Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping healthcare and oncology, from diagnostics to treatment planning. Yet, its integration must be critically examined through cultural, ethical, and societal lenses. This presentation explores AI from the perspective of First Nations and Tribal peoples, highlighting both risks and opportunities for equitable use.
While global experts warn of AI’s potential harms, including bias, misinformation, and erosion of human judgment, these challenges are amplified for Indigenous communities. For example, AI-generated imagery has misappropriated Indigenous art and storytelling, stripping them of cultural meaning. During the 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum in Australia, AI was used to produce misleading images of Indigenous people, underscoring the technology’s political and social risks. At the same time, many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples remain excluded from AI discourse, with nearly 40% unfamiliar with generative AI.
To address these gaps, this talk emphasizes the importance of Indigenous data sovereignty: the right of Indigenous peoples to govern the collection, ownership, and application of their own data. Frameworks such as Maiam nayri Wingara affirm the necessity of Indigenous control over data and technology. By centring Indigenous knowledge systems, storytelling, language, environmental stewardship, and collective ethics, AI can be re-imagined to support health equity and community wellbeing rather than perpetuate harm.
We propose three pathways forward: (1) co-designing AI with Indigenous communities from the outset, (2) developing culturally grounded design guidelines for AI in health and oncology, and (3) building Indigenous capacity to lead AI research and application. These approaches aim to foster respectful, reciprocal, and ethical innovation that acknowledges history while shaping a more just technological future.
This perspective demonstrates how AI in oncology can move beyond technical efficiency toward an inclusive vision, one where Indigenous voices guide its role in healing, resilience, and care.