This report examines artificial intelligence (AI) through the lens of Australia’s seventeen National Agreement on Closing the Gap targets, asking a simple question for each: will this technology move us closer to or further from the outcomes that matter most? The analysis reveals an uneven landscape. AI is already reshaping healthcare, education and jobs. But without First Nations governance, AI could deepen the same inequalities it claims to solve.

AI will not affect all communities equally. For First Nations people, the risks and opportunities are sharper. Digital exclusion, algorithmic bias and data extraction could widen existing inequality. At the same time, AI offers genuine potential when it is guided by cultural authority, data sovereignty and community control. The challenge of AI is not just a technical one, but also ethical. 

Key findings

• The most promising AI projects – from telehealth to ranger monitoring – are those taken up on community terms, not imposed.
• Cross-cutting challenges remain: the digital divide, still widest in remote regions; algorithmic bias, where systems inherit inequality; and data colonialism, extraction without consent or benefit.
• Indigenous data sovereignty is a non-negotiable. It defines who collects, owns and benefits from data, and underpins every ethical pathway.

Key recommendations

• Mandate Indigenous data sovereignty in all government, community and philanthropic AI programs.
• Fund First Nations-led AI hubs to scope and co-design tools, ethics and training.
• Close the Digital Divide through targeted infrastructure, affordability and digital-skills programs.
• Shift power from consultation to co-ownership and intellectual property participation for First Nations organisations.