New Zealand First's AI White Paper Urges Investing in Artificial Intelligence Research

In terms of creating world-leading AI businesses, nurturing a pool of talented AI engineers, applying AI technologies to our government, agriculture, manufacturing, and service industries, and holding a meaningful national debate on the broader implications for society, the rapid development of AI technologies presents major opportunities and challenges for New Zealand. Hence, New Zealand must engage actively with AI now to ensure its future success. If New Zealand does not invest in artificial intelligence research, its AI capabilities will be limited to efficient software running on the clouds of giant multinational corporations, jeopardising the country's technological and data sovereignty. This was confirmed in the publication of New Zealand's first white paper, which claims that the country's universities and research institutes have "great breadth and potential" in AI research. The white paper recognised the importance of AI and emphasised the importance of establishing and investing in an AI ecosystem in which industry and research organisations can collaborate more closely for the benefit of Aotearoa New Zealand.