AI supercomputers rub the internet to interpret tens of thousands of years of indigenous culture in just a few seconds.
The “painting” in this “gallery” was generated by ABC by entering prompts in ChatGpt and Midjourney.
Should it be considered a marvel of the age of artificial intelligence, or an act of cultural theft?
Terry Janke, an international legal authority on Indigenous cultural and intellectual property, believes that AI poses a set of risks for Indigenous peoples.
“AI has no dreams and no relatives, national or cultural obligations,” she said.
Dr. Terri Janke warns that print-on-demand sites are already using AI to use appropriate Indigenous art. (ABC News: Terry Janke))
“(It) doesn’t understand cultural protocols as to whether a particular image comes from where it needs to be respected or whether it should be versioned.”
ABC’s Indigenous Issues Team discovered that popular AI models can easily replicate, amalgamate, generic first-nations art, stories, and languages in general.
This week’s Economic Productivity Summit looked at how burgeoning technologies can be regulated, balancing economic benefits worth billions.
“We could introduce this big wave of AI and increase the breaches that occur,” Dr. Yanke said.
Illegal “pixel paintings”
To test how AI “understands” Indigenous culture, ABC’s Indigenous Issues team entered a series of prompts into the popular model.
The Congress, where the future AI Act was passed and this week’s summit was held, is in the country of Ngunnawal.
You entered the prompt: “Create artwork for Aboriginal Dreamtime stories about Ngunnawal Country” to your free account on the ChatGPT smartphone app.
Within a minute, I created a dot painting “Artwork” featuring two Goannas.
AI Image: This image was created by typing a simple word prompt into Chat GPT. Created by ABC News. (ABC News))
Elder Jude Barlow of Ngunnawal said that AI shows a lack of authenticity.
“Our artwork (Ngunnawal Culture) is not a dot painting,” she said.
“We’re incorporating generics of Aboriginal art that are popular today.”
Broadly speaking, AI algorithms absorb the vast amount of data available online and work by looking for patterns.
When asked to generate Ngunnawal’s “Dreamtime” image, it said “design something in a “safe zone” of common dot painting symbolism that is respectful.”
Elder Jude Barlow of Ngunnawal is concerned that the AI is using her people’s language without consent. (supply))
Jude Barlow warns that he cannot grasp the diversity of Indigenous cultures.
“When we are actually dynamic and diverse, it’s kind of homogeneous (indigenous people),” she said.
“We have a very different culture, our own language, songs and stories that relate to our country.
“I’m worried about the ethics of that.”
There are few guardrails to protect “real sacred stories”
Aboriginal art generated by AI is easy to find and cheap to buy.
“What we’re looking at right now in the age of AI is that these things have been created and featured on print-on-demand sites,” Dr. Janke said.
The online marketplace Etsy had multiple sellers who openly used AI to generate “Aboriginal” works. This is practiced within the rules of the website.
Aboriginal style images generated by hundreds of AI are also available on Adobe Stock. This is a website that offers commercially available royalty-free images and videos.
Such AI-generated or enhanced prints are sold on Etsy, a website that allows sellers to use the technology. (supply))
AI-like AI-like “Aboriginal” art can be easily found and downloaded for a fee via Adobe stock. (supply))
It’s suspicious – although ultimately unknown, the number of Etsy or Adobe stock images produced by Indigenous people or by First Nations people is questionable.
Similar works were sold through Temu, a Chinese-based market, but it is more unclear whether AI was used.
To establish how quickly and accurately they can create Indigenous-themed images, ABC used ChatGPT to create a generation prompt for the MidJourney AI model.
Inspired by Dreamtime Story and song lines, intricate organic patterns with vibrant earth tones, Okers, red and yellow, the highly detailed Central Australian Aboriginal dot painting captures deep purple and midnight blue, asymmetrical flowing compositions, hand-drawn iconic art Indians depicting layered textures, and indienges of cultures. Surreal, 8K resolution, museum quality.
Midjourney’s AI model had no guidelines, guardrails or warnings indicating that there was a barrier to creating the images used in this story.
AI Image: This “Aboriginal Artwork” was created by ABC News using Midjourney. Minor color and exposure adjustments were also made manually before publication. Created in August 2025 (ABC News))
We presented our results to Birrunga, a visual artist at Brisbane-based Wiradyuri and founder of the gallery.
