks like once the cameras stop rolling. Alexandra picked up another difficult thread from that same panel, whether creative individuals think of themselves as workers at all, and why that single distinction might matter more than any contract. Isaro pointed to Linda Powell's comments as evidence that one hard-won fight can open the door for the next, but which fights are still waiting for their turn?
David turned the question on his own institution, asking whether universities are willing to examine how these tools reshape their own labor as closely as they examine the tools themselves. Legal protections come through as necessary but incomplete, worth little unless people trust each other enough to act on them. What does that trust actually require, and who is responsible for building it?
At: The New School, New York City
On: Friday, May 1, 2026
Sponsored by: The New School's Office of University Initiatives
Video Production: Tatiana Stolpovskaya
Selected Works
We investigate how AI transforms the conditions, politics, and value of creative work.
