NZ's $3.4B AI Opportunity

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

Thanks to your feedback in last week’s survey, you’ll notice a slightly new look and feel coming to The AI Corner:

1. We’ve pulled back on the Aussie news. BUT, we do have ideas for your market - get in touch if you want to collaborate.

2. We’ve reduced the longer reads.

3. Increased the number of bite-sized stories.

4. We’ll introduce more practical AI use cases to apply in your work right away.

On that note… Are you a builder and want to be featured by The AI Corner?
👇 Drop us a line to let us know about your build (AI tool, workflow, or use case) 👇

And, we’re proud to partner with the University of Canterbury's Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering to share their Gen-AI course, a natural alignment with our mission to make AI more accessible, practical, and impactful.

Happy reading ✌️

This week’s highlights:

🏛️ NZ Public Service goes all-in on Microsoft
🏥 AI helps 10,000 Kiwi health staff cut admin
⚡ US public backlash on AI hits tipping point
🍎 Kiwi edtech gives teachers weekends back
⚡ Real-time AI shields rugby from online hate
📉 Just 20% of Kiwi firms plan to hire AI talent
🎓 AI now marks 60k NZ student assessments
🛡️ Denmark launches crackdown on deepfakes

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HEADLINE STORY

💰 NZ's $3.4B AI roadmap opportunity revealed by Microsoft

📣 Word On The Street: New Microsoft research shows NZ should invest in applications and infrastructure rather than chips, tooling, and data.

🔍 Zooming In:

• AI applications could generate $2.1B by 2035, driven by healthtech, agritech and fintech sectors. Apps and data centres represent 90% of our total AI economic potential.

• NZ's 88% renewable energy makes us prime location for sustainable AI data centre investment

• 90% of AI startup funding came from overseas in 2023, highlighting local investment shortfall.

🏘️ Our Take: We're sitting on a massive AI opportunity that plays to our natural strengths. The report's clear that we need to move fast on three fronts.

1. Government must fast-track data centre approvals while scaling renewable energy capacity.

2. Businesses should start AI upskilling now - Microsoft's already committed to training 100,000 Kiwis.

3. Most critically, we need local investors to step up since 90% of our AI funding currently comes from overseas.

Microsoft's research exposes our Achilles heel - we're brilliant at innovation but rubbish at keeping talent and investment local. The countries that act decisively in the next 24 months will dominate the AI economy for decades. If we don’t fix these deficiencies now, our $3.4B opportunity will migrate to Australia and Singapore.

📊 AI in the Workforce & AI Adoption

Only 20% of Kiwi companies are planning to hire AI specialists in the next 18 months. A survey of 850+ business leaders shows 51% haven't changed workforce planning for AI yet. Meanwhile, 86% of leaders think AI will boost their teams versus just 56% of workers who see benefits.
2-min read.

• Our take: This optimism gap between bosses and staff could derail AI adoption faster than any technical barrier. Companies need to bridge this divide before their top talent depart for AI-forward companies.

🏛️ Government & Legal

Kiwi lawyers just confirmed your ChatGPT legal chats aren't privileged. Russell McVeagh confirms ChatGPT conversations can be disclosed in NZ litigation under High Court Rules.
4-min read.

• Our take: Every Kiwi company using ChatGPT for legal questions now faces discovery risk. Time to update those AI policies before the next commercial dispute.

Public Service Commission is going all-in on Microsoft's AI stack in a four-phase government transformation. Copilot, Copilot Chat, and Copilot Agents lead the charge with deployment starting August after a July business case review.
3-min read.

• Our take: This could mean faster passport applications and smoother government interactions for all Kiwis. The real test will be whether AI actually improves public service delivery or just creates digital bureaucracy.

American venture capitalists want to turn New Zealand into their "sandbox" for testing AI and genetic engineering. Prime Minister Luxon's meetings with firms like Andreessen Horowitz led to tax changes for foreign investment funds and relaxed visa settings. The Government has already loosened gene technology restrictions and created streamlined "golden visa" pathways.
4-min read.

• Our take: When Silicon Valley's biggest players specifically request policy changes and get them within months, that's either smart economic strategy or regulatory capture.

🎓 Education

NZQA just deployed AI to mark 60,000 student writing assessments. Three years of pilots showed AI markers match human consistency with 40% getting backup checks.
2-min read.

• Our take: The confidence level here is striking - if this works (early data suggests it does), AI-powered education assessment could transform how quickly students learn and improve.

A Kiwi startup is giving teachers their weekends back with AI that actually understands New Zealand classrooms. Teacher's Buddy handles everything from NCEA-aligned marking to differentiated content for neurodiverse students.
2-min read.

• Our take: This addresses the teacher burnout crisis by automating admin without losing the human touch that makes great education. When AI can scaffold activities for diverse learners while reflecting school values, technology serves teachers instead of overwhelming them.

🏥 Healthcare

AI is quietly transforming how 10,000 Kiwi healthcare workers deliver care to your elderly relatives. New Zealand Health Group's AI scribe listens to conversations between clinicians and clients, generating notes automatically. Clinical staff report 50% time savings on documentation, allowing more face-to-face patient care.
3-min read.

• Our take: When robots handle rostering and AI writes clinical notes, healthcare workers can focus on what actually matters - human connection and care. The productivity gains could help address our chronic healthcare staffing shortages.

🛒 What else is on the shelf

🔎 How Fonterra reduced its R&D time.
1-min watch.

🎓 University of Auckland just dropped their Gen-AI Action Plan.
1-min read.

💼 AI is positively reshaping career paths for young Kiwis.
4-min read.