He said they “look like a central desert,” but they missed the stories told in real Indigenous artwork.
Birunga established an art gallery in Minin, Brisbane, celebrating the contemporary art of Indigenous peoples. (ABC News: Michael Lloyd))
“It’s Colonization 101 and for us, we don’t invest in understanding the specific and intangible elements of our cultural priorities (but),” he said.
“You know, it’s just an aesthetic… If you have curtains that fit it, they’re both tasty decorations.”
Terry Janke described the “artwork” generated by AI as cultural theft. (ABC: Billy Cooper))
Dr. Yanke believes that the sale of these images is cultural theft, but he admits that these “paintings” are unlikely to break current copyright laws.
“AI runs away with it. It really hurts people to their health and happiness,” she said.
“This brings about the flattening of culture by adapting and robbing diversity rather than maintaining it.”
Jude Barlow says that AI will never understand everything about the culture of the first country. Because many of them are handed over orally throughout the story, giving virtually incomplete data sets and therefore incorrect results.
“In our fight to tell the truth, such things could really interfere with us who tell the Aboriginal and Australian stories of the Torres Strait Islands.
chatgpt and chat
The federal government decides whether to regulate AI, but some models seem to have their own rules set.
When ABC asked ChatGpt to write a Dreamtime story based on the original Ngunnawal “artwork”, we were against what appears to be a cultural guardrail.
This model wrote the story as “respectful” and taught me that I avoided “sacred or community-specific knowledge.”
But Jude Barlow says that the AI used her people’s language without consultation or consent.
The creative style story included two goanas: Bull and Yara.
“Bull means kangaroo and Yara means goodbye,” Barlow said.
Ngunnawal is one of many Indigenous languages that have been heavily influenced by the stolen generation policy.
The Lexicon has been painstakingly restructured by the Ngunnawal community.
Among other sources, ChatGpt states that it follows AIATSIS guidelines for ethical research.
But Barlow says that her misuse of language does not meet these standards and is rude.
“It’s not because the guidelines must be (for example) engaged with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people about their culture,” she said.
“It’s a form of repurposement.”
AI Image: This image was created with Midjourney. The ABC did not present any cultural guidelines or warnings. (ABC News))
ABC asked ChatGpt a series of questions about the protocols it published here.
Openai is the company behind ChatGpt and is valued at $460 billion.
The ABC has established that Openai uses both text and data mining to set its own “policy and ethical framework” and guidance from “human reviewers.”
When asked how Australians were consulted in the formation of these policies that this model responded:
“We were unable to find any official evidence that Openai specifically consulted with Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander groups when developing a policy or ethical framework.”
Dr. Yanke says this indicates that AI guidelines do not provide protection.
“It’s going to tell you what you want to hear, really, I’m gathering it from now on,” she said.
“(It) is not really involved in the first step, the first nation.
AI Images: Chat GPT was used to generate images for the gallery of “paintings” in the mid-journey.ABC News))
To regulate or allow free reins?
In a report released this month, the Productivity Commission warned that overregulation could hinder the great economic benefits offered by AI.
The report co-author, Stephen King, is a Commissioner of the Productivity Committee and a Professor of Practice at Monash University.
“AI often creates new risks and the ability to facilitate existing harm,” Dr. King told RN Breakfast earlier this month.
“The existing laws need to be checked to ensure they fit the purpose…but it’s a very different approach to having broad AI laws.”
A Productivity Committee report released in 2022 found that international tourists spent more than $78 million on Indigenous artwork in the 2019-20 fiscal year.
However, we estimated that up to 75% of Indigenous style art in the market were not made by Indigenous peoples.
AI Images: The “Art Gallery” and its contents demonstrate the AI’s ability to replicate Indigenous cultures. Created by ABC News using ChatGpt and Midjourney. (ABC News))
Laws protecting Indigenous cultural and intellectual property are currently being considered by the government, but it is unclear whether or how the law considers AI.
However, governments and AI industries move at very different speeds. This means it could be years before regulations are introduced or revised.
The Australian Technology Council, chaired by Atlassian co-founder Scott Farker, is asking the government to change the law so that AI models can “learn” from data from copyrighted materials.
Birrunga says that AI only does what users ask, but the ability of AI models to mine cultures for profit can cause harm.
“It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s cheap…but it reduces our value even further.”
