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# Face of the Day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/face-of-the-day-1364/
- Published: 2026-02-18T17:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-02-18T17:29:59.000Z
- Description: His accounts have been criticised in international media as ‘AI blackface’ and ‘digital fiction’.
- Author: Good Oil Staff
- Tags: Face of the Day

> Aboriginal avatar Jarren, who hosts online videos about Australian wildlife under the name Bush Legend, is overstepping indigenous boundaries, according to Māori AI innovator Peter Lucas-Jones.  
>  
> That’s because while he looks and sounds like a real person, Jarren was created not by an indigenous Australian, but by Hawke’s Bay-based content creator Keagan Mason.  
>  
> “Authenticity is everything when it comes to language and culture. When people are pretending ... even if it is smattered with facts, the truth is it is not authentic,” Lucas-Jones, CEO of Māori media company Te Hiku Media told the *Herald*.  
>  
> Videos featuring Jarren started to appear online in December last year.  
>  
> More than 200,000 people follow him on the Bush Legends social pages – 92,000 on Facebook, 89,000 on Instagram and 25,000 on TikTok – with most appearing to believe Jarren is real.  
>  
> But his accounts have been criticised in international media as “AI blackface” and “digital fiction”.  
>  
> NZ Herald

[Read More](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/maori-ai-innovator-peter-lucas-jones-says-aboriginal-avatar-crosses-cultural-line/6BBRKMVERZH6HIZV6F2MIDKV3Q/?ref=goodoil.news)