Kiwis risk missing ‘opportunity of the century’

Kia ora! Welcome to New Zealand’s weekly roundup of AI news, events, jobs and education.

We’re stoked to share we’ll release the first episode of The AI Corner podcast on Wednesday (sneak peek clip here)! Keep an eye out.

In the world of AI, OpenAI had a massive week, confirming their non-profit governance structure remains intact despite Microsoft's reported 49% stake. The non-profit arm maintains control while tensions simmer between CEO Sam Altman and co-founder Elon Musk.

They've also unveiled "OpenAI for Countries", partnering directly with governments to build local AI infrastructure and culturally-adapted versions of ChatGPT. The program targets 10 initial countries, positioning Western AI models against Chinese alternatives. The race for AI world domination is accelerating at breakneck speed…

Meanwhile, a viral video from a Chinese factory shows a robot flailing violently at workers before being restrained. With 12 million views, it offers a chilling glimpse of what Skynet skeptics have long warned about as these sophisticated machines become commonplace in society.

Happy reading ✌️

This week’s highlights:

🏦 RBNZ warns of AI's risks to financial system
✍️ Handwritten exams make a comeback at Vic Uni
🚨 Kiwis risk missing ‘opportunity of the century’
🎓 Ministry leaves schools to improvise AI rules
🚧 AI making Hutt construction sites safer
🌊 Pacific women leading Kiwi AI innovation
🍳 AI enters restaurant kitchens
😺 Cat translation app coming soon
⚖️ AI-written victim statement enters courtroom
🎥 1 Minute AI Film Festival Aotearoa

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FINANCIAL ECOSYSTEM

💰 RBNZ: AI brings both promise and peril to our financial system

📣 Word On The Street: Reserve Bank highlights financial stability risks as AI transforms banking and insurance despite productivity gains.

🔍 Zooming In:

• Technology budgets are shifting heavily to AI with 32% of ANZ firms spending over 25% on GenAI.

• 91% of local businesses report faster decision-making from implementing AI.

• Concentration of AI providers could magnify systemic vulnerabilities in the financial system.

🏘️ Our Take: The RBNZ’s analysis highlights a delicate balance. AI can strengthen our financial system through sharper risk assessment and stronger cyber‑resilience, yet it also introduces fresh vulnerabilities. For everyday Kiwis, banking and insurance may become smarter and faster, but we’ll need robust safeguards against AI‑driven errors, data‑privacy breaches, and market distortions.

We confronted similar risks even before AI became integral to finance. The RBNZ’s risk‑averse stance is valid, yet we shouldn’t hit the brakes too hard by over‑regulating a technology with exceptional promise that we’ve barely begun to explore. Doing so could leave the NZ economy further behind.

NZ AI ECOSYSTEM

🚨 Kiwis risk missing ‘opportunity of the century’

📣 Word On The Street: KPMG's 47-country survey reveals New Zealanders are the most hesitant to embrace AI despite its transformative potential.

🔍 Zooming In:

• KPMG surveyed 48,000 people with NZ showing the lowest trust in AI systems, we don't see it as safe, and we doubt benefits outweigh risks.

• Reserve Bank's caution could put us behind the UK and US innovation pace.

• Only a handful of major Kiwi firms like Fonterra are embracing AI opportunities.

🏘️ Our Take: Our "Luddite approach" risks missing what KPMG calls "the business opportunity of the century". This will create a serious competitive disadvantage as international businesses race ahead with AI implementation. While caution has value, KPMG's Pettigrew rightly warns we can't bury our heads in the sand - AI is transforming global markets regardless of our participation. We need to move "with some urgency" on both adoption and smart regulation. The technology is here to stay, and countries embracing it are setting the rules while reaping economic rewards that we risk missing entirely. In my mind it’s no surprise young Kiwis keep looking to move offshore due to the archaic mentality of the broader population who client to outdated thinking.

EDUCATION SECTOR

🎓 AI policy vacuum in NZ schools as Ministry stands by guidance

📣 Word On The Street: Ministry of Education defends its AI guidance while schools struggle with implementing consistent policies nationwide.

🔍 Zooming In:

• AI use falls to individual school boards but offers minimal direction.

• 60% of Kiwi students already use AI tools for completing schoolwork.

