AI For Good: The Future of AI in Protecting First Nations Cultural Legacy
Presenters
- Ihaka Kerr-Kohunui
- Liza Kerr-Kohunui
- Alexandria (Ali) Bear
- Graeme Smith
Context
This presentation was delivered as part of the Saskatchewan Energy & Natural Resources Forum 2026 – Youth Summit 2026.
The session explored the relationship between Indigenous sovereignty, capability development, infrastructure acceleration, data, artificial intelligence, and future generations.
Rather than presenting AI as a purely technological issue, the presentation framed AI as part of a broader challenge:
How do Indigenous communities maintain agency, participation, and sovereignty as infrastructure, data systems, and AI capabilities accelerate?
Core Question
What happens when infrastructure acceleration outruns community capability?
This became the central framing question for the presentation.
The argument presented was that:
Infrastructure → Data → Capability → Sovereignty
and that:
Infrastructure without capability creates dependency.
Capability secures sovereignty.
1. Youth Capability Signals
Alexandria Bear
The presentation opened with reflections on Ali’s experiences in NZ and in relation to youth participation, leadership, and future opportunity.
Key themes:
- Learning
- Participation
- Leadership
- Representation
- Future pathways
The central question became:
How do young people participate in shaping the future rather than simply inheriting it?
2. A Question for the Next Generation
Graeme Smith
The audience was invited to consider:
- How do I work in this space?
- Will the industry reflect my worldview?
- How do I help protect sovereignty while building what comes next?
This reframed sovereignty as a future-facing capability challenge rather than a purely political or technological issue.
3. Story One — Kaitiaki GPT
Graeme Smith
A practical example from Aotearoa New Zealand.
The story began with the iwi’s Environmental Management Plan, which combined:
- mātauranga Māori
- environmental priorities
- governance expectations
- legal positioning
The challenge was not creating more information.
The challenge was helping people navigate increasing complexity.
This led to the development of Kaitiaki GPT:
A values-informed digital assistant designed to:
- improve access to knowledge
- reduce information asymmetry
- support governance conversations
- assess external proposals against iwi values and priorities
Key insight:
The challenge was never access to information.
The challenge was capability.
4. Story Two — AI For Good
Liza Kerr-Kohunui
The discussion expanded from community capability to system capability.
Themes included:
- Indigenous data sovereignty
- education
- governance
- participation
- future generations
- values-informed AI
- Our work with Microsoft on AI for Good including a kaupapa Māori lens on AI fluency.
The central question became:
How do communities participate in shaping emerging systems rather than simply responding to them?
5. Capability Creates Choice
The presentation concluded by proposing that capability creates:
- Opportunity
- Participation
- Partnership
- Sovereignty
Capability was positioned as the bridge between aspiration and self-determination.
6. Closing Reflection
The session closed with the whakataukī:
Hutia te rito o te harakeke, kei hea te kōmako e kō?
If the heart of the flax is removed, where will the bellbird sing?
He aha te mea nui o te ao?
What is the most important thing in the world?
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.
It is people.