General-purpose AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude remain the most commonly used AI technology at 68%.<\/p>\n
But despite widespread adoption, businesses are struggling to move to the next phase of maturity.<\/p>\n
Only 15% of organisations are at the stage of scaling AI organisation-wide, up slightly from 12% in 2025.<\/p>\n
Those using AI to transform core operations actually dropped from 8% last year to 4%.<\/p>\n
(The research was conducted by Curia Market Research between July 28 and August 3, surveying 207 New Zealand senior business managers).<\/p>\n
Why is serious use of AI low and falling?<\/p>\n
One element is bill shock.<\/p>\n
The big AI players have shifted larger customers from set fees per employee per month to charging for how many AI \u201ctokens\u201d are actually used.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs AI platforms increasingly move towards consumption-based pricing models, understanding where AI is creating measurable value, and establishing what AI tool is best for a specific category or task, is likely to become increasingly important when making future investment decisions,\u201d Datacom NZ managing director Peter Nelson says.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t hire a 50-seater bus to transport two people from Hamilton to Wellington, so why use an expensive frontier AI model to improve an email or create basic content for a sales proposal?\u201d<\/p>\n
There have been some well-publicised examples \u2013 including Uber \u2013 of companies putting caps on AI use because of bill shock.<\/p>\n
But Compagnone noted that encouraging staff to use AI as much as possible was even out of fashion at tech firms like Microsoft and Amazon, which have moved away from \u201ctoken-maxing\u201d (encouraging as much AI use and experimentation as possible), complete with leaderboards, to more deliberate use of the technology.<\/p>\n
Organisations needed to get a better handle on when to use expensive \u201cfrontier\u201d AI and when to use cheaper, more meat-and-potatoes alternatives, or more industry-targeted, fine-tuned \u201csmall language models\u201d.<\/p>\n
Lack of leadership<\/p>\n
Another is lack of leadership \u2013 and a related lack of progress in governance and strategy.<\/p>\n
Only 16% of respondents had a clearly defined standalone AI strategy, while 23% have formally embedded AI within a broader business, digital or technology strategy.<\/p>\n
A further 23% say their strategy remains high-level or has not yet been fully operationalised.<\/p>\n
Only 22% of businesses have a dedicated AI leadership role, including 13% with a chief AI officer and 9% with another dedicated fulltime AI leadership position.<\/p>\n
The Herald put it to Compagnone that a firm\u2019s chief technology officer should handle AI. In earlier tech crazes, we haven\u2019t had, say, a \u201cchief cloud officer\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it\u2019s a socio-technical technology. It\u2019s something that requires transformation skills because of its impact on people and roles,\u201d Compagnone said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving that role just as part of the IT department or an extension of the CTO ignores the fact that actually it needs to consider governance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt touches customer experience … it actually needs to be a horizontal role to allow for that sort of wider transformation. The chief AI officer needs to be an orchestrator across the C-suite.\u201d<\/p>\n
The leadership gap extends to Government<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Australia, every single government department now has a chief AI officer,\u201d Compagnone said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when we surveyed more broadly in our chief AI officer white paper across public and private sector organisations [in Australia], we found that 42% already have a chief AI officer, and that\u2019s going to increase by about 21% in the next 12 months.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you contrast that to the 22% in New Zealand, there\u2019s less regulation, a less clear plan and not necessarily an emphasis on the importance of really good senior AI leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently created an Office of AI that sits inside the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
The survey found nearly two-thirds (64%) believe NZ should introduce specific AI legislation and controls. Compagnone said clear rules would give businesses more confidence about where and how they should invest.<\/p>\n
Give us an Aussie-style Office of AI<\/p>\n