AI, Culture, and Inclusion — Creating Spaces Where Every Learner Belongs

Created by Graeme Smith and Liza Kohunui

🌸Why Culture Matters in AI-Enabled Education

Context: Aotearoa, Diversity Meets Algorithmic Systems

AI is rapidly entering classrooms, workplaces, and assessment systems across Aotearoa.

But AI is not culturally neutral — it reflects the assumptions, histories, and biases of the data it is trained on.

In a multicultural, multilingual nation shaped by Te Tiriti o Waitangi, this matters deeply.

AI can:

• Misrepresent learners’ identities

• Flatten cultural nuance

• Tokenise te reo Māori or mātauranga

• Reinforce inequities that our sector has spent decades trying to dismantle

But when used thoughtfully, AI can also amplify identity, storytelling, accessibility, and learner agency.

The core question for educators:

“How do we bring AI into the classroom in a way that strengthens—withers—weakens cultural safety, equity, or mana?”

What’s at Stake?

AI influences:

• Whose voices are amplified

• Which perspectives are normalised

• How learners see themselves reflected in the material

• How safe learners feel to express culture, language, or identity

• How institutions uphold Te Tiriti responsibilities

When culture is absent from AI design, the result is often:

• Generic content that ignores context

• Stereotypes, mislabelling, or erasure

• Accessibility barriers

• Learner disengagement

• Misjudgment of learner ability or intent

Inclusion is not optional — it’s foundational to learning, belonging, and success.

🪶Kaupapa Māori Lens — Tūāpapa : The Anchor, Not an Add-On

In te ao Māori, knowledge is not abstract — it is embodied, relational, and grounded in whenua, whakapapa, and whānau.

When AI enters learning spaces, we must ask:

• Does this tool honour mana?

• Does it protect or endanger Māori data?

• Does it misrepresent or diminish mātauranga Māori?

• Does it support rangatiratanga (agency, authority) for Māori learners and communities?

This learning path is built on one guiding principle:

If AI does not uplift mana, it is not aligned with Te Tiriti or kaupapa Māori values.

Whaiwhakaaro | Reflection

• Whose cultural perspectives are centred in the tools you use?

• Where do your AI tools fall short in representing your learners?

• How confident are your learners that their culture will be treated with respect and accuracy?