The fight for Native data sovereignty in the age of AI

AI is here and is already affecting tribal nations.

That was a common theme among leaders from all over Indian Country
who gathered at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College
of Law on September 26 for the “Pre-Wiring the Rez” symposium to learn
about how artificial intelligence is affecting tribal nations.

“We have to embrace this (AI) but embrace this on our terms, that
respects tribal sovereignty and digital sovereignty,” said Gila River
Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis.

Leonard Bruce, Gila River, a data analyst with Gila River, said he was of two minds when it came to AI and data sovereignty. 

“On one hand, it can definitely bolster tribal sovereignty if we own
and control the data about the information and stories that are told
about us,” Bruce said. “On the other hand, it can also erode tribal
sovereignty and tribal governance if those stories are being controlled
by other folks and we don’t have any internal control over it.”

Data sovereignty is the concept that data is controlled by and
subject to the laws and governance structures of the nation, region or
community where it is collected, processed or stored.

Lewis – speaking on a panel about building a body of policy on AI
serving tribal digital sovereignty – said tribal nations cannot get left
behind.

“Once we get left behind, we are victims rather than being agents in protecting our own rights,” he said.

Geoffrey Blackwell, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Omaha and Muscogee Creek,
general counsel and chief of staff for National Congress of American
Indians, pointed toward history to highlight the importance of tribal
nations being included in building policy surrounding AI.

He said Indian Country was not included in key communications and
infrastructure legislation like the Federal Communications of 1934 and
the Rural Electrifications Act. 

The Rural Electrifications Act of 1936 provided federal loans for the
installation of electrical distribution systems to serve isolated rural
areas of the United States.

One attendee was taking language and cultural revitalization into his
own hands. Albert Haskie, Navajo, created a mobile app that helps users
navigate the Navajo clan system while teaching Navajo cultural values.

He uses machine learning, a subset of AI to develop apps related to Navajo language and culture.

“Language and culture preservation is so important because it is who
we are,” said Haskie. “It’s what makes us, us, in terms of our tribes,
our cultures, our practices.”

While there were many discussions on how AI can be used to benefit
tribes, there was still the overhanging question of its environmental
impacts.

Traci Morris, Chickasaw, executive director for the American Indian
Policy Institute at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, said she
wanted this to be a symposium that talked about all of AI’s impacts.

“When we started advertising the event on our social media, we
started getting comments about the environmental concerns,” said Morris.
“So we actually added a panel in the last couple of weeks to address
that.”

During that panel discussion, researchers and energy leaders talked about the impacts AI has on natural resources.

Data centers that run and host generative AI require vast amounts of water and energy to cool and run.

A single ChatGPT query uses 10 times more energy than a standard Google search. 

Throughout the symposium one thing was clear – AI is here and is already affecting tribal nations.

“I wanted to make sure that this wasn’t a conference about the
possibility of AI, about how cool it is and it can do,” Morris said. “I
wanted it to be a conference that talked about how it was actually being
applied in Indian Country.”

“Companies around us are already using those systems (AI), they’re
already implementing them,” Bruce said. “So we’re going to have to deal
with them whether we like it or not. Your grandkids are already using
these systems as well as people working within your community.”

Gary Marchant – Regents and Foundation Professor of Law and faculty
director of the Center for Law, Science and Innovation at the Sandra Day
O’Connor College of Law – spoke of the potential consequences of AI and
how it will affect society as a whole in the years to come.

He ended his keynote speech with this: “Good luck, have fun with the machines.”