One.nz released their AI Trust Report New Zealanders’ attitudes towards AI in 2025 today. Interestingly, it aligns to the research done by the AI Forum, PSA, InternetNZ, DataCom and many other New Zealand initiated research on AI.
While One.nz report didn’t mention Māori or Pacifika, it did report on specific concerns about women and elderly, that mirror that of Māori communities from other research.
Key findings from the One NZ AI Trust Report include:
- AI use is now widespread: 77% of New Zealanders have interacted with AI-powered services in the past year
- Trust is fragile: 62% say they would stop using a company if they had concerns about its AI use
- Top concerns: Misuse of personal data (67%), job losses (65%), and unfair decision-making (62%)
- Essential safeguards: 87% believe strong data privacy protections are “important or essential”
- Recognised benefits: Kiwis see value in AI for boosting productivity (43%), cybersecurity (42%), and innovation (41%)
- Industry differences: Government, banking, and healthcare face greater challenges in building public confidence in their AI practices
- Size matters: Kiwis are much more likely to trust small businesses and large NZ businesses to use AI ethically and responsibly, compared to multinational companies
- Trust: Businesses that fail to earn trust will fail to realise AI’s full potential
- Sustainability concerns: While some see AI’s potential for environmental gains, 48% worry about energy consumption and greenwashing
- Success: Communication, training and transparency were key.
- Governance: A need to implement sector-appropriate AI governance frameworks,
- Humans: We need to ensure meaningful human oversight of AI systems, design escalation pathways to human assistance,
and develop demographic-specific communication strategies.
Bias: 62% are concerned about incorrect or unfair decision-making by AI systems - Sustainability: more recognise AI potential to reduce waste than to address broader issues like climate change, but there are many concerns and large awareness.
All aspects of Aotearoa New Zealand civil society, businesses, academia and Māori seem to have the same fears and concerns and largely want better data privacy and for AI to be regulated.
Good AI governance, transparency, diversity and ethics are essential for any New Zealand organisations who want to maximise AI tools, and boost productivity for New Zealand.