Technology thatstrengthenscommunities.
Inati Labs empowers Pacific communities to shape the future of AI through education, innovation, and community-led programmes.
- AI education
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- AI innovation
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- Community impact
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- Responsible AI
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- Digital sovereignty
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- Workforce development
AI is being builtwithout the peopleit will shape.
Artificial intelligence is already deciding who gets hired, funded, diagnosed and heard. It is being trained on data our communities did not consent to, in languages it does not speak, by teams we are not in. Left alone, that gap widens with every model release.
Inati Labs exists to close it. We build AI capability with Pacific communities — not for them — so the knowledge, the tools and the decisions stay in our hands. Every programme we run sits under one of three pillars.
Tokelau met almost all of its electricity needs from solar in 2012 — a world first, built around local resilience rather than scale. Power, compute, data, governance: the same sequence, and the same argument, is what we are asking of AI.
Speaking on sovereign infrastructure — small, local and community-governed is not a limitation.
AI education
AI literacy, workshops and professional development for schools, workplaces and community organisations — plain language, practical, and built for people starting from zero.
AI innovation
An applied innovation lab where Pacific teams design, test and ship AI tools, guided by responsible AI research and real community problems.
Community impact
Volunteer networks, scholarships, partnerships and island-based programmes — including our work in Tokelau — that put capability where it is least likely to arrive on its own.
Six programmes,three pillars.
AI Education runs through 01–02, AI Innovation through 03–04, and Community Impact through 05–06. Open any programme to see what it includes — or tell us what your community, school or organisation needs and we will scope it with you.
- Half-day and multi-week formats
- Delivered in-person or online
- Pacific contexts and examples
- No technical background required
- Leadership and governance briefings
- Role-based practitioner training
- AI policy and safe-use guidance
- Pathways into technology careers
- Problem discovery with communities
- Prototype to working product
- Language and cultural data projects
- Digital transformation support
Community andtechnology, together.
Our name comes from the inati — the Tokelauan system for sharing a catch, so that every household receives its portion. The same principle runs through all four stages, whether the programme is a single school workshop or a multi-year partnership. Partners and funders see the plan, the measures and the reporting from the first meeting.
Listen
Community and partner hui
Weeks 1–2Co-design
Co-designed programme plan
Weeks 2–4Deliver
Cohort delivery
Weeks 4–12Sustain
Handover of materials and tools
OngoingSovereignty is nota feature we add later.It is the starting point.
Three commitments sit beneath every workshop, prototype and partnership we take on. They are the reason communities, universities and government agencies can work with us on sensitive ground.
Digital sovereignty
Digital sovereignty means a community controls its own data, and the decisions made from it. Pacific language, cultural and community data collected through our programmes stays under community governance — it is not sold, and it is not handed to a model without consent.
Responsible AI
Responsible AI is the practice of building and using AI systems safely, transparently and accountably. Every programme is reviewed for risk, bias and cultural harm before delivery, and we say plainly what a tool can and cannot do.
Indigenous knowledge
Pacific knowledge systems are not training data. They are held by families, villages and elders who decide how they travel. We work to their permission, in their languages, and credit knowledge to the people it belongs to.
What we measure,and what we publish.
We report on the same four measures every year, to communities and funders alike. Ask for the underlying evaluation and we will send it — including the cohorts that fell short.
People trained
Cumulative participants across all programmes
Communities reached
Across Aotearoa and the Pacific
Partner organisations
Schools, agencies, universities and industry
Programmes delivered
Each evaluated and reported on
Partners
Partner
Inati Labs partners with Sovata AI.
Build thiswith us.
Fund a programme. Sponsor a cohort. Book a workshop for your school, workplace or community group. Partner with us on research, or join the volunteer network as a technologist, mentor or facilitator.
We are working toward a future where Pacific communities confidently lead, shape and benefit from artificial intelligence. Tell us what you want to change and who it is for — we reply to every genuine enquiry within two working days, with a straight answer either way.
- Partnerships, workshops, volunteering — everythinginfo@inatilabs.co.nz
- Instagram — programmes, cohorts and community@inatilabs