Artificial Intelligence Statement of Commitment
As a Indigenous Creative Design and Digital Agency, ingeous studios we recognise that artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly important tool across the creative and digital industries. We also recognise that AI raises fundamental questions for Indigenous peoples about sovereignty, ownership, consent, cultural authority, representation and the control of data. For us, this is not simply a conversation about technology. It is a conversation about who owns knowledge, who has the right to use it, who controls how it is represented, who is acknowledged and who benefits from it.
Indigenous knowledge is not a dataset
Our stories, languages, cultural expressions, designs, knowledge and connections to Country are living knowledge systems. They belong within communities and are governed by cultural responsibilities, protocols and authority.
The fact that something has been placed online does not mean it is freely available for artificial intelligence to ingest, reproduce or commercialise.
Public does not mean permission.
As an Indigenous-led creative studio, we believe AI must be used with respect for Indigenous cultural and intellectual sovereignty.
Indigenous design is more than a visual style
Indigenous design is not simply a collection of patterns, colours, symbols or aesthetic references that can be replicated by an algorithm.
Our creative practice is informed by people, place, culture, experience and contemporary Indigenous perspectives. It is created with purpose and for specific contexts.
We do not believe Indigenous culture should be reduced to a visual language that can be generated on demand.
AI-generated imagery that imitates Indigenous visual traditions without cultural authority, consent or meaningful Indigenous involvement can contribute to the same forms of extraction and commodification that Indigenous communities have experienced for generations.
AI should support Indigenous creatives, not replace them
At ingeous studios, we see AI as another tool within the creative process.
We are interested in how emerging technologies can help Indigenous creatives experiment, learn, develop new skills and create new possibilities.
Through our work and our connection with Indigenous Design Labs, we believe young Indigenous creatives should have access to these technologies and the knowledge to use them critically and creatively.
But technology must remain the tool.
It should not replace Indigenous knowledge, cultural authority, lived experience or Indigenous designers.
Our Client AI Commitment
When you engage ingeous studios, you are engaging an Indigenous-led creative studio that takes the responsible use of AI and data seriously.
- We will not use AI as a substitute for Indigenous cultural authority.
We will not ask AI to determine, invent or authenticate cultural knowledge, stories, symbols, language or cultural meaning.
Where cultural knowledge or cultural authority is required, we will work with the appropriate people and sources.
- We will protect your confidential information.
We will not knowingly enter confidential, commercially sensitive, culturally sensitive or restricted client information into public AI systems without appropriate permission and consideration of the platform’s data practices.
Client information remains subject to our normal confidentiality obligations.
- We will be transparent about meaningful AI use.
Where AI materially contributes to the creation or development of a client deliverable, we will be transparent about its role where appropriate.
AI-generated material will not be represented as human-created Indigenous artwork or cultural knowledge when it is not.
- We will not use AI to imitate another Indigenous culture.
We will not use generative AI to manufacture cultural designs by simply prompting it to reproduce the visual traditions of a particular Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander community.
There is no single Indigenous aesthetic.
Australia is home to hundreds of distinct Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, languages, cultures and cultural practices. Our design approach respects that diversity.
- We retain human creative direction.
AI may assist with ideation, exploration, research, production or experimentation, but creative direction, cultural consideration and final design decisions remain human-led.
Our designers remain accountable for the work we deliver.
6. We will consider provenance and permissions.
Where third-party AI tools are used, we will consider their terms, data practices, licensing arrangements and known limitations before incorporating their outputs into client work.
We will not knowingly use AI-generated material where doing so creates an unreasonable risk of infringing another person’s intellectual property or cultural rights.
7. We will acknowledge Indigenous contribution and data online.
We believe that visibility, attribution and acknowledgement are part of Indigenous data sovereignty.
When Indigenous knowledge, content, design, stories, language, imagery or creative contribution is published or shared online through a project we deliver, we will encourage appropriate attribution, acknowledgement and provenance.
Where appropriate and authorised, this may include identifying the relevant Indigenous person, community, organisation, Country, language group, creative practitioner or knowledge holder.
We also recognise that online publication can make information easier for search engines, AI systems and other technologies to discover, copy and process.
Where appropriate, we will work with clients to consider how Indigenous information is described, attributed, structured and made discoverable online, rather than allowing it to become anonymous content detached from its source.
If Indigenous knowledge contributes value, its source should not disappear.
8. We will not assume that sharing means surrendering control.
Where information is approved for online publication, we recognise that permission to share something does not necessarily mean permission for it to be reproduced, commercially exploited, modified or used for AI training.
We encourage clients to consider the difference between being visible online and being freely exploitable online.
Where appropriate, we will help clients establish clear attribution, usage and access considerations around Indigenous content.
9. We will never prompt with cultural information or imagery.
We value AI, but our culture is not training data.
We will never knowingly contribute Indigenous cultural knowledge, imagery or creative works to AI systems for learning, reproduction or repurposing without appropriate cultural authority, consent, attribution and acknowledgement.
Indigenous knowledge belongs with the people and communities who hold it, and its use must remain on our terms.
10. Your project comes first.
AI will never be used simply because it is available.
If a traditional design process, photography, illustration, animation, typography, code or human creative practice produces a better, more appropriate or culturally safer outcome, we will use the appropriate method.
AI is changing rapidly. Our commitment is therefore not a one-off policy.
We will continue to develop our understanding of AI, Indigenous data sovereignty, intellectual property, cultural protocols and emerging technologies so that we can make informed decisions about how these tools are used in our studio and for our clients.
Our position
We don't believe Indigenous people should simply stand outside the AI conversation. We need to be in the room, using the technology, questioning it, challenging it and helping shape what comes next. Our young people should not only be consumers of AI. They should be designers, developers, creators, educators and decision-makers. That means building digital and AI literacy while maintaining strong cultural foundations. For ingeous studios, the future of AI and Indigenous design is not about rejecting technology. It is about ensuring technology respects who we are, what we know, where knowledge comes from and what belongs to us.
- Our culture is not a dataset.
- Our knowledge is not a resource to be extracted.
- Our designs are not prompts.
- Our creativity is not free training material.
- Our contribution should not become anonymous data.
AI is a tool
Indigenous knowledge, culture, creativity and data remain ours to define, protect, acknowledge and share on our own terms ensuring that our cultural security in place.
ingeous studios
Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Email: creatives@ingeousstudios.com
Website: ingeousstudios.com
ingeous studios
Creative design. Digital. Culture, Country. Community.
Contact
We’d love to have a yarn about your next project!
0428 817 409
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We acknowledge the Traditional Lands on which we work and live, sovereignty never ceded and pay respect to our elders, past and present who provide inspiration for what we do daily. We acknowledge the pivotal role that our people continue to play within our communities and our younger generations who will lead us forward.
@2026 ingeous studios
Creative Design & Digital Agency | Culture, Country, Commununity