AI’s Impact on Indigenous Communities

The Silent AI Issues

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is pervasive in our daily lives, from search engines and supply chains to climate forecasts and school curriculums. However, the impact of AI on Indigenous communities is complex and multifaceted. While AI has the potential to support Indigenous self-determination, language preservation, and climate stewardship, it also risks deepening long-standing patterns of erasure, exploitation, and exclusion.

Agency Decay

One framework that helps unpack these dynamics is the ABCD of silent AI issues: agency decay, bond erosion, climate conundrum, and divided society. Agency decay refers to the loss of control over the narrative when technology speaks for us. This can occur when AI systems are built on biased or incomplete data, which often defaults to dominant worldviews, misrepresenting or ignoring others altogether.

• For example, the wâsikan kisewâtisiwin platform is being designed to recognize harmful or biased language about Indigenous peoples, flag it, and offer respectful alternatives.
• This tool serves as a digital ally to reduce emotional labor and ensure Indigenous knowledge and experiences are not overwritten by default AI norms.

Bond Erosion

AI can also erode cultural bonds when it is used to commodify sacred imagery, ceremonial language, and ancestral designs without consent or context. This can result in the disrespected and disconnection of Indigenous cultures.

1. Natives Rising supports digital upskilling and AI literacy to ensure Indigenous communities can use AI tools and shape them.
2. This includes exploring AI’s role in emotional wellness and creating community-aligned content that strengthens identity and intergenerational connection.

Climate Conundrum

The environmental cost of AI is staggering, with data centers requiring immense electricity and water. This can lead to the exploitation of Indigenous lands and the degradation of biodiversity hotspots.

Divided Society

AI can also widen the digital divide by limiting access to infrastructure, power, and inclusion. Many Indigenous communities lack stable internet or electricity, making it difficult for them to engage with AI on equal footing.

• Platforms like Corral matter consolidate tribal consultation opportunities, allowing Indigenous leaders to engage with policy more efficiently.
• Corral automates time-consuming administrative work, freeing up capacity for governance, cultural preservation, and community programming.

What A Prosocial AI Future Looks Like

AI has the potential to be a force for social good that serves everyone. To unlock this potential, we must design our expanding AI treasure chest with awareness of the differences that distinguish us and attention to the needs that we have in common.

“AI doesn’t have to repeat the extractive logic of past innovations. It can help restore language, uplift knowledge, and accelerate justice — but only if we approach it as a tool in service of community-defined goals.”

Key Strategies for a Prosocial AI Future

To achieve a prosocial AI future, we must:

1. Design with, not for. AI systems must be co-developed with Indigenous communities, drawing on their knowledge systems and lived realities.
2. Invest in ethical infrastructure. Renewable-powered data centers, governed by local communities, can mitigate environmental harm while creating jobs and digital sovereignty.
3. Strengthen data sovereignty. Community-owned data cooperatives and legal protections must be established to prevent extractive practices.
4. Bridge the skills-to-systems gap. Coding camps, fellowships, and open-access AI education should be scaled to ensure Indigenous youth and leaders are not only users but creators of AI.

A Message for the Future

We are at a crossroads. We can choose to repeat the extractive logic of past innovations or forge a new path. We can design our AI future to serve everyone, not just a select few. The choice is ours.

What Does a Prosocial AI Future Look Like?

A prosocial AI future looks like one that is tailored, trained, tested, and targeted to bring out the best in and for people and the planet. It requires intent and inclusivity from design to deployment.

“Let’s not just ask what AI can do. To reconfigure it with a holistic mindset, let’s ask who it serves, why, and at what cost. We are all different, but we all share the aspiration for happiness and the desire to be heard and respected.