• Associate Prof MacCallum calls for clearer NZQA guidelines on assessment.

🏘️ Our Take: Without nationwide AI guidelines, Kiwi students face a digital divide. Some schools embrace AI tools; others restrict them. This patchwork approach risks deepening inequality in digital literacy. Students may enter a workforce valuing AI skills at a disadvantage. The Minister might argue, “there’s only so many things I can load onto the Ministry”. But AI literacy and adoption should top the list. It's essential to future-proof our children for the AI age. Ultimately, it's about improving New Zealand’s productivity as a nation, and ensuring we can remain competitive on the global stage.

🥝 Other Kiwi Bites

🚧 Smart cameras, safer sites. Hutt City Council's Tupua Horo Nuku project is piloting Kiwi-made AI tech that spots falls, flags PPE issues, and monitors traffic, proving NZ's capability to solve complex safety challenges with local innovation.
2-min read.

🧠 AI is transforming Kiwi workplaces. With 75% of workers already using AI tools and 65% fearing job replacement, career coach Jess Stuart offers practical adoption strategies. Kiwis are embracing AI across industries, with the World Economic Forum projecting 69 million new roles will emerge globally from this shift.
4-min read.

✍️ Handwriting returns to law school exams. Victoria University forces law students back to pen and paper for exams due to AI cheating concerns, highlighting a growing national debate on academic integrity in the age of AI.
4-min listen.

⚡ Data centres to gobble up Auckland's power. Vector predicts a 60% increase in data centre electricity demand over ten years due to the demands of AI, forcing urgent conversations about infrastructure planning and prioritisation during potential shortages.
4-min read.

🌊 Pacific woman lead NZ's AI revolution. Fibre Fale's groundbreaking free AI Masterclass has secured 350 registrations in just one week, bringing tech knowledge to Pacific communities through culturally relevant education led by "The Polypuff Girls”.
3-min read.

🛍️ What’s Left On The Shelf

• Two-thirds of Kiwi financial advisers are using AI or plan to within a year.
  3-min read.

• Microsoft AI slashes NZ OIA request processing time by 71%.
  1-min read.

• Google.org funds Literacy Waitākere to bridge AI skills gap.
  2-min read.

🦘 From Across the Ditch

🚀 Aussie startup bags $24M. Across the ditch at Relevance AI have snagged Series B funding led by San Francisco's Bessemer Venture Partners. The Aussie startup's platform lets companies build their own AI workforces, joining a global trend that's seen more than $8B invested in AI agent startups last year - a market growing by 81% annually.
2-min read.

🏗️ AI to tackle Sydney housing bottlenecks. Sydney councils are testing AI technology to fast-track housing delivery by automatically checking building plans against council regulations, potentially reducing 113-day approval times to just a single hour.
3-min watch.

🌲 Smart sensors save ecosystems. AI-powered bushfire detection networks with solar-powered sensors are transforming how Australia and New Zealand protect forests by identifying chemical signatures of fire before flames appear. This technology aligns with government initiatives - AU$28.8M for disaster preparedness in Australia's 2025-2026 budget and NZ$70M committed to natural hazard resilience through 2031.
3-min read.

🔮 Gemini for juniors. Australian children under 13 will soon have access to Google's Gemini AI chatbot, despite the company's own warnings about potential mistakes. This development comes as Australia continues developing AI safeguards and digital duty of care legislation after two years of work, with UNICEF Australia's digital policy director noting that "AI is rapidly changing childhood, and Australia needs to get serious about it”.
3-min read.

⚽ Smart cameras transform football. Football Australia CEO James Johnson calls their new AI camera deployment a "pivotal moment in digital transformation" for the sport. The Superloop-powered system will deliver automated 4K broadcasts across Australia Cup venues, potentially creating new revenue streams while building a digital "history" of the sport through real-time stats collection.
3-min read.

🌍 The News from Global

📉 AI search crushes Google. For the first time in 20 years, Google search volume on Apple devices has fallen as users shift to AI alternatives like ChatGPT and Perplexity. Apple explores alternatives to Google, crushing Google’s stock price.
2-min read.

🍳 Chefs dish up AI. Top Michelin starred restaurants are quietly using ChatGPT for wild flavour combos like peanuts and wild garlic. This culinary AI adoption signals digital transformation reaching even traditional creative industries.
2-min read.

