Ka Hawai’i Pae ‘Aina Pod

Ka Hawai’i Pae ‘Aina Pod is located in the island of O‘ahu, Hawai’i and hosted by Create(x) Immersive Media and Data Visualization Lab at the University of Hawai’i West O‘ahu.

The Ka Hawai‘i Pae ‘Āina Pod brings together Hawaiian knowledge, cultural practice, and emerging AI research to explore how technology can be shaped and stewarded by local communities. Centered on the guiding question of how AI can cultivate abundance for ʻāina and people, the Pod works to imagine systems rooted in aloha ʻāina, sustain ʻāina momona, and implement methods of Indigenous stewardship of data and knowledge.

The Pod’s work spans environmental stewardship, language revitalization, creative practice, and community-based data stewardship, integrating Hawaiian epistemologies with contemporary computational methods. Through interdisciplinary collaboration and Indigenous-led design, the Ka Hawai‘i Pae ‘Āina Pod is building foundations for AI systems that are rooted in place, responsive to community priorities, and capable of supporting abundant futures for Hawaiʻi.


The Pod includes experts in Hawaiian epistemology (Meyers), creative practice (Kuwada) and ancestral agricultural practices (Enos); soil science (Crow); Hawaiian culturally-based computer science and engineering education (Amos); Indigenous culture and computation (Lewis); Indigenous biosciences (Fox); Neuroscience and AI (Parker-Jones); and data science (Leigh).