{"id":237937,"date":"2026-01-17T11:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T11:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/237937\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T11:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T11:00:09","slug":"ai-bush-legend-aboriginal-influencer-revealed-as-new-zealand-creation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/237937\/","title":{"rendered":"AI \u2018Bush Legend\u2019 Aboriginal influencer revealed as New Zealand creation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ycPbyrajIUrF\" style=\"display:none\">Meta has indicated the Instagram account was created in June 2025 and based in New Zealand, while a scroll to the bottom of the page indicates it used to be called \u201cNec Minute News\u201d creating videos mainly covering New Zealand-based news stories satirically. <\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Bush Legend accounts have amassed hundreds of thousands of followers across multiple social media platforms creating AI-generated videos discussing Australian wildlife. Photo \/ Instagram\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Bush Legend accounts have amassed hundreds of thousands of followers across multiple social media platforms creating AI-generated videos discussing Australian wildlife. Photo \/ Instagram<\/p>\n<p class=\"ycPbyrajIUrF\" style=\"display:none\">One of Bush Legend\u2019s more recent videos also features a man in a hat with a silver fern holding a t\u016b\u012b, with one person asking \u201cWow \u201e, how did you get it to stay there ?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"The AI-generated videos typically depict an Aboriginal man in an Austrlian nature setting talking about an animal. Photo \/ Instagram\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>The AI-generated videos typically depict an Aboriginal man in an Austrlian nature setting talking about an animal. Photo \/ Instagram<\/p>\n<p class=\"ycPbyrajIUrF\" style=\"display:none\">Lawyer and Indigenous cultural and intellectual property expert, Dr Terri Janke, told the Guardian the images were \u201cremarkable\u201d in their realism, but can also put marginalised communities at risk and potentially taking away future opportunities. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ycPbyrajIUrF\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cIt\u2019s theft that is very insidious in that it also involves a cultural harm,\u201d Janke said. <\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"One video on the account shows an AI-generated man discussing t\u016b\u012b  facts while holding one of the birds. Photo \/ Instagram\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>One video on the account shows an AI-generated man discussing t\u016b\u012b  facts while holding one of the birds. Photo \/ Instagram<\/p>\n<p class=\"ycPbyrajIUrF\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cBecause of the discrimination \u2026 the impacts of stereotypes and negative thinking, those impacts do hit harder.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"ycPbyrajIUrF\" style=\"display:none\">Writing in The Conversation, Tamika Worrell, a senior lecturer in critical Indigenous studies at Macquarie University, argued this is part of the rise of \u201cAI Blakface\u201d which can create financial gain for its creator, not the communities it is taking from. <\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Despite Meta indicating the account is based in new Zealand, most of the videos are based around Australian wildlife. Photo \/ Instagram\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Despite Meta indicating the account is based in new Zealand, most of the videos are based around Australian wildlife. Photo \/ Instagram<\/p>\n<p class=\"ycPbyrajIUrF\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThe theft of Indigenous knowledge for generative AI forms a new type of algorithmic settler colonialism,\u201d Worrell wrote, \u201cimpacting Indigenous self-determination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"ycPbyrajIUrF\" style=\"display:none\">Attempting to address some of the recent critique, Bush Legend said in a recent video he wasn\u2019t \u201chere to present any culture or group\u201d and \u201cIf this isn\u2019t your thing, mate, no worries at all, just scroll and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meta has indicated the Instagram account was created in June 2025 and based in New Zealand, while a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[60933,29184,308,365,9556,806,9852,16651,10709,9539,125551,69066,140338,60934,8235,9557,3223,1362,1073,117,111,43,139,69,1523,384,10903,12860,1072,45608,1961,66416,8538,102,80],"class_list":["post-237937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-aboriginal","tag-account","tag-actually","tag-ai","tag-artificial","tag-as","tag-based","tag-bush","tag-concerns","tag-content","tag-creation","tag-ethical","tag-fronted","tag-indigenous","tag-influencer","tag-intelligence","tag-legend","tag-made","tag-media","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-people","tag-popular","tag-revealed","tag-social","tag-sparking","tag-this","tag-type","tag-videos","tag-with","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}