IFIP President Anthony Wong will moderate a panel session exploring the issues relating to Generative AI and Indigenous Data in a blended webinar happening in Sydney, Australia. To be held from 6.00-7.30pm (AEDT) on Tuesday 24th October 2023, this free event will explore Australian perspectives from expert panellists:
- Professor Natalie Stoianoff, Director of the Intellectual Property Program at the Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney (UTS),
- Tui Raven, an indigenous writer and presenter,
- Dr Kirsten Thorpe, Indigenous Research Fellow at UTS, and
- Jaco du Toit, UNESCO Chief of Universal Access to Information Section, Communication and Information Sector.
In April 2023, UNESCO released a publication entitled, “Missing links in AI governance” which stated: “In an age where data has been dubbed ‘the new oil,’ questions about the impact of deployment of a wide range of technologies on Indigenous Peoples are of vital importance.”
The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples articulates the following fundamental rights:
- Indigenous peoples have the right to practise and revitalize their cultural traditions and customs. This includes the right to maintain, protect and develop the past, present and future manifestations of their cultures, such as …designs, ceremonies, technologies and visual and performing arts and literature. (Article 11)
- They also have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions. (Article 31)
Apart from the intellectual property (including copyright and confidential information) repercussions, the webinar will highlight the cultural, heritage and spiritual implications of such a use. Regard must be given to cultural law and its operation within an Indigenous community, understanding how such Indigenous data, art and cultural materials are governed and under whose authority they can be accessed.
A critical challenge to our common future is posed by the effective contemporary deployment of AI for good, exposing many inequalities and excluding indigenous communities. The impact of AI systems on the indigenous communities is frequently overlooked, thus exacerbating systemic problems and inequalities. Pursuant to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) and the 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages, the UNGA later that year proclaimed 2022-2032 to be the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (IDIL).
For more information or to register to attend online, click here. Any readers in Sydney, Australia who wish to attend in person, click here.
