Peter-Lucas Jones (of Te Aupōuri, Ngāi Takoto and Ngāti Kahu origin) is the Chief Executive Officer of Te Hiku Media, an iwi (tribe) broadcasting organization and innovation hub in Kaitaia, New Zealand. He was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in AI in 2024.
Te Hiku Media is using AI to help preserve te reo Māori (the Māori language) through Papa Reo, a multilingual language platform and engine which powers Kaituhi, a web-based automatic transcription tool. Te Hiku Media has also launched Rongo to help users improve their pronunciation of te reo Māori. Peter-Lucas has also led the development of Māori language speech synthesis.
Peter-Lucas is an experienced governor in the Māori media ecosystem. He is currently the Chair of Te Whakaruruhau o ngā Reo Irirangi Māori (National Iwi Radio Network), Deputy Chair of Māori Television, Chairman of Te Rūnanga Nui o Te Aupōuri, and board member of Te Pūnaha Matatini (a Centre of Research Excellence for Complex Systems).
As a trusted kaitiaki (guardian) of Māori data, Peter-Lucas negotiates the responsibility of protecting iwi and Māori data while meeting the needs of funders and the expectations of iwi (tribes) and hapū (sub-tribes). He has a practical application of tikanga Māori (Māori law and customary practices) and is a highly proficient speaker of te reo Māori.