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AI Adoption in NZ - what does that mean for Education?
This past weekend, I dug deep into all the key 2025 AI reports (from NZ's AI Strategy and the AI Forum NZ, to Microsoft and PwC). Over the year, I had popped all the reports as they came out, into a Google NotebookLM to help us dive deep into an important question: What is the practical impact of these jargon filled business reports on our schools and, most importantly, on our kids?
With the help of NotebookLM (as they were long, full of business jargon), I went through analysing the analysis, and translating those high-level corporate findings into clear, actionable insights for us in education. Business/workforce is the eventual destination for our students, and Education is the essential bridge. We absolutely need to know what capabilities our kids require before they enter the workforce.
The overall picture is genuinely exciting. Aotearoa's businesses are embracing AI at an impressive pace. However, the data highlights two critical areas where we need to focus our attention: trust and the necessary skills upgrade.
Here is our 2025 AI Adoption analysis, specifically tailored for school principals and educators.
1. Integration | Where are we at?
The core statistics are pretty mind blowing: 82% to 87% of NZ businesses report they are now using AI. We have officially passed the tipping point; AI is no longer an experiment, it's a pretty much an expectation.
This reminds me of the 'dance floor' analogy we often use in our summits. Last year, at our first events, the music was just starting, and only the early adopters were brave enough to start that dance floor. Now, the music is pumping, and the reports confirm it: people can see the dance floor is fun, and they’re joining too. The excitement is undeniable, but it's pretty important we check how people are actually dancing (because as we know, some dancing is pretty questionable!). If a business is simply using a generative AI tool as a replacement for Google Search, or to draft an email, or summarise a report - is that real integration? To me - I'd say that is quite low level and superficial.
The Education Lens:
We must be careful not to make the same mistake in our schools. Simply "using" AI is fundamentally different from being "AI Ready." With almost 90% of the future workforce expected to use these tools, our students need more than just a surface-level introduction. Their focus must be on leveraging AI for complex problem-solving and innovation, not merely information retrieval. This deep work is exactly what we explore in our AI EmpowerED Students Summits.
2. Avoiding Pilot Failure
The initial good news is pretty impressive - productivity gains are being reported as legitimate. 93% of surveyed businesses report demonstrable efficiency improvements.
However, often, only 40% of businesses report a measurable, impactful outcome from their initial pilot projects.
That 40% is key. The businesses seeing the real rewards are those who have moved beyond simple one off workshops or trials. They aren't just slotting AI into old ways of doing things; they are re-engineering fundamental workflows and, in some cases, eliminating tasks entirely.
The Education Lens:
Schools are at a real risk of getting stuck in "one off workshops - tick done." Using AI to draft a lesson plan is a good starting point, but it's shallow integration. Deep integration requires us to ask transformative questions: How can AI allow us to completely redesign assessment? How does it free up teacher time for high-impact pastoral care and targeted student support? This shift from just 'doing old things faster' to 're-engineering workflows' has been the central theme of our AI in Teaching Summits.
3. We have trust issues
This is perhaps the most vital finding for schools. While adoption is high, societal trust in AI remains fragile.
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Only 34% of Kiwis actually trust AI systems.
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A worrying 67% are concerned about the misuse of personal data.
The Education Lens:
Schools have some of the most important and precious data in our country - our children’s. While the business world races for productivity, schools must always operate at the speed of trust. Our schools don't have trust if there is no policy or guidelines to support AI implementation. We need robust, clear governance frameworks that protect student privacy while still enabling purposeful innovation. This is the why our Leadership and Guidelines Summits have been so popular, where we focus on practical, contextualised policy and guideline development.
4. The "Smart Adopter" Skill
The government's new AI Strategy (July 2025) explicitly positions New Zealanders not primarily as the builders of foundation models, but as "Smart Adopters" (individuals who can take powerful global tools and apply them effectively to local, uniquely Kiwi challenges).
The Education Lens:
This highlights a significant pedagogical shift.
We don't need to teach every student how to code a neural network. We absolutely need to teach them to be critical thinkers, problem solvers and effective communicators.
The core capability we must cultivate is clear: Can our students take a powerful tool like Gemini, Co-Pilot, or ChatGPT and apply it effectively to an authentic problem unique to Aotearoa? That is the core "Smart Adopter" skill set.
Achieving this shift requires more than just talking about AI. A single staff meeting or one-off teacher-only day is simply not enough to gain any meaningful traction in this space. This strategic focus on leading the implementation of AI across the entire curriculum is imperative.
Yes, we know the environment is challenging. Schools are already busy, complex, and demanding, juggling huge curriculum changes. BUT AI is not going away. Ignoring it means ignoring a tool with massive potential to enhance learning, efficiency, and equity. We must move past initial trials and integrate this capability systemically.
So now what?
The momentum is undeniable. 2025 marks the year NZ got serious about AI adoption, moving from the brave few to the eager many. But for us in education, the stakes are profoundly different.
Our professional responsibility is to use AI strategically. It must free up our teachers' capacity and create the necessary room for those crucial human interactions, rather than pushing them aside. It is also our professional and moral duty to build the skills required to close the impending workforce shortage, and the ethical literacy needed to bridge that trust gap.
Where is your school currently situated?
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➡️ Are you preparing "Smart Adopters," or are you primarily focused on blocking the tools?
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➡️ Are you re-engineering key workflows, or just doing old tasks faster?
We're here to help you navigate this change strategically. If you want to unpack what the "Smart Adopter" strategy looks like in practical classroom delivery, let's connect and have a chat.
Bex Rose Director, AI Surge www.aisurge.com.au
Reports that made my NotebookLM
New Zealand's AI Strategy - Investing with confidence (July 2025) (Core source for the "Smart Adopter" mandate)
Addressing barriers to AI uptake in New Zealand
NZ's New AI Economy Report 2025
AI in Action: Key findings from New Zealand's third AI productivity report
AI adoption in Aotearoa is accelerating, now it's time to scale
Trust, Attitudes and Use of AI
Trust, Attitudes and Use of AI: New Zealand Snapshot 2025
Understanding Aotearoa New Zealand: Ipsos AI Monitor 2025
New Zealand's AI Adoption: A comprehensive analysis in 2025
One NZ AI Report
