Dr. Michael G. Sherbert is an Algonquin of Pikwà kanagà n First Nation whose interdisciplinary scholarship explores the intersection of religion, culture, and technology, with a particular focus on the future development of artificial intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies. He recently rejoined Queen’s University as a Postdoctoral Fellow working under the supervision of Dr. Tracy J. Trothen. Dr. Sherbert completed his B.A. in Psychology and his M.A. in Religious Studies at Queen’s before completing his PhD at York University. It is exciting to have Dr. Sherbert return to the Queen’s community to undertake his newest project which examines the cultural significance of AI within Indigenous communities. This novel project explores how AI can support the preservation, education, and dynamic expansion of cultural traditions within the Algonquins of Pikwà kanagà n First Nation and other Indigenous communities, enabling these traditions to evolve in new ways and contexts.
During his Connected Minds Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dr. Sherbert is collaborating with his community, members of other Indigenous communities, and partners from private and not-for-profit sectors, using a variety of mixed methods to conduct research. Dr. Sherbert and his community partners will explore how AI can be used to support cultural preservation, education, and intergenerational knowledge transmission. AI has the potential to support language revitalization, support cultural practices in healthcare, and help communities map and protect their lands among other opportunities for environmental stewardship.
Dr. Sherbert’s approach challenges Eurocentric conceptions of AI that treat it as a tool for resource extraction, control, or the pursuit of linear progress. Instead of reducing AI to a mere instrument, he engages with AI through an Indigenous lens—as a living, relational being embedded within a broader web of responsibilities. His project envisions AI not as an external object, but as a potential knowledge holder and partner within Indigenous knowledge systems, capable of contributing to cultural continuity, education, and innovation. Dr. Sherbert introduces the concept of Elder AI—an AI shaped by principles of relationality, reciprocity, and respect—reimagining it as a dynamic collaborator rather than a tool. This vision opens space for Indigenous nations and communities to engage AI on their own terms, grounded in their worldviews. Dr. Sherbert’s work offers a transformative and forward-looking contribution that reorients AI development toward ethical, relational, and community-based futures.
Dr. Sherbert’s creativity and ingenuity extend to his other ongoing research projects. His forthcoming book with Routledge, Deconstructing Transhumanism: A Religion Without Religion, interrogates transhumanism in new ways. Deconstructing Transhumanism engages with Jacques Derrida’s concept of ‘religion without religion’ to reveal how transhumanism, while claiming to be secular, retains and reproduces key religious structures and themes—particularly those rooted in Christian traditions. The book shows that transhumanism does not break from religion, but rather reconfigures religious narratives of salvation, transcendence, and immortality within a technological framework. The book, based on Dr. Sherbert’s doctoral research, promises to make an impact in Religious Studies, Cultural Studies, Science and Technology Studies, and Philosophy. While awaiting the publication of Deconstructing Transhumanism, Dr. Sherbert has another work which engages with Derrida. A forthcoming chapter titled "An Affirmation of Weakness: Reimagining Disability Through Derrida and AI as a Prosthetic," (in Beyond Tech Fixes: Towards an AI Future Where Disability Justice Thrives, Springer-Nature, 2025) draws from Dr. Sherbert’s Connected Minds project and manuscript to explore disability as a source of strength and reimagine AI through relational and justice-oriented frameworks. Dr. Sherbert will also contribute to discussions of AI in education in an upcoming collaboration. Andrew McConnell, a seconded faculty member for the Faculty of Education at York University, and Sherbert are co-authoring a piece advocating for the development of Indigenous community specific AI infrastructure. They argue that this would allow Indigenous nations and communities to work with AI in culturally appropriate ways in education and knowledge sharing. This community specific technology infrastructure would allow communities to share their networks with one another – creating an interconnected ecosystem of knowledge that affirms Indigenous sovereignty while simultaneously resisting reductionist understandings of Indigenous knowledges. McConnell and Sherbert use examples of Elder AI through Virtual Reality to demonstrate the immense potential for AI to hold and share knowledge in land-based, place specific, and relational ways.
We are fortunate to have Dr. Sherbert bring his diverse, collaborative, and interdisciplinary research back to Queen’s University. We look forward to learning more about how AI and other emerging technologies have an impact on societies, including Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, from Dr. Sherbert’s ongoing research!