Reclaiming the future: Māori voices leading in the age of AI and quantum tech

The Spinoff

3 days ago

As artificial intelligence reshapes our world, Māori technologists and creatives are embedding tikanga and tino rangatiratanga into the digital foundations of Aotearoa.
When Te Hiku Media launched its Māori language artificial intelligence (AI) tool last year – capable of transcribing te reo Māori with 92% accuracy – it marked more than a technological milestone. It was a reclamation. In an era when overseas apps routinely mistranslate te reo and karakia, the question isn't just technical: it's cultural. Who should shape the digital future of mātauranga Māori – tech giants, the government, or the people who hold that knowledge as taonga?
'Engaging with global AI is vital to our ongoing economic, social, and cultural wellbeing,' says Jannat Maqbool, executive director of the NZ Artificial Intelligence Researchers Association. She notes the Māori creative and cultural sector contributed $1.6 billion to the economy in 2024, with more than 3,400 Māori businesses – many of which are reimagining elements of te ao Māori through digital tools.
But with that innovation comes risk. Quantum computing, a rapidly advancing field now intersecting with AI, poses serious concerns for data sovereignty. As the Maryland Division of Information Technology explains, quantum computers could break RSA encryption – a widely used data security standard – in a fraction of the time it would take traditional computers. Without clear structures, Maqbool warns increased AI adoption could 'exacerbate existing inequities or create new harms'.
At the heart of AI is data and how it's gathered, protected and governed. Lawsuits have been filed against major tech companies like Meta and OpenAI for allegedly scraping people's creative work to train their models. In Aotearoa, with more than 100 iwi, each with their own dialects and knowledge systems, Māori data is deeply contextual, relational and important.
Kevin Shedlock (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou, Whakatōhea), a computer science lecturer at Victoria University, says this new digital age raises critical questions for Māori and indigenous peoples worldwide – especially around who is 'authenticising' indigenous knowledge. 'AI doesn't understand what respect looks like to us – how it's rooted in ceremonial processes like pōwhiri,' he explains.
Shedlock believes learning is open to all but says meaning shifts when knowledge isn't 'underwritten by someone in the community to credentialise it as tika, pono, or truthful.' He adds: 'The idea that data can be owned by an individual is a very Pākehā one. Information about a whānau, hapū or iwi is inherently collective. At any one time, there are many people who hold that knowledge.'
Unlike many AI tools trained on scraped internet data, Te Hiku's models are built exclusively from material contributed with full consent. Its archive includes more than 30 years of digitised recordings – around 1,000 hours of te reo Māori speakers – and all data contributors retain ownership. Their bespoke 'kaitiakitanga licence' prohibits the use of these tools for discrimination, surveillance or tracking.
Computer-assisted influence is already prevalent in the visual arts. Some carvings at the award-winning Te Rau Karamu marae at Massey University in Wellington were shaped with CNC routering (computer numerical control). Ngataiharuru Taepa (Te Ātiawa, Te Roro o Te Rangi), one of the contributing artists, compares it to the introduction of steel chisels, which 'had implications on the tōhunga who were still using stone chisels'. Digital tools are now prompting similar conversations, especially with AI.
It's important to remember te reo doesn't live in isolation. It's bound to tikanga, kawa and pūrākau. If we sever that link, we lose more than just language. Māori-led AI development ensures cultural nuance is not lost – that values like kaitiakitanga and the living presence of ngā atua are embedded within the systems we build.
Shedlock supports this view. While he admits personal data leaks may be unavoidable, Shedlock says we have to hold on to 'the atomic habits that we have, kaitiakitanga, being stewards of our environment, tika and pono – being truthful and honest'.
Maqbool believes safeguarding Māori data sovereignty requires 'embedding te ao Māori' into AI development itself – and supporting Māori-governed research centres to lead the way. She believes this would ensure indigenous knowledge is not lost as government policy adapts and our digital world is restructured.
As AI and quantum technologies accelerate, Māori leaders are clear: it's not just about keeping up – it's about leading. In a world where data builds the foundations of our future, who controls that data will shape the wairua of Aotearoa.
'I think about something I once heard from a Ngāi Tahu rangatira,' says Shedlock. ''We must remember to remember, because that is where our future lies.''