Prioritizing Data and Tribal Sovereignty in Global AI Policy
Last week I had the honor of being able to deliver three minutes of remarks to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). While I was there to support my good friend Geoffrey Roth and his rollout of the evaluation framework for the Indigenous Determinants of Health, we saw and opportunity to bring visibility to a policy area where we have noted a distinct lack of Indigenous consultation.
Indigenous rights are human rights and those rights include sovereignty over how we govern not only ourselves and our communities, but how we determine what is done with data that we generate and which is derived from our usage of technology platforms.
For too long Silicon Valley has seen users and their data as resources to be exploited — and native peoples know all about that tired approach. We have the chance to do something different with Artificial Intelligence before it becomes the next tool for exploitation and colonization — if we we act boldly now.
As our colleague Emma so eloquently put it last week: “Indigenous knowledge is a gift.” I believe tapping back in to the way our ancestors have tended the Earth and our communities for sustainability truly holds the key to healing our climate and our societal problems focused so much around scarcity and greed versus returning to our roots of gratitude and abundance.
Let us not repeat the mistakes of the past and make sure we include everyone in the conversation for this new technology such that we can pay it forward for the next seven generations.
Remarks as-delivered:
April 2025 – United Nations Headquarters, New York City
Chokmashki, Madam Chair, and greetings to my Indigenous brothers and sisters.
My name is Rusty Pickens. I’m a proud citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and a former technology official in the Obama administration. I’ve worked across multiple federal agencies and now serve as a public interest technologist and the board Treasurer for Capital Native Nations–an Urban Indian Organization in Washington DC.
Today I urge the Permanent Forum and our communities to advocate for meaningful Indigenous representation in global AI policymaking — especially within the UN system — as we face what may be the next great threat to Indigenous rights: artificial intelligence.
As Expert Member Roth said yesterday, AI systems are not neutral — they reflect the biases of those who build them. If we do not assert control over how AI intersects with our data and our communities, we risk a new era of digital colonization.
Just as our natural resources and culture: our lands, our waters, and our knowledge have historically been extracted without consent, the data we generate today and that technology companies derive from us must not be treated as yet another exploitable resource to be monetized.
We must assert our right to data sovereignty, just as we assert our right to self-determination and tribal sovereignty.
UNDRIP Article 11 protects our right to develop future expressions of our culture. If we lead with boldness, AI can support our communities positively in programs such as language revitalization, climate stewardship, economic growth, and better health outcomes. But this requires policies grounded in reciprocity and abundance rather than scarcity and greed.
That’s why I respectfully call on the Forum to ensure Indigenous representation on the UN High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, and in all relevant policymaking arenas. Article 23 affirms our right to determine and develop our own programs. This must include our interests and our future with AI programs.
The hour is already late. Let us be present now — so that the technologies shaping the next seven generations reflect the values, wisdom, and dignity of Indigenous peoples.
Thank you.
