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Published (non-binding, current)Non-binding · Strategy / action plan

New Zealand's Strategy for Artificial Intelligence: Investing with confidence (Accelerating Private Sector AI Adoption and Innovation)

Record NZ-02

Issued by
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE)
Jurisdiction
New Zealand
Level · region
National · Oceania
Published / adopted
2025-07
Language
English

Summary

New Zealand's first AI strategy, deliberately focused on practical adoption of AI by businesses rather than high-end development. It takes a light-touch, principles-based approach: existing frameworks such as privacy, consumer protection and human rights law apply and are to be updated as new risks arise, with no regulatory overlay beyond existing law. It confirms New Zealand's adoption of the OECD AI Principles, including robustness, security and safety and accountability, points businesses to the companion Responsible AI Guidance for Businesses, and commits to work in global AI governance fora, including on protecting people from harmful or negligent AI use.

Safety topics

international cooperationaccountability & liability

Scope

Borderline scope Light-touch adoption-focused strategy with limited safety content (OECD principles, existing-law approach); inclusion with a scope note is consistent with the strategy precedents.

Status notes

Published in July 2025 by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, with a foreword by Shane Reti, Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology, together with the companion Responsible AI Guidance for Businesses (NZ-03). It complements the work on AI in the public sector led by the Minister for Digitising Government. MBIE states that it used AI to develop aspects of the strategy.

Sources

Open the official source https://www.mbie.govt.nz/business-and-employment/economic-growth/digital-policy/new-zealands-ai-strategy-investing-with-confidence

Local copy

Archived, needs review. The site returned a JavaScript bot-check page (web application firewall) instead of the document. The browser retry also failed (HTTP 403 (in browser)). Last attempt 2026-10-17 21:35:58 UTC

Official source (third-party copy, not published) archive/NZ-02/2026-10-11/official.html
Retrieved 2026-10-11 14:01:43 UTC
SHA-256 d02032286070b4dd9d8fbd985a7bdca8af8edf52b89ff177db3bfcb2c8a9c43d

Warning: The site returned a JavaScript bot-check page (web application firewall) instead of the document

Verification

A
The instrument's own official text, or an official register, was stored and confirms the title, date and status. checked 2026-10-17 · official-url-fetched
Recheck of 17 Oct 2026: every stored copy of the MBIE strategy page (11 and 17 Oct 2026, also with the browser retry) is a JavaScript bot-check page of the site's web application firewall (Incapsula), and so are MBIE's news release and the Cabinet minute requested in this run. The strategy itself was stored in this run as a 22-page PDF from mbie.govt.nz; it confirms the title, July 2025, MBIE as publisher, the minister's foreword, the light-touch and principles-based approach, the OECD AI Principles, the companion business guidance and the international commitments. Version 1's notes said the web page did not explicitly state the existing-laws approach (the PDF states it) and showed 'Last updated: 22 October 2025', a web page stamp.
Second check: Independent check by Claude Code (claude-sonnet-5-5), 2026-10-17: 7 field(s) supported, fixes applied to scope_note.

History

  1. 2026-10-17scope_note: Mainly an adoption strategy with limited safety and risk content; included as th → Light-touch adoption-focused strategy with limited safety content (OECD principl — pipeline run 2026-10-17-recheck-europe-3 (recheck), candidate NZ-022026-10-17-recheck-europe-3 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
  2. 2026-10-17notes: Published in July 2025, alongside the Responsible AI Guidance for Businesses. Th → Published in July 2025 by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, w — the research remarks moved to verification.note; the minister's foreword, the public-sector link and MBIE's use of AI added from the PDF2026-10-17-recheck-europe-3 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
  3. 2026-10-17summary: New Zealand's first national AI strategy. It focuses on speeding up private-sect → New Zealand's first AI strategy, deliberately focused on practical adoption of A — rewritten from the strategy's text: the light-touch, principles-based approach, the updating of existing frameworks as new risks arise, the OECD AI Principles and the international commitment added2026-10-17-recheck-europe-3 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
  4. 2026-10-17date_last_updated: 2025-10-22 → – — set to null: by version 1's own notes, 22 October 2025 was the MBIE web page's 'Last updated' stamp, a web page edit; the strategy PDF shows only July 20252026-10-17-recheck-europe-3 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
  5. 2026-10-17title: New Zealand's AI Strategy: Investing with confidence (Accelerating Private Secto → New Zealand's Strategy for Artificial Intelligence: Investing with confidence (A — the strategy's own title on its cover is 'New Zealand's Strategy for Artificial Intelligence: Investing with confidence'; version 1 used the web page's 'New Zealand's AI Strategy'2026-10-17-recheck-europe-3 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
  6. 2026-10-14scope_note: – → Mainly an adoption strategy with limited safety and risk content; included as th — borderline under the include-and-flag rules of issue #22026-10-14-issue-2-scope-notes · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
  7. 2026-10-14notes: Published in July 2025, alongside the Responsible AI Guidance for Businesses. Sa → Published in July 2025, alongside the Responsible AI Guidance for Businesses. Th — scope caveat moved to scope_note2026-10-14-issue-2-scope-notes · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)

Related records

NZ Responsible AI Guidance for Businesses New Zealand · Published (non-binding, current)

NZ Public Service AI Framework New Zealand · Published (non-binding, current)

Citation

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). New Zealand's Strategy for Artificial Intelligence: Investing with confidence (Accelerating Private Sector AI Adoption and Innovation). 2025-07. https://www.mbie.govt.nz/business-and-employment/economic-growth/digital-policy/new-zealands-ai-strategy-investing-with-confidence. Status: Published (non-binding, current); verified 2026-10-17 (level A). Local copy archive/NZ-02/2026-10-11/official.html retrieved 2026-10-11 14:01:43 UTC, SHA-256 d02032286070b4dd9d8fbd985a7bdca8af8edf52b89ff177db3bfcb2c8a9c43d. Every AI Policy Ever, version 1.18 (snapshot 2026-10-18), record NZ-02.

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