Tikanga Māori perspective of the Internet

Side profile of an open laptop on a desk.

Karaitiana N Taiuru · 17 April 2015 These two presentations were first presented by Karaitiana Taiuru to the Open Source/Open Society 2015 conference (Indigenous break out session) in Wellington on April 17 2015. N Part 1: The Internet infrastructure and technologies from an Indigenous perspective: comparing Māori traditions and genealogies Part 2: Impacts and Considerations … Read more

AI and Pepeha

Cam River

After generations of successful assimilation of Māori culture by governments including Native Schools, Tohunga Suppression Act, The Hunn Report, etc, many Māori were left without knowing their identity. There has been an increasing trend for those Māori individuals to reclaim back that knowledge. For many people, they are disconnected from their families and communities, so … Read more

Reo Māori with Artificial Intelligence

reo maori

A quick snapshot of the usage of the Māori language in the New Zealand Artificial Intelligence communities, while also celebrating The Māori Language Week for 2025. Translations for Artificial Intelligence There are a number of Māori words that are used to say Artificial Intelligence in the Māori language. The reason there are so many is … Read more

Explaining AI using whakatauki

TBA

I have over the years shared some mātauranga Māori and compared it to AI, I am hoping to revive our pre traditional practices of using pepeha, moemoea, waiata, oriori and other oral preservation and learning resources to assist Māori to understand AI is a powerful tool. Despite Māori being at the crossroads of new digital … Read more

Reo Māori in Russian disinformation network

Image created with Gemini. Prompt "create a image of disinformation with hackers and a fern"

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 group to provide news/disinformation to New Zealanders. Artificial Intelligence is deploying te reo Māori in … Read more

DeepSeek versus ChatGPT for Māori

gpt

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 obtained by the Chinese company despite a trade ban on their expert to China from … Read more

Treatment of Māori language in language modelling

voice

This is my contribution as a critical Indigenous Researcher to the Nature Journal’s article “Increasing the presence of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) researchers in computational science”  regarding language revitalisation and Artificial Intelligence, along with many other international voices. The Māori language was banned by native schools and other government led assimilation practices in … Read more

Demise of the io domain name

Io-domain

The dot io domain name is a common General Top Level Domain Name (GTLD) for many tech companies, but also for some Māori groups in part for the tech abbreviation for input/output but also as it is the name of a disputed Māori deity called Io. The dot io domain is assigned to a country … Read more

How AI can help Indigenous language revitalisation, and why data sovereignty is important

MRW

Using the interview with Michael Running Wolf at https://www-cbc-ca.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7290740 , I offer some commentary and key warnings for Māori language that I am already seeing occurring here in Aotearoa New Zealand.   “Indigenous language experts working in computer science say Artificial Intelligence is a useful tool in language revitalization but communities must prioritize the ownership … Read more

ChatGPT and its gender bias with te reo Māori

gender neutral

This article looks at the gender bias with Māori language translations using the non gender specific pronoun in the Māori language ‘ia’. There is a significant amount of historical and recent research with, but not limited to Large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Google Bard, or LLMs containing various biases including against females and … Read more

Feasibility of maori as a new Internet address

domain names

First published in 2012 as a pdf and republished in 2024. Discussion about the costs, procedures and the currently vast amount of space on the Internet for Māori that is either underutilised or not utilised at all. The issue that it will take at least two separate, but more likely three separate applications to have … Read more

Te Reo Māori revitalisation and adaption with AI

teacher bot

ChatGPT has become a household name for many, and is usually in the mainstream media each day. There has been very little discussion about ChatGPT and the risks and benefits to Indigenous languages, and in particular Māori language – the indigenous language of New Zealand. ChatGPT and other Artificial Intelligence (AI) Language Learning Models (LLM’s) … Read more

Māori culture and language observations with ChatGPT

Image sourced from https: www.freepik.com premium-photo automation-customer-service-concept-with-3d-rendering-cute-robot-working-with-headset-notebook_18498132.htm query chatbot&position 28&from_view keyword

ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is a chatbot launched by OpenAI in November 2022.  It has been discussed by international mainstream media with many academics and education facilities concerned at it’s ability to assist with plagiarised writings and research. As with any new technologies, there is very little Indigenous perspectives or input into developments which … Read more

Māori Data Sovereignty Whakataukī

AI-Wairua

The following whakataukī  summarises the whole notion and idea of Māori Data Sovereignty and the importance that Māori Data Sovereignty is a Te Tiriti right not just for Iwi, but for all of Māori society and individuals as noted in WAI 2522. The original intention of the whakataukī was not about Māori Data Sovereignty as … Read more

Māori Data Sovereignty and Domain Names

domain names

Can non-Māori can use the New Zealand Domain Name maori.nz? As the primary author of the application that lobbied InternetNZ to create maori.nz domain name in 2000, I say yes. Further information about Māori Data Sovereignty is in Compendium of Māori Data Sovereignty. Anyone anywhere in the world can register a maori.nz domain. But, only … Read more

Why I support a dual name for New Zealand

Aotearoa, while not an original name for New Zealand, has been popularised and is commonly used as the Māori name for the North, South and Stewart Islands. For this reason, I support the dual name being proposed by the Māori Party, to be an official dual name for New Zealand. It is important to note … Read more

Hapū Data Sovereignty Dataset

rangatiratanga

A new dataset of Iwi and hapū names that will form the basis of hapū data sovereignty for database administrators allowing hapū to regain sovereignty over their own data in this new society where data is the new currency.   Referencing This document may be referenced as: Karaitiana Taiuru (2021). Explanation and notes of the … Read more

Culturally Safe Mihimihi for non Māori

At the beginning of meetings, as practiced on marae and in meetings all over the country, a round of introductions and speeches usually occurs. During this time, Māori ordinarily stand to share a little bit about where they come from and who they are. If you are of Māori descent, these introductions often start with … Read more