Tuesday, November 25, 2025 – For all its promise, AI is a potential threat to culture

On the cusp of what could be a new era of Artificial Intelligence (AI), some researchers are urging caution and the need for deliberate controls to keep the developing technology from robbing Indigenous people of their cultures and sovereignty. A project with three universities provides a framework of standards to prevent AI from stripping Native Americans and all other Indigenous peoples of their right to control images, language, cultural knowledge, and other components of their identities they’ve worked so hard to retain. We’ll hear about the potential benefits and threats of AI to Native people.

GUESTS

Danielle Boyer (Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), robotics inventor

Randy Kekoa Akee (Native Hawaiian), Julie Johnson Kidd Professor of Indigenous Governance and Development at Harvard University

Michael Running Wolf (Lakota and Cheyenne), community leader in AI research

Crystal Hill-Pennington, professor at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks

 

Break 1 Music: Diyin Creates Sound (song) Randy Boogie (artist) The Blessingway Boogie (album)

Break 2 Music: Stomp Dance (song) George Hunter (artist) Haven (album)