Dr Karaitiana Taiuru regularly composes blog posts on topics relating to Māori and Artificial Intelligence, Data Sovereignty, Safety, Cultural Appropriation and other related topics. Please subscribe to the RSS feed http://www.taiuru.co.nz/rss to keep up to date.
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Good news AI case study for Māori education
According to their media release, the Writer’s Toolbox is a New Zealand and Australian education company. They provide an educational writing programme, powered by patented AI, designed to help students master writing. It is having a serious impact on Māori…
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Scribble moko online protest
Earlier this week the Honourable Winston Peters, in an open parliament debate about the punishment of three politicians of the Māori Party, made what is considered a derogatory and racist comment. He commented about the Honourable Rawiri Waititi’s moko kanohi.…
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Kiwi’s common concerns of AI
One.nz released their AI Trust Report today. It covers New Zealanders’ attitudes towards AI in 2025. Interestingly, it aligns to the research done by the AI Forum, PSA, InternetNZ, and DataCom. Additionally, many other New Zealand initiated research on AI…
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Māori stats re AI, FRT and Privacy
The latest research by the Privacy Commission “Research on Privacy Concerns and Use of Personal Information March 2025” has a significant focus on Māori Data Sovereignty views which is welcomed. There is a concentration on Facial Recognition Technologies (FRT) reinforcing…
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Trust, attitudes and use of AI in NZ
The global study titled “Trust, attitudes and use of Artificial Intelligence: A global study 2025” reveals that while a significant portion of New Zealanders regularly use AI, their trust in the technology is notably low. Concerns about risks associated with…
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AI with Māori IP, Art and Reo
Following on from my two previous successful online webinars Artificial Intelligence Impacts and Preparation for Māori – Environment and Employment, on June 05, 2025 at 1pm I will be discussing the implications and benefits of AI with Māori IP, Art and…
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AI is changing Māori culture
It’s a cultural norm for Māori to mihi or greet people with a ‘Kia ora’ or other salutation. This is done in person, written communications, and over the recent years in online video. In the early 2000’s, when email was…
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Māori and AI Book Chapter
I had the privilege to contribute a chapter about benefits to Māori in the book ” Ten perspectives on Artificial Intelligence: in a rapidly evolving technology landscape, we need a strategic and ethical approach to AI in Aotearoa. Published April 2025…
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Risks of AI Action Figure Trend
The AI action figure trend, where users generate personalised or stylised figures using AI tools (like custom avatars, toy-like images, or even physical 3D printed models based on AI renderings) carries several risks, particularly around privacy, ethics, cultural appropriation, and…
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Introduction to Facial Recognition bias
Now, more than ever, it is important to learn the basics of Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) bias and the impacts on Māori communities, including the need to recognise Māori data sovereignty Principles. Recent developments include: New Zealand considering Facial Recognition…
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NZ AI Productivity Report and Māori
The Artificial Intelligence Forum of New Zealand (AI Forum) Te Kāhui Atamai Iahiko o Aotearoa, a purpose-driven, not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation (NGO) funded by members, released their second edition of it’s biannual “AI in Action report Exploring the Impact of Artificial Intelligence…
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AI Principles in Aotearoa NZ
AI principles guide the ethical development and deployment of AI systems by companies and other organisations, while AI disclaimers are statements that acknowledge AI-generated content or outcomes – see my previous post for more details. There is an international best…
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Reo Māori in Russian disinformation network
In 2014, I wrote how Google Translate brought te reo Māori into the new digital world with Spam and Phishing, etc. Now Artificial Intelligence (AI) is using te reo Māori in many new ways, including by the Russian backed Pravda…
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Monthly Te Ao Māori AI Webinars
I am now offering free webinars from a Te Ao Māori perspective to assist Māori communities and those who interact with Māori communities and AI to better understand the risks and benefits of AI, and to attempt to myth bust…
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AI Disclaimers
If your business or web site uses AI, whether for content creation (emails, newsletters, web site) or customer service chatbots, you may want to consider publishing an AI disclaimer to alleviate the fears for your New Zealand customers. In addition,…
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NZ Government Facial Recognition Technology
We use our image of our face as a modern-day password for many things including mobile banking, unlocking our phones, X (formerly Twitter), Firefox Klar and an ever-increasing number of other online services. For law enforcement agencies and retail security, Facial…
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3G mobile coverage in NZ to be cut
All three New Zealand mobile network operators – 2degrees, One NZ and Spark will be shutting down their 3G cell phone coverage later this year. For those of us with tech privilege, who have no digital inequity, we will enjoy…
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NZ Government Release AI Framework
The New Zealand Government this week this week (January 29, 2025) released its first non binding AI Framework for the public sector with ethics, human and Indigenous Peoples considerations. View the Public Service AI Framework or downloadable pdf here). The…
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DeepSeek versus ChatGPT for Māori
The introduction of the Chinese AI DeepSeek has been a popular media topic this week. Some of the topics include how much faster it is and how much cheaper it is to run. Concerns about how high-end computer chips were…
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Financial considerations for Māori and NZ Data Sovereignty
According to this article the uncertainty with the foreign exchange and the $NZ loosing to the $USA, cloud computing has increased by 14% since September 2024. In addition to the international uncertainly with global events and the need to maintain…
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Data Leakage and AI Usage Policy
Leaking of sensitive corporate and government data via Generative AI such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity is an ongoing risk with many New Zealand companies and the New Zealand government who lack Artificial Intelligence (AI) skills such as…
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Treaty Principles Bill Scaremongering
Misleading journalism about the Treaty Principals Bill web site being attacked could lead to similar actions of accusations of interference in the election when Donald Trump lost his second campaign. This lead to his supporters defending their views of political…
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Microsoft 365 price increase
If you are using Microsoft Office products (most people still do) and not other free and sovereign options you likely received or will another annual increase in subscription fees by 40% this year, in addition to last years similar price…
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AI Plagiarism of Māori Data and Storage
It is a well documented fact in New Zealand and all over the world, that Artificial Intelligence and in particular Large Language Learning Models (LLMs) have been used for student plagiarism in schools, training institutes and universities. Not so well…