Nine examples of NZ Councils using AI

PLUS, NZ Govt AI strategy imminent

Author

Mike Bayly
July 07, 2025

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

Three of our favourite AI headlines from the week:

  1. A 91 year old ’vibe coded’ a full event platform for his church using Claude and Replit for just $350.

  2. AI band The Velvet Sundown hit 1 million monthly Spotify listeners in weeks, charting a couple of bangers.

  3. Liquid Death’s latest ad (below) was created entirely using Google’s Veo 3 tool, with no human footage or filming involved. Mega creative.

Happy reading ✌️

This week’s highlights:

🏛️ NZ Govt AI strategy imminent
⚡ Datacom grows as 756 roles cut
🎓 AI turns meetings into proposals
🍎 AI-written books slip into libraries
🏛️ NZ builds AI panel to guide policy
🏥 Pharmac eyes faster drug approvals
🎙️ Matt Browning: AI Playbooks for SMB
🛡️ Google’s Gemini now live for Kiwi kids

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HEADLINE STORY

🏛️ Nine examples of how NZ Councils are using AI

📣 Word On The Street: Councils across NZ are slashing admin time, boosting productivity, and increasing Council revenue through the use of AI.

🔍 Zooming In:

  1. Hutt City Council - LIM Reports | AI collates property information from hundreds of databases in 45 minutes instead of 10 working days for staff review.

  2. Auckland Transport - Digital Chalking | High-powered cameras with AI detect illegally parked vehicles with 85% accuracy, replacing manual parking enforcement.

  3. Selwyn Council - Swimmer Safety | AI detection systems monitor pools for swimmers in distress, sending instant alerts to lifeguards via dashboards and smartwatches.

  4. Nelson City Council - Public Submissions | AI sentiment analysis processes community feedback on long-term planning, tracking public mood during council debates.

  5. Dunedin City Council - Building Warrants | AI classification system for Building Warrant of Fitness records saves 160 hours with 93% accuracy boost for $322 cost.

  6. Christchurch City Council - Fire Detection | AI sensors provide early fire warnings with real-time heat maps and environmental data to Fire Department teams.

  7. Timaru District Council - Financial Reports | AI transforms complex 150-page council financial reports into accessible 35-page summaries for 14-year-old reading level.

  8. Hutt City Council - Emergency Chatbot | Bloomberg finalist multilingual emergency chatbot provides street-specific information in residents' native languages during crises.

  9. Multiple Councils - General Administration | Councils nationwide deploy AI for parking fines processing, meeting minutes transcription, and automated financial report generation.

🏘️ Our Take: This grassroots AI revolution at the local government level shows how technology can genuinely improve our daily lives. Faster LIM reports mean quicker property purchases, shorter building consent waits, and emergency systems that speak multiple languages while knowing exactly where we live. Council efficiency gains of 93% accuracy improvements and massive time savings translate to better public services without the usual rate hikes we've come to expect.

Starting at the community level is brilliant - councils are closest to residents and can test AI solutions that directly impact our streets, our safety, and our wallets. As these innovations prove successful, we can expect greater transparency around AI deployment and clearer communication about how these tools benefit ratepayers. The combination of cost savings, improved accuracy, and multilingual accessibility points to a future where local government actually works faster and smarter for all.

🏛️ Government & Policy

Government AI strategy imminent. Cabinet's first national AI strategy drops in coming weeks after missing Q2 deadline. The plan aims to boost productivity and economic growth through widespread AI adoption across industries. The framework will guide how AI transforms jobs and services across New Zealand.
3-min read.

  • Our take: Late delivery might mean we're learning from other nations' mistakes rather than repeating them. The strategy could unlock billions in productivity gains, but Kiwi bureaucracy tends to water down bold tech initiatives with over-regulation.

Pharmac speeds drug approvals with AI. AI could slash medication approval times as Medsafe and Pharmac explore workflow automation. Medsafe targets assessment automation and side effect pattern analysis in their new digital strategy.
3-min read.

  • Our take: Faster approvals mean quicker market access for pharmaceutical companies and reduced costs. This efficiency gain could attract more drug trials and investment to NZ.

💼 Business & Industry

Datacom's AI gamble pays off big amidst staff cuts. The tech firm embedded AI into operations and client solutions, using generative AI to modernise legacy systems. Revenue climbed to $37m despite dropping headcount by 756 positions.
1-min read.

  • Our take: Datacom proves local firms can compete globally by automating knowledge work. Their AI code-rewriting capability showcases how NZ tech can lead transformation, not follow it. While profits soar, 756 families face uncertainty - highlighting AI's double-edged impact on employment. Quality tech talent floods the market as automation accelerates.

Christchurch startup monetises meetings. Contented AI transforms conversations into business documents like proposals and SWOT analyses. The bootstrapped firm serves 100+ global customers with their "Canva for conversations" platform.
3-min read.

  • Our take: This targets the billions in lost productivity from unactioned meeting outcomes. Local success proves Kiwi startups can compete globally in specialised AI applications.

🎓 Education & Society

AI books infiltrate public libraries. Your local library might stock AI-written books without knowing it - most lack detection tools while only Hamilton actively rejects them. Libraries worry about fact-checking and human connection in automated content.
2-min read.

