NGO Greenland Rising has launched a Piseq contest that combines traditional Kalaallit culture with modern artificial intelligence tools to showcase the resilience of Greenland's indigenous people. The initiative comes during what co-founders Ivalu Kajussen and John Toomey describe as a period of significant flux for Greenland, where the accomplishments of native culture are often overshadowed by external geopolitical interests from Europe and America.
The contest operates through a structured process that begins with video creation. Twice weekly, the organization uses AI tools including ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude Cowork to produce videos depicting Kalaallit life transitions such as births, weddings, fishing returns, Mitaartut celebrations, funerals, tribal gatherings, and Arctic Palerfik dogsled races. Contestants then write two or three sentences capturing the emotional and psychological essence of these videos in their personal style.
Greenland Rising translates these submissions into Kalaallisut and formats them as traditional Piseqs using AI assistance. The completed works are posted in both languages to the organization's Substack at https://theheroaward.substack.com/p/helping-greenland-and-you-too and to siku.org, the indigenous website serving Inuit communities across Greenland, Canada, and the United States. Judges evaluate all submissions, with winners receiving the Angakkoq Prize, named after the Kalaallit word for Shaman.
This initiative represents more than cultural preservation—it demonstrates how AI can serve as a bridge between ancient traditions and contemporary expression. The Piseq tradition itself carries deep historical significance, having functioned as a conflict resolution mechanism within Kalaallit society. Historically, when disputes arose between community members, tribes arranged poetry duels where participants faced each other and exchanged verbal insults, with the first to lose composure declared the loser through tribal vote. These resolutions carried permanent legal standing, and the resulting Piseqs became part of the tribe's oral tradition.
Greenland Rising has expressed interest in seeing Europe and the United States adopt similar non-violent conflict resolution approaches. The organization's work connects to broader scholarly resources on Greenlandic culture, including Collections of Ammassalik Songs by Knud Rasmussen, Greenlandic Oral Traditions: Collection, Reframing, and Reinvention by Kirsten Thisted, and Inuit: the Story of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference by Aqqaluk Lynge.
For business and technology leaders, this initiative illustrates several significant trends. It demonstrates practical applications of AI in cultural preservation and community engagement, showing how technology can amplify rather than replace human tradition. The project also highlights the growing intersection between indigenous knowledge systems and digital tools, suggesting new models for cultural enterprises. As geopolitical attention increasingly focuses on Arctic regions, initiatives like Greenland Rising's Piseq contest represent strategic cultural positioning that asserts indigenous agency amid external pressures.
The technological implications extend beyond cultural applications. The use of multiple AI systems—ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude Cowork—in a coordinated workflow demonstrates how organizations can leverage diverse AI tools for specific tasks within larger creative processes. This approach suggests potential applications in other fields where tradition meets innovation, from education to corporate training to cross-cultural communication. The project's publication through both Substack and the indigenous platform siku.org further illustrates how organizations can maintain cultural authenticity while utilizing modern distribution channels.
