Every year on August 9, the world observes the United Nations’ International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. The 2025 theme, “Indigenous Peoples and AI: Defending Rights, Shaping Futures”, takes on particular significance for Northeast India—a region where tribal communities stand at the crossroads of ancient tradition and rapid technological change.
According to the Indigenous World 2025: India report by the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), India is home to around 705 ethnic groups recognized as Scheduled Tribes, with the Northeast comprising a large portion of this population. India’s constitutional and legal safeguards—such as the Fifth Schedule, Sixth Schedule, and the Forest Rights Act, as well as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)—aim to protect Indigenous rights to land, self-governance, and cultural heritage.
In recent years, the Government of India has invested heavily in digital infrastructure across the Northeast. With this has come the promise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to transform communication, governance, education, agriculture, and entrepreneurship. Digital connectivity has expanded considerably in the past couple of decades, and today, numerous digital-based entrepreneurial activities are flourishing in the region. Yet, these same technologies also pose profound risks if deployed without cultural sensitivity, community consent, and respect for sovereignty.
Defending Rights in the Digital Age
Technology can empower—but it can also marginalize. One of the biggest dangers is data colonialism, where Indigenous data—such as maps, biodiversity records, genetic resources, or cultural practices—is collected and exploited without informed consent or fair benefit-sharing.
AI-powered tools for land mapping or resource allocation could undermine customary land rights if they ignore the protections enshrined in the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution and the Forest Rights Act, 2006. Sacred landscapes, migration routes, and traditional ecological zones are often invisible to algorithms trained on outsider datasets.
Indigenous data sovereignty—the right of communities to control their own data—is not a luxury; it is essential for ensuring that AI supports rather than erodes their rights. Environmental AI projects, from glacier melt prediction to biodiversity mapping and disaster early warning systems, must integrate local knowledge through participatory design to be both effective and just.
Shaping Futures: Opportunities for Indigenous Youth
If guided by Indigenous wisdom, AI could unlock powerful opportunities for young people in the Northeast. Biodiversity monitoring powered by AI-assisted conservation tools can place Indigenous youth at the forefront of protecting forests, rivers, and biodiversity hotspots. Climate-smart agriculture, with AI-driven crop forecasting adapted to local ecological knowledge, can help young farmers thrive sustainably while linking them to digital marketplaces and agribusiness ventures.
In the cultural sphere, digital preservation through AI-powered language tools can document and revitalize tribal languages, folklore, and oral traditions, creating opportunities for digital archivists, storytellers, and cultural educators.
AI can also fuel digital enterprises—from promoting community-led eco-tourism to marketing traditional handicrafts and cuisine globally, as well as creating market linkages for agricultural products—connecting Indigenous products to wider audiences while maintaining cultural integrity.
Equally important is tech upskilling and capacity building. Training youth in AI coding, data annotation, and ethical AI can bridge ancestral wisdom with modern innovation. It can empower them to manage and digitize traditional knowledge for global databases, ensuring representation and ownership.
Making Technology Work for People, Not Against Them
The most promising path forward is co-design—developing AI systems with Indigenous communities rather than forthem. Imagine village councils using AI platforms to design infrastructure and health services aligned with community priorities; early warning systems for floods and landslides that combine satellite data with local knowledge; or digital rights management tools that help Indigenous artists and musicians share their work globally without losing intellectual property.
Such innovation requires capacity building and unwavering respect for traditional governance systems. Participation cannot be symbolic—it must be central to every project.
The Way Forward
Northeast India has the potential to become a global leader in ethical AI—a region where technology strengthens rather than dilutes cultural identity. With genuine participation, AI can serve as a tool for self-determination, resilience, and inclusive development, helping to preserve cultural identity while embracing progress.
But the clock is ticking. The choice is stark: either allow AI to become a new wave of exploitation or make it a means of preserving heritage while shaping the future. Indigenous peoples must not be passive recipients of change—they must be its architects.
Only then will AI truly serve the land—and the people—who call it home.
The author is a Food Systems Scientist based in New Delhi, India. She is the Director and Founder of the Native Foodscape Foundation.