Lakota Youth & AI: Bringing AI from Silicon Valley to the Black Hills

The underrepresentation of Native American and Indigenous voices in AI development poses significant challenges and missed opportunities both for Indigenous communities and AI development. Mason Grimshaw, a Lakota data scientist, works to addresses these issues and discusses the unique challenges faced by these communities.

He introduces the Lakota AI Code Camp, a grassroots initiative designed to engage Indigenous youth in AI and computer science while maintaining a culturally relevant learning environment. The camp's early successes demonstrate the untapped potential of Indigenous youth and emphasize the importance of inclusivity in building a future where AI serves everyone.

Mason was raised on the Rosebud Reservation as Sicangu Lakota in South Dakota and is the grandson of a rancher and a mechanic. He graduated from MIT with a Bachelors and Masters in business analytics. In addition to his work at Earth Genome, he helps to run the Lakota AI Code Camp, with the intention of expanding knowledge of artificial intelligence and data science in Native American communities. He was featured in the NY Times article “Training the Next Generation of Indigenous Data Scientists” about the 2021 IndigiData workshop focused on Indigenous data sovereignty.

In previous work, he has delivered successful projects in several industries including healthcare for MIT Medical, logistics for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, and financial sales at MFS Investment Management. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.