Kiwa Digital, a New Zealand-based Indigenous technology company, has launched new Te Ao Māori and Tongan language experiences on CultureQ, its SaaS platform designed specifically for Indigenous communities, bringing advanced AI-powered language-learning and cultural-preservation tools to speakers and learners across Aotearoa and the Pacific.
Using CultureQ, powered by AWS, speakers can enhance their language learning through the app's conversational AI capabilities by sharing cultural taonga, including songs, genealogy, myths and legends, supporting both everyday learners and those passionate about preserving culture for future generations.
Built on Amazon Bedrock in partnership with AWS partner Custom D, CultureQ transforms cultural archives into interactive, multimedia experiences. Users ask questions through voice or text and receive answers derived from community-approved iwi leaders. Each answer comes enriched with cultural context, and includes audio of the spoken language, encouraging deeper, interactive learning, sharing insights on everything from traditional Māori stories and practices to geographical insights.
"Translation for us is a kūwaha, a doorway – not a whare or house. And revitalisation in the truest sense needs governance, context, intergenerational participation, and community authority across the data and the guardian AI," said Steven Renata, Managing Director and Co-Owner of Kiwa Digital.
“The natural language interface lowers the barrier for learning. It enables our Kaumātua, our elders, our rangatahi, our youth, our whānau, our family, and even researchers, to interact with their own archives, converse with their own archives," said Renata.
A 16-year effort to build a Tongan medical dictionary
In parallel Kiwa Digital is also working with Puloka Health Consultancy to launch a new glossary of Tongan medical terms and anatomy with custom illustrations in an interactive app that improves health literacy and access to healthcare services.The dictionary addresses practical community needs by bridging language barriers in the critical area of healthcare to help Tongan communities access vital medical information in their native language. The App combines language preservation with improved health outcomes, making medical terminology accessible to Tongan speakers who may struggle with English-only healthcare resources.
Indigenous principles meet cloud technology
The challenge in working with languages is transforming oral traditions into living, interactive digital systems while respecting Indigenous governance. Many languages are passed down through generations via stories and songs and carry deep cultural nuances that are difficult to capture in modern digital platforms.
CultureQ's track record demonstrates the platform's effectiveness:
- 90% less manual work compared to traditional curation methods
- Fully cited, verifiable outputs with traceable source attribution
- Active or pilot projects in six Indigenous communities, expanding to 20 by the end of 2026
CultureQ is built on an approach that treats AI as a "kaitiaki" (guardian) of cultural information, only surfacing approved knowledge while protecting Indigenous perspectives.
Custom D's 'Caitlyn' platform, a generative AI system built on Amazon Bedrock, provides the technological foundation by structuring cultural data into searchable knowledge. It interprets natural-language questions, maps them to approved cultural materials, and generates culturally appropriate responses.
To build CultureQ's capabilities, Kiwa Digital leveraged the AWS Māori Data Lens, which helps organisations incorporate Māori data perspectives when architecting their AWS environment. These include Kaitiakitanga (the guardianship or management of both the seen and unseen worlds), which guides decisions on how to collect, store, use, and protect data—a key touchstone for AI developments. Developed with Māori data experts and cultural advisors, the Lens complements the core AWS Well-Architected pillars, principles, and best practices.
By leveraging AWS infrastructure, all cultural and sensitive data remains encrypted and secure. Importantly, Indigenous communities retain full control over how their cultural knowledge is accessed, used, and shared.
A blueprint for cultural preservation worldwide
The latest Te Reo Māori and Tongan releases build on CultureQ’s proven use in Australia, extending a platform already purpose-built for Indigenous knowledge systems across Aotearoa and the Pacific. The platform has been helping preserve critically endangered Indigenous languages like Ngalia, which has only a few speakers remaining.
As the first platform to transform passive cultural archives into active learning systems while maintaining complete Indigenous control, CultureQ's work across Aotearoa, the Pacific, and Australia provides a blueprint for activating cultural data worldwide.
The platform demonstrates how generative AI can help carry traditions forward—respectfully, interactively, and collaboratively with Indigenous communities—whether those languages are fighting for survival or thriving across generations.
The expansion comes at a critical time. Of the world's 7,000 Indigenous languages spoken today, 40% are at risk of disappearing entirely.
However, CultureQ's expansion demonstrates that AI-powered preservation tools can help thriving language communities make their cultural knowledge more accessible to digital-native youth who want to learn on smartphones at their own pace.
