As part of our mission to contribute to the mātauranga continuum, Whitihiko ki te Ao hosted a wānanga on Artificial Intelligence, focused on potential and risks from a te ao Māori perspective. Our kaikōrero were Doug Healy, Dr. Karaitiana Taiuru, Xaviere Murray-Puhara, and Pouaka Parore. (Add links). 

Even with the knowledge of these rangatira, we had to be clear from the get-go that this was a wānanga, not a presentation. Understandably, there were opposing perspectives - AI is a topic that is moving and changing quickly. None of our speakers were declaring rules or the ‘right way’ to do things, but rather sharing their experiences and perspectives as hands-on users of Artificial Intelligence. 

Dr. Karaitiana talked about the potential of AI to help decolonise our people in systems like Education and Justice, and how we might de-bias the data. 

I talked about my experience using AI to complete time-consuming tasks when building a technology platform without a big, expensive team and how that means I can work ‘normal’ hours and spend time with my tamariki and whānau. 

Xaviere shared a vulnerable kōrero about disconnection from her whakapapa and how she uses AI in her reo reclamation journey. This prompted a lot of questions and thoughts - including how we should think about what we share with AI and the differences between mātauranga you own, and mātauranga owned by your iwi or whānau. 

On a side note, two days after our wānanga, this turned up. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/2vGQdnZzsbk 

It’s an American-made AI pocket companion. Te reo Māori is one of the languages it supports for voice-to-voice translation. Translation isn’t the main focus of this piece of hardware, it just kind of comes in the box. 

This won’t be the only AI service utilising te reo Māori developed without our input or leadership. 

That’s the risk Dr. Karaitiana was talking about. It’s not a case of if te reo Māori should be baked into AI, it’s a question of who determines the ingredients and if we’re prepared for others to do that for us. 

Pouaka Parore talked about our unformed tikanga in this new space and how this leads to conversations centering around kawa instead. He suggested we need more wānanga like this to help shape our understanding around AI. He’s been driving kōrero about this as he brings his whānau and community on the journey, coaching and training them on using AI to turn their ideas into art and businesses. 

Pou will be holding regular AI Walk-in Sessions at Te Wānanga o Raukawa, with the first one scheduled for 26/7 - 10am - 5pm at Te Wānanga o Raukawa (in the big building: Te Ara a Tāwhaki, just look for the Whitihiko ki te Ao flag). 

We talked about the very different risks AI brings to financial crime, in particular around fraud and scams with people claiming to be our loved ones. Dr. Karaitiana suggested a private question and answer or phrase that can be used as a password between whānau members to verify they’re not an AI-backed voice or text bot. 

Doug Healy has had over 15,000 students complete his AI course. He talked about AI as a tsunami already breaking, and the need to get our people up on the wave so we don’t get left behind. Or, like Dr. Karaitiana said: be colonised all over again. AI is already changing the shape of industries and technologies. Again, it’s not a question of if it affects us, it’s a question of how it will affect us, and how much of a say we have on that effect. 

In another kōrero we talked about how Whitihiko ki te Ao is about hope. The hope for change. Not only directly through the activities we’re carrying out in this project, but also through wānanga like these where our people are inspired to make that change themselves. After this wānanga, multiple people spoke to us about setting up their own AI for te reo Māori. This is a new, sometimes scary, and always complicated space, but these people were now confident enough to step into it and lead. That’s change, and that’s exactly what we were hoping for. 

You can watch the full video of the wānanga here: 

https://youtu.be/aB5DR6kkqic?si=X8dgBmst5lGwrg3l