Danielle Boyer

Boozhoo! So many new people here so I wanted to reintroduce myself and part of my story of how I started designing robots and eventually created the SkoBot, my language revitalization robot that helps teach Anishinaabemowin to our youth (you can watch a demo on my pinned) Photo credit: Erica Joan @ericajoanphoto for San Diego Magazine in “23-Year-Old Invents Wearable Robot to Preserve Indigenous Languages”

A clip from my mission moment at the National Geographic HQ about the SkoBot and the importance of ethical & consensual technology. Watch the whole thing on the clock app🥰 I’m so appreciative of everyone who made this happen and supported me in this talk! Thank you to my Explorer family ily

Introducing (or reintroducing) you to the SkoBot, a long form video. Language preservation of Indigenous languages is crucial. These robots (called SkoBots) were designed alongside my mentors to go to youth for free and supplement community language learning (never replaces it). This was made to see what the future of Anishinaabe toys could look like entirely by youth. This version is our latest prototype in our children’s voices series that implements an internally created (and brand new) app that can recognize speech and reply in audio files, voiced in placeholder audio clips by Amara (low quality test audio) which will later be replaced by whole phrases with good quality audio once everything is finished being recorded and documented. The goal is for other little kids to be able to see themselves reflected in an Anishinaabe toy. We have several other languages and can expand to others, but are focusing largely on an Anishinaabemowin version in our several dialects. While the robot can recognize being talked to, we do NOT use Al in a way that impacts the Indigenous languages, we never own the audio files, we never sell language tools or robots or give them to people outside of our community. Our ethical tech frameworks took us years to develop. This is a project of @steamconnection . They’re available via a limited trial release for free to tribal language programs and schools who can work with us on improving the robots. They are not currently available to individuals. Our scale has been as slow and sustainable as possible

Why is ChatGPT harmful and what are some local impacts of large scale AI infrastructure?

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The Great Lakes data center boom is being sold to us as “economic development.” More jobs. More tech. More investment. nobody is talking enough about what these projects could cost our communities long term. AI and cloud computing facilities require enormous amounts of energy and water to operate. Even “closed loop” cooling systems still depend on freshwater withdrawals, industrial infrastructure, and massive power demand. These facilities are being planned around the Great Lakes because corporations see our region as resource rich. Especially when it comes to clean freshwater. And Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer @gewhitmer has supported this expansion through tax exemptions and incentives meant to attract development. This scares me People say the jobs are worth the risk. But what happens when: • energy demand drives up local utility costs? • freshwater becomes treated like an industrial resource instead of a protected ecosystem? • aging infrastructure fails? • warm water discharge impacts surrounding ecosystems? • corporations receive public subsidies while communities absorb environmental risk? The Great Lakes hold around 20% of the world’s surface freshwater. Once our ecosystems are stressed, polluted, or over-extracted, you can’t just “undo” that damage later. And Indigenous communities have seen this pattern before. Resource extraction is always framed as progress until the long term consequences show up decades later Follow orgs like @cleanwatermi @michiganbemad @micleanh2o to help fight this harm in our lakes

my life lately 🤖✨ robo edition

Holden and I take on the @bioneers conference all thanks to @titletrackmichigan @micleanh2o @bioneers . Chi miigwech to them for their support and investment in the Sault Tribe and our youth ❤️

My mentee and I were brought out to the @bioneers to learn about the environment, social justice, and Indigenous issues! Chi miigwech to @titletrackmichigan @bioneers and @micleanh2o for making this possible and not just bringing out Holden and I but also his amazing mom, teacher @susanupnorth , and principal

an overview of some common AI misconceptions that I see come across my page! this post doesn’t touch on everything, but I wanted to share some thoughts as someone who is working against unethical AI applications while developing my own solutions. Let me know your thoughts

Sharing for our youth who are scared to practice our culture because of how they look. If you are Nish, you are Nish. Do not be ashamed. My message doesn’t address everyone, like those reconnecting or forcibly disconnected so pls take it with a grain of salt that I speak to my experiences alone. That being said, white Natives do not experience racism & we do not need more representation than we already have. Our voices tend to be the loudest and I want to remind people it’s not a hardship to get called white or to get made fun of for that. It’s nothing compared to actual racism and we tend to be insufferable when talking about these issues lmfao

Everything I ate at @wahpepahskitchen , a Native American restaurant in Oakland, California in the San Francisco Bay Area. Definitely in my top ten, I loved it and will be back I tried all the food listed, but many images are credited to @wahpepahskitchen #oakland #oaklandeats #sf #sanfransisco #nativeamerican