One NZ says trust now decides New Zealanders on AI

One NZ has published its 2026 AI Trust Report and launched an AI Trust Hub, with the report finding that trust is becoming a deciding factor in how New Zealanders respond to AI.

Based on a survey of 1,001 adults, the report found that 76% of New Zealanders had used an AI-powered tool or service in the past year, but only 29% qualified as "AI Actives" - confident, frequent users. Most remained cautious or were still forming their views.

The findings suggest that broader use of AI has not translated into stronger confidence. Fewer than two in five respondents believed AI would deliver better outcomes for society, while 62% said they would stop using a product or service if they were concerned about how an organisation was using AI.

Problems with AI also featured heavily in the research. Seven in 10 AI users said they had encountered issues over the past year, including incorrect information, privacy concerns, poor outcomes, or difficulty accessing human support.

Those experiences appear to be shaping attitudes towards where AI is accepted. People were more open to AI in areas such as retail and telecommunications, but less comfortable with its use in healthcare, finance, and government.

Human oversight emerged as a clear theme. The report found that 68% of respondents would feel more comfortable with AI-powered customer interactions if they had the option to speak to a human, while 47% said clearer government standards would increase trust.

Summer Collins, Chief AI & Business Services Officer at One NZ, said the public mood had shifted as AI moved deeper into everyday life.

"New Zealanders are no longer just exploring AI, they're evaluating it," Collins said.

"People are seeing the benefits, but they're also experiencing where it falls short. Trust is becoming the deciding factor in whether AI is accepted or rejected."

Customer pressure

The report points to a commercial risk for companies using AI in customer-facing settings. If concerns about misuse prompt consumers to walk away, businesses could face a direct link between AI governance and customer retention.

One NZ said the findings show transparency and accountability are shifting from optional measures to basic expectations. In response, it has launched a public-facing AI Trust Hub outlining where and when AI is used in delivering products and services.

"Exposure doesn't equal acceptance. If anything, the opposite is true, as more regular users better understand the nuances of how AI thinks and acts," Collins said.

"If organisations move too fast without the right safeguards, poor experiences risk shaping how people feel about AI more broadly."

Guardrails sought

The research also showed that New Zealanders are not rejecting AI outright. Productivity remained the most commonly identified benefit, with 41% naming it as AI's biggest positive impact.

At the same time, concerns are becoming more specific. The report found that 45% of respondents were worried about the energy use associated with business AI, adding environmental costs to existing concerns around privacy, fairness, and accountability.

One NZ grouped the results into five themes: AI is becoming mainstream but meaningful adoption remains shallow; public sentiment is shifting from curiosity to scrutiny; trust is being shaped by experience rather than perception; human oversight is becoming the baseline for trust; and AI's value case is narrowing as expectations for guardrails rise.

Collins said accountability matters most when AI is used in more sensitive settings.

"People want to know there's still a human in charge, someone accountable when it matters," Collins said.

"They're not asking for less AI, but they are asking for stronger guardrails around how it's used."

Next phase

The launch of the AI Trust Hub reflects a wider debate among businesses over how much they should disclose about automated decision-making and customer interactions. As more companies embed AI into service channels, the issue is shifting from whether people use the technology to whether they trust the organisations behind it.

Collins linked that challenge to the next stage of AI deployment, where systems may act with greater autonomy on behalf of users or companies.

"The organisations that succeed in the next phase of AI adoption are likely to be the ones that can prove their AI systems are safe, explainable, and operating in the interests of customers and communities," Collins said.

"Building trust through transparency is a key part of this, so we're responding by sharing more details about our AI approach.

"As AI evolves from assisting people to increasingly acting on their behalf through agentic AI, questions around identity, authority, and accountability become much more important."

"New Zealand has a real opportunity here. AI is reducing the cost and speed of creating new products, services, and experiences in ways that could help smaller countries compete far beyond their traditional scale. The organisations that succeed won't necessarily be the ones deploying the most AI, they'll be the ones deploying it in ways customers genuinely trust," Collins said.