Using paid AI subscription models to create AI reo and mātauranga models carries risks of cultural appropriation and ownership issues.
Māori have always been quick to adopt and adapt to new technologies, with much of our traditional knowledge only now being recognised for its innovation in many of today’s fields of sciences.
With the introduction of ChatGPT and the influx of other AI tools, it was natural that Māori grasped the technology and started using it. We have seen this occur with a number of custom LLM’s using ChatGPT technologies and with other more custom AI tools.
I have tested 4 custom/bespoke mātauranga and reo Māori LLM’s created by Māori. Two of them had Māori Data Sovereignty disclaimers and stated to check the output. All had serious hallucinations that could easily confuse individuals.
Most used OpenAI ChatGPT option to create their LLM’s. This means that all the sacred mātauranga that is used, resides on servers in America, on infrastructure owned by American companies. Therefore, all mātauranga used is subject to the Cloud Act and other laws, private and internal privacy policies of the company which we know some parts state that the company can audit your data and some people have access to it outside of your organisation.
One AI that is trained on Waitangi Tribunal reports. This so called expert AI on Waitangi Tribunal Reports, confused Dr Hana O’Regan and Sir Tipene O’Regan with confusing outputs partially identifying each other. Furthermore, it claimed that Ngāi Tahu takiwā extended to near Picton and part way up the East Coast of the North Island, and not the recognised boundary past Kaikōura.
It was confused with marae pepeha and borrowed mātauranga from many hapū around to country to produce false outputs.
Another AI that assists with cultural and te reo Māori learning was confused about one of my marae Koukourarata. It stated
The marae is named after Koukourarata, the ancestral bay – itself a transliteration or adaptation of the name “Cook’s River”, given by Māori to commemorate early interactions with European navigators. Iwi: Primarily Ngāi Tahu, with strong affiliations to Ngāti Huikai.
There is no Cook’s river in the area and the name Koukourarata is from a stream named by a Ngāi Tahu chief. Koukou means to bind your hair up in a heru, and rarata or rata is to do something quietly and without fuss. Ngāti Huikai is a hapū of Ngāi Tahu.
The same AI when asked about Māori leaders in reo Māori and AI produced an output talking about “Dr Anaru Keegan” and then listed the work of Dr Te Taka Keegan when talking about Māori in Tech.
Another AI when I asked who I was incorrectly stated that I was a female academic that works at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. That I have whakapapa to Ngāi Tūhoe and Ngāti Awa. This hallucination may have been due to the AI not being trained on Māori names, so may have guessed it was a female name, maybe Katrina or similar. Stating I worked at Awanuiārangi, likely as it knew I studied there, and my supervisor’s first name Taiarahia, again, similar to my surname.
There are two important lessons here.
- Do not use public AI to create tikanga and reo Māori AI tools. Just because you pay a subscription fee, the mātauranga is no longer yours and subject to foreign laws and ownership issues.
- If you want to learn mātauranga, engage with the kaitiaki of that mātauranga or other knowledgeable people.