Peter Mataira, Samantha Moon, Tracy Stewart
Abstract
This paper interrogates the uncritical adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in Indigenous contexts as a new frontier of colonization. We conceptualize data not as neutral, but as the new land: a territory for extraction and a relative carrying stories, languages, and relationships. AI’s harvesting of intimate community data mirrors historical patterns of resource dispossession, raising urgent questions of data sovereignty. A fundamental epistemological conflict exists: can AI, built on quantification, ever respect Indigenous relationality and responsibility? Trained on data from oppressive systems, AI risks automating historical trauma, becoming a tool for surveillance and family disruption. Therefore, mere harm mitigation is insufficient. We argue for a reclamation of power through Indigenous data sovereignty—the ownership and governance of data grounded in Traditional Knowledge. True progress requires Indigenous communities leading the design and ethical frameworks of technology, reshaping AI into a tool for cultural continuance, not renewed assimilation.