🐱 Cat translator incoming. Chinese tech giant Baidu has filed a patent for an AI system that could decode animal vocalisations into human language, potentially revolutionising pet-owner relationships. Baidu's system would analyse vocal sounds, behavioural patterns, and physiological signals to recognise animal emotions.
2-min read.

🌏 US Tech leaders on the offensive to drive innovation. American tech leaders warned senators that infrastructure gaps could cost them the global AI race against China. OpenAI's Sam Altman, Microsoft's Brad Smith and AMD's Lisa Su testified that while the US leads in development, it needs better infrastructure and less export restrictions to maintain its edge.
3-min read.

🧑‍⚖️ AI generated victim impact statement in court. US judges are facing unprecedented scenarios as AI-generated content makes its way into legal proceedings, including a victim "speaking" from beyond the grave through AI video. Courts worldwide are now creating committees to research best AI practices, signalling major challenges ahead for our justice system.
3-min read.

🌏 Tech Updates You Should Know

• OpenAI: Ships GitHub code‑query plug‑in, unveils “AI for Countries”, buys Windsurf IDE for US $3B to anchor “vibe‑coding,” and keeps nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation status as Musk lawsuit drags on.

• Apple: Prototyping ultra‑efficient chips for smart glasses & AI servers, trialling Claude‑powered Xcode assistant, and wooing OpenAI/Perplexity to replace Google as Safari’s search brain.

• Microsoft: Bans DeepSeek internally over China‑hosted data; tells Senate that tighter export controls will only push buyers towards Chinese chips.

• Google: Gemini Pro 2.5 adds “canvas” live‑coding, launches iPad app & image‑gen boost, but 2.5 Flash slips on safety, abd Gemini 2.5 Pro beats Pokémon Blue.

• Meta: Llama‑3‑powered “Meta AI” rolls out across WhatsApp, Insta & FB, while “Aperol/Bellini” smart glasses test always‑on name/object ID.

• Anthropic: Claude gets live web‑search API, powers Apple’s Xcode revamp, and CEO Amodei concedes we grasp only ~30 % of model logic.

• Mistral AI: Debuts Le Chat Enterprise (SharePoint/Gmail hooks, agent builder) and launches the efficient Medium 3 model, claiming Claude Sonnet‑level chops.

📚️ Levelling Up With AI

People overthink which AI tool to use, and overcomplicate it further by trying to bake in complex automation. Just pick 1 general purpose AI tool, use daily = top 1%.

We were 6️⃣ days behind on "MayAI" 😅 (3️⃣1️⃣ days of AI use cases, basic to complex).

Here’s a few to catch us up to show ↪️ how AI helped me run a team offsite ↩️:

1️⃣ We kicked off with an icebreaker using Lovable to mock up app ideas.
2️⃣ AI was my co-pilot to create the narrative for the deck and tighten the content.
3️⃣ It generated hilarious team images as if we were the All Blacks. 🏉
4️⃣ I hadn’t read ’Legacy’ in a while, so used AI to refresh myself with Kindle notes.
5️⃣ We used AI live in workshops to accelerate thinking and spark ideas.
6️⃣ Used ChatGPT voice-to-text to summarise and create an initiative tracker.

Link to video.

📅 AI Events in New Zealand

24 events this week around the country & online this week. Busy month to be an AI enthusiast with 53 events under our belt after this week!

This week’s featured event:

• Auckland - Will AI Save Us?, May 14th: Join AUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Damon Salesa and BBC Head of Technology Futures Laura Ellis for a thought-provoking conversation on navigating today's dangerous information landscape at AUT's City Campus.

💼  AI Roles Around Aotearoa

Picklist of 🌶️ HOT 🌶️ roles in AI.

• Systems & Technology Manager - Flo & Frankie, Auckland

• Executive Assistant & Office Administrator - Clutterbot, Wellington

• Delivery Lead, GenAI Product Caitlyn - Custom D, Christchurch

🤦‍♂️ AI Fail Of The Week

We all love AI, but it’s certainly far from perfect…

That’s all for this week!

Got news, events, or jobs? Hit reply (or, link here) — we love spotlighting what's happening across Aotearoa!

Until next week,

👋 Mike & Erin