Māori Data Sovereignty and the Future of AI in Aotearoa

Māori Data Sovereignty and the Future of AI in AotearoaFull Show Notes: https://www.theintelligenceagepodcast.com/848Mark Smith talks with Lee Timutimu, a Māori technology leader and entrepreneur, about AI literacy, Māori digital equity and data sovereignty. Lee reflects on building Tuhi, a Māori-created AI scribe for Health New Zealand, and the challenges of working with a government agency. They discuss sovereign AI and cloud infrastructure, the potential for community-owned digital hubs, and how to support Māori communities to shape AI’s future.Key topics and takeawaysAI literacy and inclusion: Lee sees a persistent gap in foundational AI knowledge and describes Māori AI Wānanga as a way for Māori practitioners to collaborate on a vision that can support communities.Building Tuhi: Lee shares the story of developing a Māori-created AI scribe for Health New Zealand, including the importance of trusted, reciprocal partnerships and the difficult lessons of the engagement.Māori data sovereignty: The conversation explores who controls sensitive data, where it is stored, and why local hosting alone does not necessarily mean a community has control.Sovereign infrastructure: Lee expects more interest in sovereign cloud, open-weight models and locally controlled AI infrastructure.Community digital hubs: Mark and Lee discuss the potential for marae-based hubs and connected local data centres to support digital access, enterprise and resilience.Looking ahead: Lee plans to publish a community vision statement, pursue PhD research on AI, and continue work on an agentic AI delivery platform.If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith