Te Kete o Karaitiana Taiuru (Blog)

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence and Māori

I was interviewed to contribute a Māori perspective to the The Artificial Intelligence Forum of New Zealand (AIFNZ) inaugural report. It appears as though only my statement was published with no acknowledgements.

In the whole report Māori is only considered in the  Part Three: AI and Society, Artificial Intelligence Shaping a Future New Zealand. The quote is below.

New Zealand should also consider AI in the context of its cultural heritage. Our research involved speaking with Māori leaders who are  technology advisors and protectors of Matauranga Māori. Like New Zealand in general, the Māori perspective of AI is fragmented with little awareness or consensus about AI. Knowledge is important in Māori culture and data holds the same significance as knowledge. Storage, ownership, access and security of data are essential topics for AI discussions. Language and verbal communication are also vital to Māori. AI can potentially benefit Māori language revitalisation, for example Northland radio station Te Hiku Radio is creating language tools that will enable speech recognition and natural language processing of Te Reo Māori.

Culture also requires context, in that what is important to some won’t impact all. From a Māori perspective, everything has a life
force (Mauri) and AI has its own particular Mauri. However, for the Iwi, our research participants said that there are no real cultural considerations as the Iwi operate in the same manner as any commercial business so their concerns will be similar to the private sector.

Māori will need active engagement in discussions regarding AI in New Zealand, particularly in relation to the societal implications
of AI as they are likely to be overrepresented in roles that may be affected by AI driven change.

From an Indigenous perspective my contribution was overall represented above. The interviewer I believe, missed part of the discussion about mauri. . But briefly, we need to consider that taking a mauri from a recording, photo or even a DNA sample and inputting it into AI will likely be beneficial to Māori culture, there are some cautions with tikanga.

The report does highlight the need for Iwi to discuss AI and plan for the wide implications to employment and commercial opportunities, the environment and social changes that will dramatically change with AI and how best to not remain in the negative statistics that we are always associated with. This is a chance for Māori to be leaders in Artificial Intelligence and create a prosperous future.

Whānau and individuals need to consider the implications to their daily needs, cultural implications and careers.

DISCLAIMER: This post is the personal opinion of Dr Karaitiana Taiuru and is not reflective of the opinions of any organisation that Dr Karaitiana Taiuru is a member of or associates with, unless explicitly stated otherwise.

One response to “Artificial Intelligence and Māori”

  1. Potaua Avatar
    Potaua

    Kia ora Karaitiana. Whakaaroa pai my bro.

    We’ve had a few wananga here in Rotorua around AI, in particular its applications to farming and forestry, species sequencing and cataloguing (with block chain tech) and whanau apps. The thing that comes up more often than not is how far ahead our thinking is when it comes to organic, sentient timelines and how iwi must play a bigger role. What is evident is that most iwi are still in catch up mode when it comes to most things digital but taken as a whole, we have inroads across the spectrum.

    I guess we are fortunate to have met Maori AI engineers, AI entrepreneurs and have met teams who are already advanced in this field. Yes there isn’t a lot of R&D support for Maori digital initiatives (most resource is aimed at entertainment, administration or future-theory focused) and the pool of people talking about AI is small but it is also growing. As a parallel, our first crypto-hui in 2017 had 12 people; the last hui we held had over 40. When Maori embrace new thinking, the korero and the curiosity expands rapidly. Just look at how quickly kaumatua adopted personal smartphones and tablets for trust minutes.

    If there is anything to watch it is the IP around AI. One of our bros just came back from Microsoft HQ in Seattle and was told that indigenous data is estimated to be worth around $300b and that indigenous fauna and flora is the next unchartered territory for medicine and genome sequencing. Now if our tupuna did not have cancer because of a specific plant extract only found in Aotearoa, its only a matter of time before a bio-lab finds and steals it. Just look at Manuka to see what has already been done. Everyone may laugh but how many global scientists have been to our iwi leaders and treated nicely, meanwhile they’re tucking our taonga into their backpacks and taking home to their labs? Heaps I bet.

    Awesome for posting this timely korero Karaitiana. Always the leaders. Harty my bro.

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