On Demand Center for Diversity Webinar: Exploring Ethics and AI in Social Work

This webinar is a part of the Center for Diversity and Economic and Social Justice webinar series.

This webinar examines artificial intelligence and its implications for social work education, ethics, cultural humility, and social justice. It is a space for an exchange of ideas on AI literacy and technology integration. Shared will be the ongoing journey—strategies and struggles— we, at Hawaii Pacific University, contend with as we weave AI tools into our program.

In this webinar participants will:
1. Examine the implications of generative AI for social work education and practice through critical lenses of culture, ethical mandate, and community context.
2. Identify strategies for adapting curriculum and assessment to develop AI-literate practitioners who can use technology in culturally respectful, contextually relevant, and ethically grounded ways.
3. Formulate a proactive framework for AI integration in social work programs that centers professional values, Indigenous knowledge, and community well-being.

Peter Mataira

Phd

Dr. Peter Mataira is of Māori descent from Aotearoa New Zealand and a professor of social work at Hawaiʻi Pacific University in Honolulu. His current work is at the forefront of co-designing and developing AI/ML tools to enhance Pacific and Indigenous health equity and wellbeing. Through collaborative work with colleagues from Data Sciences, his research bridges Hawaiian, Pacific, and Indigenous knowledge systems with advanced technology, advocating data sovereignty and decolonization not as abstract concepts, but as essential design principles for a just equitable technological future.