“No Accountability, No Checks, No Responsibility”: How Indigenous Peoples Think About AI

Much of the current discussion about AI assumes that adoption is inevitable, more technology means better outcomes, and the primary task is risk management.

But we asked Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people how they use AI in their everyday lives, and a different picture emerged. Our Relational Futures project explores Indigenous sovereignty and the governance of AI.

Relational Futures positions AI not as a standalone tool, but as part of a broader system that shapes relationships between people, institutions, data and countries.

We have now reported our findings and there are clear warnings about what happens when questions of responsibility, harm and care are ignored. As one participant told us, with AI there is “no accountability, no checks and balances, no responsibility.”

Given limited trust

In Australia we have seen automated decision making have devastating consequences, for example with Robodebt. A similar dynamic is emerging in geriatric care and…