Artificial Intelligence and Indigenous cultures • LITFL • CODA ZERO

What can Artificial Intelligence algorithms in healthcare learn from Indigenous cultures? with Megan Williams

We often associate Indigenous cultures with a deep understanding of nature rather than computing or AI. However, deep learning, connected learning and relationships are integral to both AI and indigenous learning. Perhaps indigenous people are the future of AI.

It is essential that we bring groups together to design AI. Indigenous cultures walk in multiple worlds and cross many generations. These perspectives are different but often not represented in universities curriculums.

Indigenous learning sees health as holistic. Which human doesn’t need to include spiritual, mental, physical, social and emotional dimensions to their healthcare?

It is essential as healthcare providers that we give ourselves a ‘software update’ and continue a process of life-long learning, particularly about cultural competence.

The indigenous practice of coming together in ‘collectives’ and looking at big data sets yields different outcomes than say a ‘western’ trained epidemiologist might conclude. Indigenous knowledges work by accumulating over time with continuous quality improvement and reflection.

The Presentation

The Podcast

The Speaker

Associate Professor Megan Williams [@MegBastard] is the Research Lead and Assistant Director of the National Centre for Cultural Competence at The University of Sydney. From 2017 to early 2020 she was Head of Girra Maa, the Indigenous Health Discipline at the Graduate School of Health, UTS.

Megan is Wiradjuri through her father’s family and has over 20 years’ experience working on programs and research to improve the health and wellbeing of Indigenous people engaged in the criminal justice system.

Megan has government and industry funding and collaborations for research, including about health service delivery, workforce development and facilitation of community driven research. Megan is an Aboriginal Family Wellbeing Program trainer, has contributed to defining pillars of government policy, and for program evaluation uses her Ngaa-bi-nya (said naa-bin-ya) Aboriginal framework published in the Evaluation Journal of Australasia.

Megan is a commissioning editor of health media organisation Croakey.org, and is recognised for her commitment to conveying Indigenous people’s research, stories and expertise to professional bodies, communities, parliamentarians, students and the media. Megan is the parent of two teenagers, a dog and three rats, and spends as much time as possible on Wiradjuri country in central NSW.

Coda EDUCATE 2020