TribalNet 2025: How Tribal IT Leaders Are Preparing for AI

Start With Business Problems, Not AI Solutions

The biggest pitfall for tribes as they explore AI is what Starr calls, “shiny object syndrome.”

“It’s not about technology, it’s about the problem that you’re trying to solve,” she said. Starr framed this as a question for members of the Cherokee Nation during a tech summit earlier this year: “If you could solve any problem in Cherokee Nation, doesn’t matter if it’s a technology problem or not, what would you want to solve?”

The Cherokee Nation, which is the most populous tribe in the United States, is in the late development stages of an AI “legal agent” that would help lawyers, citizens and even the Office of the Cherokee Nation Attorney General navigate the complexities of tribal law.

To achieve this, the tribe needed to consolidate complex legal sources spanning federal treaty law, tribal codes and court decisions scattered across different systems. It was only after defining these requirements that the tribe selected Copilot-based AI agent technology as the solution.

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Data Governance Is the Foundation for AI

Even in the Cherokee Nation’s case, a team of interns from MIT was tasked with understanding and validating the different data involved in the deployment.

“They had to get to know that data to a point that they can correct the attorney general’s office when they’re in a meeting with them,” Starr said. “Because when you have a legal agent, when it returns results, you want to be able to see the references.”

Like humans, AI can make mistakes, but the risks are amplified with AI.

“AI has the capability to actually remember,” Mark Badal, Chumash Enterprises’ Executive Director of IT and InfoSec, said in a separate session. “Imagine remembering a bias and then multiplying it on different instances a thousand times.”

More fundamental to data governance is data sovereignty, which involves tribes maintaining control over data concerning their communities, and in some cases reclaiming ownership of that data.

“Knowing the value of your data, knowing who can make decisions around this data, is not just a foundation but will serve as a guardrail for trustworthy and ethical use of AI in organizations,” Badal said. While a challenging undertaking, this is required for implementing data governance and security that will protect data sovereignty and enhance output accuracy, according to Badal.

DIVE DEEPER: Artificial intelligence and data sovereignty take center stage for tribes.

AI Initiatives Require Organizational, Cultural Buy-In

The Cherokee Nation’s success in adopting AI stemmed from organizationwide engagement rather than top-down mandates.

For example, they hold annual technology summits, created “Cherokee Futurists” groups for tech-savvy employees and launched AI governance committees composed of departmental leaders rather than AI experts.

Involvement from the highest levels of tribal leadership is still necessary, said Starr, but that’s something that can start through an AI steering committee involving the lines of business.

“Our chief talks about AI a lot, and that’s not by accident,” Starr said. “I went to his office over a year ago, and I’ve been watching state governments issue executive orders on AI.” In response, Chuck Hoskin Jr., principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, issued an executive order pertaining to the tribe’s use of AI.

The Chumash took a similar approach.

“We started with an AI vision statement and sent it all the way to the top,” Badal said.   

By establishing AI committees and earning buy-in at the top, AI is legitimized beyond IT departments and is established as organizationally significant rather than purely technical. More importantly, it puts tribal values at the center of any and all progress that stems from AI.

“Let us be the AI experts within the team,” she said. “But we need your guidance on how far we go with something and whether something meets our values.”

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