Harnessing AI to Build the Ecology of Indigenous Thoughts: An Interview with Michael Running Wolf by Isabelle Alice Zaugg on 4 April 2025

Both Indigenous researchers and Indigenous languages are under-represented in the emerging field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Michael Running Wolf, founder of Indigenous in AI, the Lakota AI Code Camp, and the First Languages AI Reality project (FLAIR), is working to change that. In this interview with communication scholar Dr Isabelle Alice Zaugg, he shares his experiences building expectations of accountability among AI researchers working on Indigenous languages and what motivated him to train a new generation of Indigenous coders in rural South Dakota. He discusses his work to develop AI tools that support language learning in Indigenous communities across the full spectrum of North American languages that have co-evolved together. He also proposes nuanced, collective strategies to balance data sovereignty with digital access to Indigenous languages. Motivated by his desire to “build and rebuild the ecology of Indigenous thoughts”, Michael Running Wolf reflects on his multifaceted approach to changing the narrative for endangered Indigenous languages through AI that “creates speakers, not technologies”.