On July 25, 2024, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) adopted a paper that seeks agreement on a strategic approach to artificial intelligence (AI) in New Zealand to provide confidence to the public service and wider economy to safely develop, innovate, and use AI technology. The paper highlights that while New Zealanders are quick to adopt new technology, businesses are slow to embrace AI due to regulatory uncertainty, necessitating a light-touch, risk-based approach to AI regulation, coordinated government action, and alignment with international AI norms to unlock innovation and economic potential.

What were the challenges identified in the paper?

The paper notes that New Zealand is behind in the adoption of AI due to several challenges as identified through surveys, including:

• mistrust of AI - fears that it may be used for malicious purposes, be unregulated, cause harm to people, and threaten the security of personal data;
• low uptake of AI in organizations - due to lack of AI skills and strategic vision, access to data, costs of AI solutions, and regulatory uncertainty regarding its legal and ethical implications;
• limited adoption of AI in the public service - due to a lack of support in managing privacy, security, and ethics/bias concerns and in retaining scarce AI skill sets; and
• not prioritizing international engagement on AI that can inform domestic policy development.

What are the proposed solutions to address the challenges?

The paper identifies that a clear strategic approach to AI is necessary and outlines these in five domains, including:

• setting a strategic approach by encouraging the use of AI to deliver results for people in New Zealand, taking a proportionate, risk-based approach to AI regulation, and giving effect to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) AI Principles;
• enabling safe AI innovation in public services by proposing that the Government Chief Digital Officer (GCDO) empower agencies to safely trial and scale their use of AI;
• harnessing AI in the New Zealand economy by proposing that the MBIE provide risk management-based guidance to organizations and an AI roadmap to support AI uptake in the private sector;
• prioritizing engagement on international rules and norms by proposing that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) coordinate New Zealand's engagement with partners on international AI initiatives such as the AI Safety Summit; and
• coordinating with work on national security through the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) as the lead strategic coordination agency for emerging, critical, and sensitive technologies (ECST) for national security.

You can read the paper here.