Indigenous at the United Nations Expose A.I. Data Centers and Racially-Biased Misinformation
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| Jaimie Williams speaking at the U.N. today on the harm by A.I. data centers. |
"I was once convinced artificial intelligence could help my tribe build our language and culture -- but A.I. is not a sustainable solution." -- Jaimie Williams
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, July 14, 2026
GENEVA -- The mediocre, middle-of-the-road approach to A.I. at the United Nations was countered by testimony today from Indigenous Peoples pointing out that artificial intelligence is not a solution, and is doing great harm to Indigenous with derogatory misinformation and massive data centers that are poisoning the land, water and air.
Jaimie Williams, Miami Nation in Indiana, speaking on behalf of the Society of Native Nations, at the U.N. Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, responded to the A.I. summary presented this morning.
Williams said the summary does not reflect the true impact of artificial intelligence, particularly in the way the technology is powered.
"AI data centers are rapidly being constructed on the land of Indigenous Peoples without free, prior and informed consent from us."
"My people came out of the water, the St. Joseph River in the southeast of Lake Michigan, along that river there are several data centers," she said, pointing out that Indigenous across Turtle Island share similar stories.
"These sacred waterways and lands are being used for A.I. data centers."
"I was once convinced artificial intelligence could help my tribe build our language and culture, but AI is not a sustainable solution."
"There is currently no available technology available to power A.I. without poisoning the water, drying up the rivers and causing further contamination in the territories of Indigenous Peoples, who are already disproportionately affected."
Williams pointed out that in the United States, the data center industry remains unregulated.
"These are unbelievably massive buildings."
A.I. data centers increase reliance on fossil fuels and pump toxins into the land, water and air 24 hours a day.
"Our Indigenous Peoples are already harassed and unjustly detained by government agencies infiltrating the cities."
Williams recommended that the Expert Mechanism report on the true impact of the data centers that power AI and the direct impact on Indigenous Peoples' land, water and ways of being.
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| The President of Mong Heritage testifies today the U.N. on the harm caused by A.I. |
A.I. Causes Great Harm for Mong Indigenous People
Artificial Intelligence search engines are causing great harm to the Mong People who are misclassified and defined with derogatory words in search engines.
Speaking for the first time at the United Nations, the president of Mong Heritage, said his people, the Mong Indigenous People, are an ancient people with deep historical roots from northern and eastern Asia who are now scattered around the world. They possess their own unique history, language and culture -- and yet they are misclassified as being other racial groups.
On the web, the Mong Indigenous are either not found, or are being classified as being Mongolians.
A.I. and search engines misrepresent Mong Indigenous as a subgroup and define the Mong name with derogatory meanings.
"This misrepresentation has caused lasting harm, discrimination, exclusion, and dehumanization."
He points out that A.I. systems are trained on existing information that often contains biased misinformation.
Stressing the need to safeguard the language, history, identity and cultural heritage of the Mong Indigenous People, he asked that there be official recognition in the Expert Mechanism's report, and corrective measures taken to prevent the harm being caused by A.I.
'A.I. the New Colonizer'
During the session, Valmaine Toki, Moari and newly-elected chair of the Expert Mechanism, said A.I. is seen as the "new colonizer."
Vassili Nemechkin, professor at Mordova State University, said Russia is working with the company Yandex to preserve and teach Indigenous languages.
In Russia, one strategy is to label all audio-visual by A.I. in order to prevent manipulation, he said, pointing out that Yandex has 21 Indigenous languages in Russia.
"Smart Chum" is being used by reindeer herders in the Arctic. There are now translations of videos providing translations of 15 Indigenous languages, Nemechkin said, adding that Russia has made revitalizing Indigenous languages a priority.
Meanwhile, profits are soaring for the Russian-owned Yandex, which provides Russia's leading search engine and collaborates with Russia on the creation of software.
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Noelani Arista, Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) and professor at McGill University in Montreal, said for most Indigenous, knowledge is not property. Arista said there are few Indigenous speakers of the language who are actually involved in overseeing the production of A.I. language revitalization, in order to ensure its integrity. Far too often, computer scientists and linguists produce A.I. unaware of Indigenous protocols. She points out that in Canada and the U.S. there are no standards to ensure data sovereignty. At McGill University, Dr. Noelani Arista serves as the Director of the Institute for Indigenous Research and Knowledges. |
This testimony came after the U.N. Expert Mechanism began with a summary which stated that A.I. is beneficial in revitalizing Indigenous languages and culture.
The Theft of Copyrighted Words, Photos and Songs
The Expert Mechanism's summary failed to point out that A.I. companies are stealing copyrighted data for A.I., as revealed in the massive lawsuits now challenging the theft of copyrighted books, music and news articles.
The theft of Indigenous words, medicine, and knowledge is already underway -- without free, prior and informed consent, by these corporate, profit-making companies.
Further, Meta has been data-scraping public posts on Facebook and Instagram since 2007 for A.I. -- and most users were unaware of this. Now, Twitter/X uses posts there for its A.I. search engine.
Today's panel discussion on A.I. is during the second day of the week-long session of the U.N. Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Geneva.
The U.N. Expert Mechanism opened the panel presentation:
"While AI presents opportunities to support Indigenous language revitalization, the preservation of oral histories and cultural practices, and broader knowledge preservation for future generations, it also poses significant risks."More:
Society of Native Nations https://www.societyofnativenations.org/mission
Mong Heritage http://www.mongheritage.org/index.html
Copyright Brenda Norrell, Censored News
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