Online commentary and resources about tikanga Māori in the new digital world. Explanations of how to apply traditional tikanga to tech and applying new tikanga to still be relevant in the digital world.
In this article I extend my earlier analysis of Māori cultural perspectives on AI sentience and legal personhood to the specific and urgent case of agentic AI systems, those capable of autonomous, persistent, goal directed action across digital environments. I argue that Mead’s tikanga Māori framework that I have previously applied to static AI models … Read more
Meta’s Digital Ghost Patent: A Te Ao Māori Analysis IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR FACEBOOK AND META USERS On 30 December 2025, Meta was granted a United States patent that would allow its platforms to use Artificial Intelligence to construct a digital simulation of you, trained on your posts, messages, voice recordings, browsing history, and purchases and … Read more
Tikanga Māori Perspectives on Forensic Data: Dr Angela Clark on Digital Governance for Tūpāpaku in Aotearoa New Zealand Emerging forensic technologies, high-resolution imaging, 3D reconstructions, and AI-assisted analysis are rapidly changing how data from tūpāpaku (the deceased) is created, used, shared, and stored in Aotearoa New Zealand. While these tools can improve identification outcomes and … Read more
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. This is a traditional tattoo that covers the face, while a moko kauae is on … Read more
This article debunks the false narrative that Te Tiriti o Waitangi has a hidden or overlooked Article 4 that gave Māori the right to religious freedom. Despite all political parties agreeing there is no Article 4, that Article 4 is not mentioned in any Waitangi Tribunal Reports and is not a part of any of … Read more
This article explores why there is no ‘one Māori opinion’ and aims to dispel media and politicians comments about “Māori in fighting” use this to create further separation with Waitangi claims, iwi issues and other iwi/social issues that seem to make it to mainstream media. It is based upon Sir Mason Durie’s “Maori Health Decade … Read more
In a new threat to Māori online, a new scam is increasing where scammers are creating false social media accounts as death/tangi notices and online funeral streaming accounts. This is a scam. Facebook and other social media has become an essential way of communications, particularly with Māori. Many of us find that if we stop … Read more
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
An analysis of traditional Tikanga Māori associated with research, storage and analysis of Māori biological samples including DNA.
Comprehensive definition of what a Taonga Species is using mātauranga Māori and cosmology
As opposed to conforming to Eurocentric values and academic comfort levels, this guideline is the first published bioethics guideline encapsulating traditional and modern mātauranga Māori, to explore ethical research & storage of Māori genetic samples. This is the complete guideline with the ISBN: 978-0-9582597-8-1. Similar to the New Zealand Health system overhaul (2022) to … Read more
Tikanga evolves is a common term. Often this means people who were not brought up with mātauranga creating new tikanga while traditional values are forgotten or not transitioned into evolving society. This article discusses several common tikanga about the tapu nature of the head, not putting food on your head, not sitting on a table … Read more
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
Using traditional Māori knowledge, I discuss cultural appropriateness of deep fakes and face swapping filters. Some of this discussion is also applicable to Facial Recognition systems. Apart form Māori, this article may be of interest to developers and organizations with Facial Recognition Systems. It is against tikanga Māori (customary beliefs) to have your image on … Read more
This article indigenises the Internet and the global digital eco-system which is often called the Web or digital network, and has been specifically written to assist with understanding Data sovereignty, Internet, systems, robotics, algorithms and Artificial Intelligence (AI) from a customary Māori perspective. For those who have been reading my series of articles, this is … Read more
Stuff reported a story that Māori businesses will soon have the opportunity to self identify as Maori. For the first time, a national register will let companies say if they identify as a Māori business. A change to the National Business Number register will give Māori enterprises the option to record data that identifies them … Read more
The recent introduction of kissing females on the cheek and ignoring the customary practice of a hongi creates a number of issues including the loss of tikanga and the real possibility of discriminating against people in our community. THe earliest written account in the South Island of Ngai Tahu of the traditional practice of the … Read more