  • Our take: Readers deserve to know whether content was written by a human or AI. The real threat isn’t libraries - it’s the growing trust gap caused by unclear authorship. As AI-generated content becomes more common, libraries must adapt while staying true to their role as trusted community guides.

NZ destroys 500,000 books as AI gains rights overseas. US courts ruled AI can legally learn from books while NZ's National Library prepares to destroy half a million volumes. The Library rejected digitisation in 2021 due to copyright concerns, but those concerns may be quickly outdated as laws shift overseas.
4-min read.

  • Our take: Discarded books could become valuable AI training data for sovereign language models. This shortsighted destruction eliminates potential revenue streams from licensing literary datasets.

⚖️ Legal & Ethics

Google gives Kiwi kids Gemini access. Gemini AI is now live for under-13s in NZ through Family Link. Parents must opt-out if they don’t want their kids chatting with the bot.
2-min read.

  • Our take: Giving kids AI by default raises real questions - parents have to opt out, not in. On one hand, early exposure could boost digital literacy and curiosity. On the other (and more importantly, in our view), it risks normalising reliance on AI before kids have the cognitive maturity to question, challenge, or understand how it works.

🎙️ Latest from The AI Corner podcast

Our next guest is Matt Browning, co-Founder and CEO of Incredible.

Matt reveals how his team uses no-code tools and AI agents to help businesses free up 10 hours per employee per week, transforming messy workflows into efficient, tailored solutions

Listen on Spotify or YouTube 🎧

Subscribe to The AI Corner Podcast on Spotify and YouTube to be notified of new episodes.

🌍 The News from Global

🧠 AI can cut carbon now. AI could reduce global emissions by up to 5.4 billion tonnes each year by 2035, mainly by cleaning up power, transport, and meat production. A new report from the London School of Economics and Systemiq says this makes AI not a climate problem, but part of the solution.
4-min read.

🏛️ US States win AI regulation fight. The US Senate voted 99–1 to kill a 10-year ban on state AI laws, despite pressure from Silicon Valley giants. Politicians on both sides agreed: local governments need the power to protect citizens from deepfakes, bias, and unchecked automation.
3-min read.

⏸️ Europe’s CEOs want AI Act pause. A group of 46 CEOs, including from Airbus, ASML and Mistral, are calling on the EU to delay the AI Act by two years, citing unclear rules and business risk. The current rollout includes high-risk system rules due in 2026, but Brussels may hit pause as early as August.
1-min read.

🌏 Tech Updates You Should Know

  • OpenAI: Ramping up salaries to fight Meta poaching; Facing staff burnout, implementing company-wide shutdown; Reportedly charging $10M+ for custom GPT consulting; Signed $30B Oracle cloud deal; Supporting a federal standard on AI regulation.

  • Meta: Formed Meta Superintelligence Labs; Poached 4 OpenAI researchers and Anthropic employees, raising retention alarm; Raised $29B in private credit for AI data centres; Under fire for AI accessing users’ full camera rolls; Zuckerberg personally headhunting from a secret ‘Recruiting Party’ list.

  • Anthropic: Claude ran a ‘fridge shop’ as a research experiment - chaotic results; Facing trial for 7M pirated books despite recent fair use win; Exploring AI impact on employment via new economic research program.

  • Apple: In talks with OpenAI and Anthropic to rescue Siri amid internal AI failures; Considering deal with Perplexity for AI search; Strategy shift signals break from in-house AI.

  • Google: Launched Veo 3 video model globally for AI Pro subscribers; Released Gemini CLI for developers; Google Search AI slashed traffic to news sites; Fined $314.6M over data siphoning from Android phones.

  • Microsoft: MAI-DxO outperformed doctors in medical diagnostics using OpenAI’s model; Cut 9,000 jobs globally, with 15,000 total layoffs planned for 2025; Partnered with Premier League to bring Copilot to fans.

  • Amazon: Hit 1 million robots deployed, unveiled DeepFleet AI to cut travel time by 10%; Rolled out Gmail AI search to Workspace users; Generative AI now powers marketing and bot routing across fulfilment centres.

  • xAI: Raised $10B ($5B equity, $5B debt) to build supercomputers; Piloting community notes and targeting Workspace users with Grok-powered file editor.

📚️ Levelling Up With AI

1️⃣ AI is doing to coding what the internet did to publishing
The internet turned writers into publishers. Now AI is doing the same for product builders. Kiwis no longer need a dev team or CS degree to launch: you need speed, insight, and something people actually want.
🎧 28-sec clip

2️⃣ Vertical SaaS is under siege. And a couple of Kiwi businesses are well poised
AI agents are coming for niche SaaS. But Xero and Fonterra have something LLMs can’t scrape: scale, regulatory clout, and deep data moats. These Kiwi businesses have the advantage but the concern is whether they’ll use it in time to take an early stage advantage.
🎧 38-sec clip

📅 AI Events in New Zealand

We’re back in business with 10 AI events happening this week across Auckland, Christchurch, and online — the school holiday lull might be easing up.

This week’s featured event:

💼  AI Roles Around Aotearoa

Picklist of 🌶️ HOT 🌶️ roles in AI.

🤦‍♂️ AI Fail Of The Week

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

Remember to stay in school, kids.

That’s all for this week!

Got news, events, or jobs? Hit reply - we love spotlighting what's happening across Aotearoa!

Until next week,

👋 Mike & Erin