Avoiding the next digital divide: Defining digital sovereignty for Tribal Nations in the AI age

Authors: Morgan Gray, Kennedy Satterfield, Traci Morris, and Nicol Turner Lee

Avoiding the next digital divide: Defining digital sovereignty for Tribal Nations in the AI age synthesizes findings from the September 2025 AI in Indian Country Conference hosted by Arizona State University's American Indian Policy Institute. Drawing on insights from 200 attendees - primarily tribal leaders and professionals - the white paper examines how AI implicates tribal sovereignty, data governance, and cultural continuity.

The authors position tribal nations as uniquely suited to shape AI governance from a sovereignty-first framework, emphasizing that data represents more than information points - it represents people, shared histories, and cultural knowledge. The paper documents both AI's transformative potential (streamlining government functions, supporting language revitalization, enhancing service delivery) and significant risks (data exploitation, cultural misrepresentation, algorithmic bias, hallucinations in language models).

Real-world examples demonstrate tribes already leading this work: Cherokee Nation's AI acceptable use policy grounded in three core values (resourcefulness, protection, outreach), their task force connecting AI governance to data sovereignty and cybersecurity, and the Morongo Band's 30% competence rule for building internal AI literacy before regulation.