NZ: Trust Imperative for AI Adoption
Source: futurefive.co.nz
New Zealanders Want Ethical AI
A study commissioned by One NZ indicates that New Zealanders consider transparency and trust vital for AI adoption. The One NZ AI Trust Report showed that 77% of New Zealanders have used AI services in the past year. However, nearly half do not trust large companies to use AI ethically.
Key Findings
The study, which included 1,000 New Zealanders, revealed that 62% would stop using a company's services if they had AI concerns. The main worries were personal data misuse (67%), job losses (65%), and unfair decision-making (62%). The report noted AI's increasing presence but highlighted a significant trust gap regarding larger organisations' usage.
The survey also found that 87% of New Zealanders feel strong data privacy is important for AI deployment. Respondents also saw potential benefits, such as increased productivity (43%), stronger cybersecurity (42%), and innovation opportunities (41%).
Trust Across Industries
The findings suggest that government, banking, and healthcare face greater challenges in gaining public trust for their AI use. New Zealanders tend to trust small businesses and domestic firms more than multinational companies to use AI responsibly. Sustainability concerns were also present, with 48% worried about AI energy consumption and potential greenwashing.
The report advises New Zealand businesses to prioritise trust by implementing transparent and human-centred AI systems, with clear communication, robust governance, and a commitment to fairness.
One NZ's Perspective
One NZ Chief Executive Officer Jason Paris stated that New Zealand has a significant opportunity to boost productivity with AI, but only if the public trusts its ethical use. He said the report was commissioned to understand New Zealanders' views and help businesses use AI ethically and transparently. He added that companies that fail to earn trust will not fully realise AI's potential.
The study indicates that many New Zealanders see value in AI with effective oversight and safeguards. The report provides a roadmap for businesses to gain and maintain public trust in AI.
Paris noted that One NZ has been building its approach on ethics and data privacy frameworks, and is seeing positive results like better customer experiences and increased fraud protection.
Paris also stated that businesses that lead in AI will be chosen by Kiwis, emphasizing concerns about data usage, autonomous decisions, and job impacts. He stressed the importance of transparency and human support, advocating for communication, training, and staff AI skills development.
He concluded that a robust network is essential for harnessing AI's transformative power and that AI requires a great connectivity network to underpin it. A robust, high performance, and secure network isn't a nice-to-have - it's essential for organisations to be able to truly harness the transformative power of AI.