AI is transforming industries worldwide, but what does AI literacy mean for Indigenous communities? In this episode of In AI We Trust?—part of our special series on AI literacy—hosts Miriam Vogel and Rosalind Wiseman speak with Mason Grimshaw, a data scientist and advocate for Indigenous-led AI initiatives whose work focuses on ensuring Native communities are not just consumers of AI but active participants in shaping its future
Grimshaw is Sicangu Lakota and an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. His journey from growing up on a reservation to studying at MIT has fueled his mission to integrate AI education with cultural knowledge. Through initiatives like the Lakota AI Code Camp and IndigiGenius, he is giving Native students opportunities to engage with AI while staying connected to their communities.
In this conversation, Grimshaw shares why AI literacy is essential for data sovereignty, cultural preservation, and economic opportunities in Indigenous communities. His work shows how AI can be empowering to any community willing to thoughtfully engage with it.
Bridging AI and Indigenous Knowledge
For Grimshaw, the path to AI started with card games. As a child, he spent hours playing with his great-grandmother, drawn to the strategy and patterns behind each game. That curiosity led him to MIT, where he discovered machine learning—and with it, the realization that AI could be a powerful tool for his community.
But he also saw a problem: Indigenous students rarely had access to AI education, and those who pursued it often had to leave their communities behind to do so. After college, he set out to change this. Through his work, he’s since proven that AI can be taught in a way that is culturally relevant and locally accessible, allowing Native students to build skills without disconnecting from their heritage.
His goal is simple but ambitious—to make AI literacy a tool for empowerment, not displacement.
AI Literacy as a Tool for Empowerment
AI literacy isn’t just about understanding technology. For Indigenous communities, it’s also about empowerment, advocacy, and opportunity. According to Grimshaw, it’s about people learning ways that they can contribute to the world of AI while maintaining their identity and being themselves.
Data sovereignty is at the heart of this effort. Many Indigenous communities generate valuable data, from cultural knowledge to environmental insights, but often lack the means to manage or protect it. AI literacy gives them the power to decide how their data is used, rather than having outside entities define and exploit its value.
Beyond data, AI offers practical applications that align with Indigenous priorities. From revitalizing endangered languages to creating remote tech job opportunities, AI can serve Native communities in ways that mainstream development often overlooks. But for that to happen, Grimshaw believes Indigenous students and leaders need the knowledge and skills to engage with AI.
By making AI literacy accessible, Grimshaw is ensuring that Native communities aren’t just passive observers of AI’s rise but active participants in shaping its future.
The Lakota AI Code Camp
Grimshaw knows that teaching AI to Indigenous students requires more than just coding lessons. It has to be meaningful, relevant, and rooted in culture. That’s why he co-founded the Lakota AI Code Camp, a program that blends AI education with Indigenous knowledge, making technology feel like a natural extension of students’ experiences rather than something foreign.
At the camp, students learn AI concepts and apply them to real-world projects that connect with their heritage. One such project starts with students going on a nature hike to photograph plants. Then, they build a plant identification app that uses machine learning to recognize these plants, incorporating both scientific names and traditional Lakota knowledge about their uses.
The success of the Lakota AI Code Camp proves that AI education can be a bridge—one that allows students to develop technical skills while staying deeply connected to their community.
IndigiGenius and the Future of AI in Native Communities
AI isn’t just a tool for building the future—it’s also a tool for preserving the past. That’s the philosophy behind IndigiGenius, an initiative dedicated to expanding AI education and ensuring that Indigenous voices play a role in shaping AI’s development.
One of its most urgent applications is language revitalization. Many Indigenous languages are critically endangered, with only a handful of fluent speakers remaining. Through the First Languages AI Reality (FLAIR) initiative, Grimshaw and his team are developing AI tools to help communities document, preserve, and teach their languages. Unlike generic translation software, these AI models are built specifically for Indigenous languages, incorporating cultural context and the nuances that make each language unique.
Beyond language, Grimshaw envisions a future where Indigenous students are not just learning AI—they are using it to solve problems for their own communities. Whether it’s developing AI-powered environmental monitoring systems, creating digital storytelling tools, or launching AI-driven economic initiatives, Indigenous students should have the skills and resources to build solutions tailored to their needs and the needs of their communities.
AI literacy isn’t just about understanding technology. It’s about agency, advocacy, and ensuring that communities have control over their futures. For Indigenous communities, AI represents both a challenge and an opportunity. Without literacy and access, they risk being left out of critical conversations about AI’s role in society. But with the right tools and education, AI can become a force for cultural preservation, economic empowerment, and self-determination.
Grimshaw’s work reminds us that AI is not just for the tech industry—it’s a tool that belongs to everyone.
Listen to the full episode here: