Guest post by Jenny Andrews*
* Jenny Andrews is a copyeditor for CLEBC and a linguaphile with her heritage languages (Ukrainian and Michif) close to her heart. She is active in her Métis community, involved in Michif French revitalization, and is also currently learning Southern Michif. Jenny also enjoys beading, noodles, and tiny dogs.
July 14, 2026
AI IS OFTEN DISCUSSED in terms of what it can do. Indigenous AI prompts a different discussion: What responsibilities come with using it?
Indigenous AI centres Indigenous worldviews, priorities, and governance. Grounded in kinship, care, consent, and relationality, it challenges data-driven and extractive approaches to technology. Rather than viewing AI solely as a tool, Indigenous AI considers how it fits within relationships among people, communities, the land, and other living beings.
While AI can process information at unprecedented scales, it cannot replace lived experience, cultural knowledge, or accountability. Digital technology asks, “What can we do now that we couldn’t before?” Indigenous values ask, “Now that we can, what are our responsibilities?”[1]
What Are the Effects of AI on Indigenous Communities?
For Indigenous communities, AI presents both opportunities and risks. Indigenous-centred and -led AI can support language and cultural revitalization, strengthen governance, and assist with land and resource monitoring. At the same time, AI, without Indigenous input, can reinforce bias, exclude Indigenous voices from development, and threaten Indigenous data sovereignty. Moreover, without the focus on values that Indigenous AI promises, AI seems more likely to contribute to environmental harm.
As AI continues to evolve, Indigenous AI offers a framework for ensuring technology is developed and used in ways that are ethical, accountable, and grounded in responsibility.
To help Indigenous people engage with these emerging technologies, the First Nations Technology Council has partnered with Mila (a Montreal-based AI research institute) to offer Pathways to AI: An Introduction for Indigenous People and Organizations, a free online course that explores AI through Indigenous perspectives and values.
Non-Indigenous folks can also visit the following websites to learn more:
- indigenous-ai.net/
- technologycouncil.ca/research/
- https://indigenousinitiatives.ctlt.ubc.ca/2025/09/03/ai-reflections-resources-from-indigenous-scholars-artists-activists/
[1] www.technologycouncil.ca/pathways-to-ai/
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We acknowledge that the land on which we work is the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.