✂️ Kiwi software developer taught himself to build robotic hair clippers.
4-min read.

💰 Sevaka raised $1M to put AI inside every KiwiSaver provider's back office.
2-min read.

🎙️ Latest from The AI Corner podcast

Our next guest is John-Daniel Trask, CEO of Raygun and AutoHive, returning to talk about the launch of Autohive.

JD Trask returns to share what it takes to launch an AI Agent platform from New Zealand, and why he believes AI isn’t just for developers, it’s for everyone. We dive into the launch of AutoHive, the risks facing mid-performers, and how AI is reshaping the future of work, starting now.

Listen on Spotify or YouTube 🎧

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🌍 The News from Global

🛡️ Denmark targets deepfake epidemic. The government plans to ban sharing deepfake imagery with what officials call "among the most extensive steps yet taken" by any nation to combat AI misinformation. The proposed legislation covers all digitally manipulated content - not just explicit material like most countries focus on.
2-min read.

⚡ AI backlash reaches tipping point. American AI concern has hit 52% - up from 38% before generative AI arrived - and shows no signs of cooling. Duolingo's "AI-first" announcement sparked viral protests and hidden social media videos, reflecting broader frustration with workplace automation. Critics organise against data centres polluting marginalised communities while the technology's benefits accrue to those already wealthy.
5-min read.

⚡ Real-time AI shields rugby from online hate. Australia's rugby establishment deploys cutting-edge abuse detection technology across all levels of the sport. Social Protect's AI scans social media feeds continuously, removing harmful content instantly while building evidence trails. The system quarantined 1,500+ abusive comments during initial testing on national team accounts.
2-min read.

🚀 China closes AI algorithm gap. While America dominates chip technology, China is rapidly closing the algorithm gap according to former Microsoft AI chief Harry Shum. Shum says the chip gap "cannot be bridged in one or two years" but China should focus on algorithm breakthroughs instead. This strategy could reshape global AI competition as efficiency trumps raw computing power.
2-min read.

🌏 Tech Updates You Should Know

• OpenAI: Removed all mentions of $6.5B “io” acquisition due to trademark dispute with iyO; Device delayed to 2026, not a wearable; Building ChatGPT-based productivity tools to rival Office and Workspace; 2024 business revenue hit $600M, aiming for $15B by 2030; OpenAI is building productivity tools to rival Microsoft Office and Google Workspace.

• Meta: Hired four OpenAI researchers, including key o1 model contributor; Launched Oakley smart glasses with AI assistant, 3K video, $399; Tried to buy Perplexity, SSI, Thinking Machines, Runway; Won copyright lawsuit over AI training; In talks to acquire Play AI for voice cloning.

• Apple: Exploring Perplexity acquisition or partnership for AI search; Aims to cut reliance on $18B Google deal and boost Siri.

• Anthropic: Won landmark fair use ruling for training on purchased books; Faces trial over 7M pirated titles, up to $150K per book; Launched Claude app builder for no-code AI tools; 2.9% of Claude chats are emotional support, most are productivity.

• Google: Released Gemini CLI for terminal with 1M-token context; Dropped Gemma 3n for edge devices; Launched Imagen 4 and Colab AI Agent; Introduced Doppl app for AI outfit try-ons; Updated Gemini for more phone privacy; Launched Gemini Robotics for offline robot control.

• xAI: Developing Grok-based file editor with spreadsheet support; Targeting Workspace and Office users; Part of Musk's push to build the “everything app.”

• ElevenLabs: Launched 11ai voice assistant with Notion, Slack, Perplexity support; Offers 5,000+ voices and voice command workflows.

• Microsoft: Released Mu, 330M local language model for Copilot+ PCs; Handles Windows commands fast on-device; Clashing with OpenAI over AGI definitions and control.

• Salesforce: Unveiled Agentforce 3 with real-time agent tracking and open integrations.

• Amazon: Pledged $54B for UK AI and infrastructure expansion over 3 years.

• NVIDIA: AI data centre spend could hit $2T by 2028, doubling market cap to $6T.

• SoftBank: Masayoshi Son missed early OpenAI deal after Altman asked for $10B in 2019; Now investing $33.2B to catch up.

• Germany: Data watchdog urged Apple and Google to ban DeepSeek over China-linked privacy violations.

📚️ Levelling Up With AI

1️⃣ The Agent Era is about business, not definitions: AI Agents mean different things to different people. What matters is the new revenue models being.
🎧 2-min clip

2️⃣ What Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini would do in NZ for a day?
📸 View the post to find out

3️⃣ These are the roles AI can’t replace: AI is creating demand for trust, integration, and taste - and a wave of new job titles across each.
📄 Read the breakdown

📅 AI Events in New Zealand

Erin's scoured the internet far and wide, but we've found a surprisingly sparse 6 AI events across the country this week - the quietest we've seen since launching this newsletter in January!

This week’s featured event:

• AI Impacts and Preparation for Māori, Te Tiriti, Thur - Online: AI Impacts and Preparation for Māori - Hapū and Marae Sovereignty. Online panel exploring sovereign AI solutions for hapū and marae communities.

💼  AI Roles Around Aotearoa

Picklist of 🌶️ HOT 🌶️ roles in AI.

• Senior Applied AI & Analytics Scientist, Woolworths Group - Auckland

• Solution Designer & Developer, Whanganui District Council - Whanganui

• Māori Linguist, LILT AI - Remote

🤦‍♂️ 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 - we love spotlighting what's happening across Aotearoa!

Until next week,

👋 Mike & Erin