This paper introduces a group of novel datasets representing real-time time-series and streaming data of energy prices in New Zealand, sourced from the Electricity Market Information (EMI) website maintained by the New Zealand government. The datasets are intended to address the scarcity of proper datasets for streaming regression learning tasks. We conduct extensive analyses and experiments on these datasets, covering preprocessing techniques, regression tasks, prediction intervals, concept drift detection, and anomaly detection. Our experiments demonstrate the datasets' utility and highlight the challenges and opportunities for future research in energy price forecasting.

The New Zealand government identified numerous challenges related to trust and truth in the context of digital technologies. These challenges result from an ever-increasing amount of online social networks, end-to-end digital supply chains, automated decision-making tools, generative artificial intelligence (AI), and cyber-physical systems. Such challenges impact people's lives across professional and private contexts and led to the Veracity Projecta 2021–2024. Outside the field of computing, veracity is not a common term in everyday language. One dictionary definition is "conformity with truth or fact."b

From car insurance quotes to which posts you see on social media, our online lives are guided by invisible, inscrutable algorithms. They help private companies and governments make decisions -- or automate them altogether -- using massive amounts of data. But despite how crucial they are to everyday life, most people don't understand how algorithms use their data to make decisions, which means serious problems can go undetected. The New Zealand government has a plan to address this problem with what officials are calling the world's first algorithm charter: a set of rules and principles for government agencies to follow when implementing algorithms that allow people to peek under the hood. By leading the way with responsible algorithm oversight, New Zealand hopes to set a model for other countries by demonstrating the value of transparency about how algorithms affect daily life.

In his blog post on artificial intelligence (AI), GovTech Graduate Jonathan Manning draws on the New Zealand Law Foundation: Government use of artificial intelligence in New Zealand (the NZFL report) to discuss the role and effectiveness of explanation tools. As algorithms and AI become ubiquitous we all become'data subjects' to organisations such as governments and businesses. In response, regulations such as the EU's General Data Protection Regulation are beginning to emerge. The New Zealand government is currently exploring how governments, business and society can work together to meet the challenge of regulating AI. A part of this challenge is ensuring when things like algorithmic harm arise, we can explain what happened and why so that mistakes can be fixed and not repeated or obscured.

The New Zealand Government has awarded NZ$13 million ($12.1 million) in funding to the University of Waikato for a new research project aimed at helping New Zealanders solve the nation's critical environmental problems. The funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Strategic Science Investment Fund will be spread over seven years. It will be used to support the university's Time-Evolving Data Science/Artificial Intelligence for Advanced Open Environmental Science (TAIAO) project. The TAIAO project will involve the development of new machine learning methods for time series and data streams tailored to processing large quantities of data collected on the New Zealand environment. It is being conducted as part of a collaboration between the Universities of Waikato, Auckland and Canterbury, Beca and MetService. It has the participation of highly qualified data scientists, data engineers and environmental scientists.

New Zealand is a leader in government use of artificial intelligence (AI). It is part of a global network of countries that use predictive algorithms in government decision making, for anything from the optimal scheduling of public hospital beds to whether an offender should be released from prison, based on their likelihood of reoffending, or the efficient processing of simple insurance claims. But the official use of AI algorithms in government has been in the spotlight in recent years. On the plus side, AI can enhance the accuracy, efficiency and fairness of day-to-day decision making. But concerns have also been expressed regarding transparency, meaningful human control, data protection and bias.

An action plan and ethical framework are critical to ensuring that people are educated and upskilled on artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. This is according to New Zealand Minister for Government Digital Services and Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Clare Curran. Curran spoke about the issue at the launch of the Artificial Intelligence: Shaping a Future New Zealand report, which outlines the opportunities and challenges for New Zealand in adopting AI. "An ethical framework will give people the tools to participate in conversations about AI and its implications in our society and economy," Curran said. "As a first step and because of the importance of ethics and governance issues around AI, I will be formalising the government's relationship with Otago University's NZ Law Foundation Centre for Law and Policy in Emerging Technologies. "There are economic opportunities but also some pressing risks and ethical challenges with AI, and New Zealand is lagging behind comparable countries in its work in these areas.

A group from the University of Otago has called for the implementation of laws to regulate and govern the development and use of AI and machine learning in New Zealand. Colin Gavaghan has spoken out as a representative of the Artificial Intelligence and Law in New Zealand Project (AILNZP) - he is an Associate Professor at Otago's Faculty of Law and the director of the NZ Law Foundation sponsored Centre for Law and Policy in Emerging Technologies. In an article published recently, Gavaghan cites the concerns around Immigration New Zealand, ACC, and The Ministry for Social Development's use of predictive analytics systems as reasons that now is the time to consider a regulatory body to oversee the rising use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems in New Zealand Government departments. "These systems can be of great use, but there must be more transparency about how predictive systems are being used in government," says Gavaghan in the article. Considering the amount of data that business and industry are collecting about their clients and customers, there seemed to be a lack of discussion in the article around whether this oversight should extend into the private sphere.

A group from the University of Otago has called for the implementation of laws to regulate and govern the development and use of AI and machine learning in New Zealand. Colin Gavaghan has spoken out as a representative of the Artificial Intelligence and Law in New Zealand Project (AILNZP) - he is an Associate Professor at Otago's Faculty of Law and the director of the NZ Law Foundation sponsored Centre for Law and Policy in Emerging Technologies. In an article published recently, Gavaghan cites the concerns around Immigration New Zealand, ACC, and The Ministry for Social Development's use of predictive analytics systems as reasons that now is the time to consider a regulatory body to oversee the rising use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems in New Zealand Government departments. "These systems can be of great use, but there must be more transparency about how predictive systems are being used in government," says Gavaghan in the article. Considering the amount of data that business and industry are collecting about their clients and customers, there seemed to be a lack of discussion in the article around whether this oversight should extend into the private sphere.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. Kitty Hawk, an aviation company backed by Google co-founder and Alphabet CEO Larry Page, unveiled its autonomous air taxi, named Cora, on Monday*. The two-person passenger vehicle, which has rotors along its wings so it can take off like a helicopter and then fly like a plane without a runway, has undergone a number of "stealth" test flights in New Zealand since October. Kitty Hawk announced that it has been working with the New Zealand government to prepare a fleet of Coras for commercial use over the past 18 months. The company has also been developing a ride-hailing app for the future travel service. So what exactly is this flying taxi capable of?