Driving growth through New Zealand’s National AI Strategy

In July 2025, the New Zealand Government launched its National Strategy for AI Adoption, a forward-thinking roadmap designed to unlock significant AI-driven growth opportunities for businesses across the country. This strategy positions AI as a critical lever to accelerate innovation, operational efficiency, and competitive advantage while ensuring ethical governance and workforce readiness.

Businesses are now challenged to move beyond isolated AI projects and embed AI responsibly and strategically across their operations. Here's what that means in practice: if you're using AI tools today - whether that's Microsoft Copilot, custom ML models, or even ChatGPT in daily workflows - you already need a governance framework. Most NZ businesses don't have one, and that gap is where the strategy becomes your problem to solve.

What is the National AI Strategy?

The strategy is structured around five core pillars, each designed to support growth through responsible AI adoption:

1. Trusted and responsible AI systems

Prioritising human-centred values, fairness, transparency, and robust security to build AI systems that customers and regulators can trust.

2. Workforce development and skills

Upskilling and training initiatives that prepare New Zealand’s workforce for the evolving demands of AI-enhanced roles, ensuring businesses have the talent to innovate and scale.

3. Innovation and adoption enablement

Incentives, funding, and frameworks that encourage businesses to experiment with and implement AI technologies, unlocking new revenue streams and operational efficiencies.

4. Cross-sector collaboration

Partnerships between government, industry, academia, and Māori organisations to foster inclusive growth and ensure AI benefits are broadly shared.

5. Ethical and equitable AI governance

Embedding equity, accessibility, and ethical standards to reduce bias and protect data privacy, fostering social licence and market acceptance.

Aligned with international best practices such as the OECD AI Principles, the strategy tailors these frameworks to New Zealand’s unique cultural and regulatory context.

Why this matters to your business: Growth through responsible AI

The National AI Strategy creates clear imperatives and significant opportunities, for businesses aiming to lead with AI:

• Accelerate digital transformation by embedding AI into your workflows

• Build stakeholder trust with visible governance and transparency

• Improve operational efficiency with secure automation and scalable systems

• Stay ahead of regulation and future procurement expectations

• Position your brand as a leader in responsible innovation

Businesses that align early with these principles position themselves to capitalise on AI’s full potential while mitigating emerging risks. The question isn't whether to align with these principles. It's whether you document your alignment now, or explain your gaps later.

Who owns AI governance in your organisation right now?

If the answer is "no one" or "IT, I guess," you're not alone. We see this in 70% of NZ businesses we assess. The problem? When something goes wrong - data leak, compliance breach, biased decision - it becomes everyone's problem, fast.

The strategy doesn't create new risks, it just makes existing ones visible.

Practical steps to align with NZ’s AI Strategy

Most organisations we work with think they're at step 3 or 4. Then we run an assessment and discover they're missing foundational controls at step 1. Here's the actual order of operations: 

1. Conduct a comprehensive AI maturity assessment

Review your AI initiatives, governance structures, skillsets, and technical controls to identify gaps and opportunities.

2. Develop a strategic AI roadmap

Prioritise AI projects that balance growth potential with manageable risk and define governance and capability milestones.

3. Integrate governance into development pipelines

Embed automated compliance, explainability, bias mitigation, and security checks into your DevOps workflows. (If you're not sure what this means for your setup, that's exactly why we start with an assessment.)

4. Implement targeted training programs

Build continuous learning paths across leadership, technical, and operational teams to embed responsible AI practices.

5. Partner with NSP for expert guidance and support

Leverage NSP’s expertise for co-creating governance frameworks, tooling implementation, and ongoing advisory to future-proof your AI investments.

What happens if you wait?

You'll keep using AI tools, your team will keep experimenting, your risk exposure will keep growing and when regulators, auditors, or insurers start asking questions - and they will - you'll be building the governance plane while the AI plane is already in flight.

We're not saying the sky is falling. We're saying the compliance expectations are already forming, and businesses that document their AI controls now will have a much easier conversation in 12 months than those who don't.

What NSP can do to help your business with AI adoption

If you're wondering where to start, we've helped many New Zealand SME's and here's what usually happens:

Week 1: We assess what you're actually doing with AI (not what you think you're doing).
Week 2-3: We identify your biggest governance gaps and rank them by risk and effort.
Week 4+: We build the framework, policies, and controls you need, integrated into what you already use.

Then we hand it over. You own it, and we're there if you need us.

That looks like:

• Strategic AI roadmapping

  We collaborate with your leadership to identify high-impact AI use cases aligned with business goals and compliance demands.

• Custom governance frameworks

  NSP designs policies addressing ethics, transparency, bias mitigation, security, and regulatory requirements, integrated seamlessly into your risk management.

• Secure DevOps and pipeline integration

  Embedding automated testing, compliance checks, traceability, and audit controls into your AI development pipelines for robust governance.

• Training and advisory services

  Empowering your teams with skills in AI ethics, secure development, bias detection, and continuous monitoring to foster innovation with trust.

• Ongoing risk and compliance monitoring

  Providing continuous validation and threat assessment to keep your AI initiatives aligned with evolving standards and emerging risks.

Our partnership approach ensures your AI adoption journey balances innovation speed with operational assurance, accelerating your path to measurable growth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do we actually need AI governance if we're only using standard tools like Copilot?

Yes. The moment you connect an AI tool to your business data, you have governance exposure. Microsoft doesn't know your data retention policies, consent requirements, or regulatory obligations. You do, and that's what governance documents.

Even "just using Copilot" means someone needs to answer: Who can use it? What data can it access? How do we handle errors? What happens if it generates something risky?

Most organisations realise this after the first incident, not before.

Is the National AI Strategy legally binding?

Currently, it serves as a guiding framework encouraging responsible AI adoption. Future legislation may be introduced based on implementation progress and stakeholder input.

How does the strategy affect private sector companies?

While initially focused on public service, its principles are increasingly adopted as best practices across sectors. Early compliance positions businesses for future regulatory environments and market leadership.

What risks do businesses face if they ignore this strategy?

Potential reputational damage, regulatory scrutiny, increased insurance costs, and barriers in procurement and partnership opportunities.

Can NSP integrate AI governance into existing workflows?

Yes. NSP specialises in embedding AI governance tools and processes seamlessly into your current development and operations pipelines.

Are AI governance tools alone sufficient?

No. Effective governance combines technology with human oversight, clear policies, ongoing training, and ethical frameworks.

Are you ready to drive growth with AI in New Zealand?

The National AI Strategy is your business blueprint for sustainable, trusted AI innovation. NSP partners with you to translate strategy into action, embedding trust, capability, and control at every stage.

Let NSP guide your AI journey to accelerate growth for your business

We'll review your current AI usage, identify your biggest blind spots, and map a realistic implementation plan. 

Not ready to talk? Download our AI Governance Readiness Checklist - a  doc that shows you exactly what auditors, insurers, and regulators will ask about your AI controls. > AI Governance Readiness Checklist