From climate change to geopolitical instability to health emergencies, we are entering a period of momentous change. THE the tech industry likes to tell us that the antidote is artificial intelligence (AI).
But as things stand, AI is actually acceleration of climate change, harm the country and perpetuate systemic racism.
It doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, AI can solve many problems facing the world today.
One way to do this is to center Wiradyuri (an Aboriginal nation in central New South Wales) and other sovereign First Nations ways of knowing and being with the world and technology.
A long history
First Nations cultures around the world have a long history of creating and using technology.
For example, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people fish traps and fishing practices support sustainable fishing. They allow fish populations to thrive and eliminate waste using the entire fish.
The Inuit of modern North America they also carved bones into snow goggles and waterproofed their canoes with raw bitumen.
These examples reflect how First Nations cultures have long developed technologies to help care for and improve all life – including the country. This is a very different approach to technology than we find in colonial cultures.
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A logic of destruction
Settler colonialism This is where the inhabitants of a country settle permanently on land where others already reside. The intention of the colonizers is to destroy what they do not want (including the cultures of the country and First Nations), take what is desired, and replace the existing social structure.
Modern countries like the United States and Australia are examples of settlement colonies.
There are many examples in history of people using technology to facilitate colonial violence. These include the infamous Tuskegee syphilis experiment which began in 1932 and continued until 1972, and forced sterilization of indigenous people in Canada throughout the 20th century.
With the United States leader in AI research and developmentdominant forms of contemporary technology perpetuate the colonial logic of destruction and replacement of culture, country and communities. This AI-driven settler colonialism is occurring at a much greater speed and scope than in the past.
Some forms of AI are programmed to steal data And erase certain perspectivesvoices and experiences. People also use technology specifically to harm indigenous people.
For example, during last year’s referendum on whether to create an “Indigenous Voice to Parliament” in Australia, AI was used to spread misinformation and appropriate Indigenous art in support of vote “No”.
It’s time to transform
For lead author Jess, a female Wiradyuri Wambuul ruler, her understanding of AI draws on Wiradyuri cosmology which teaches us that everything is connected. This simple but profound concept is summarized by the Wiradyuri “Wayanha” concept.
Loosely translated into English, Wayanha means transformation. It teaches that everything still exists and has always existed. In this way, a person, thing, or place never simply begins or ends. Instead, he transforms.
This is as true for AI as it is for humans. Just as humans have DNA which is the biological elements of those who came before us, AI also has the technological and cultural elements of what came before it.
Viewing AI this way shows that this technology – and its impact on our world – is not a recent phenomenon, as some suggest. Although the dominant forms of AI may be different from technologies of the past, its damage to the world around us echoes that of all previous technology-assisted colonial violence.
Growing resistance
But this technological transformation is not a foregone conclusion. There is a growing movement of people resisting ubiquitous transformations of colonial AI.
For example, there is the Lakota Language Learning Model Project which uses locally developed AI to preserve the native Lakota language in North America. There is also the Indigenous AI Abundant Intelligences Research Program it is about exploring how to develop technology based on First Nations ways of knowing that “recognize the abundant multiplicity of ways of being intelligent in the world.”
You can trace the lineage of these examples back thousands of years to these ancient fish traps and other forms of First Nations sovereign technology.
They show that technology does not have to be detrimental to people and the country as the dominant AI transformation currently does. Instead, by being First Nations-led, local, contextualized, purpose-built and sustainable, AI can help care for and preserve people and country.