Reimagining Two-Eyed Seeing in the Age of AI Indigenous Storytelling and Relational AI for Culturally Safe Youth Mental Health Tools

Résumé

This paper reimagines the application of Two-Eyed Seeing (Etuaptmumk) in designing culturally responsive mental health apps for Indigenous youth, extending the original framework to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) in an emerging technological landscape. From weaving together Design Thinking and Indigenous storytelling through participatory Design Circles, this paper introduces “Two-Eyed AI” – viewing AI through one eye with Indigenous knowledges (e.g., Medicine Wheel, reciprocity) and the other with AI’s scalable strengths (e.g., generative personalization). This approach aims to birth new beginnings in decolonized mental health supports amid colonial legacies. However, it confronts
challenges: decontextualizing oral histories in AI systems, risks of storing traditional knowledge in open access spaces, and AI infrastructure’s environmental impacts, particularly data centers’ water consumption. Guided by Indigenous data sovereignty principles like CARE, this paper proposes Indigenous peoples governance mitigations to ensure ethical, sustainable AI mental health supports. This reimagination fosters abundance, relationality, and youth agency, aligning with themes of renewal for Indigenous peoples holistic wellness.