New Zealand
OECD
14%
4/28
AI Gap Index
2/10
Schools
0/8
Workforce
1/6
Governance
1/4
Access
Schools 2/10
D1 AI literacy curriculum exists in schools 1 Day of AI Aotearoa provides structured AI literacy activities for schools; voluntary and event-based rather than curriculum mandate [1], [2], [3]
D2 Curriculum is binding law or mandate 0
D3 Ethics component included in curriculum 1 Ethics integrated from the start alongside Māori cultural context; among the strongest ethics integration in any voluntary programme [1], [2], [3]
D4 Teacher training mandated and funded before rollout 0
D5 Dedicated funding attached to the requirement 0
Workforce 0/8
D6 Employers legally required to train all employees 0
D7 Training must cover ethics and critical evaluation 0
D8 Pre-redundancy training obligation exists 0
D9 Workers have rights when AI used in employment decisions 0
Civil Service & Governance 1/6
D10 Civil servants working with AI must receive training 1 Algorithm Charter signed by government agencies commits to transparency and human oversight; May 2026 public service overhaul mandates AI as a 'basic expectation for all public entities' under the Chief Digital Officer — adoption mandate, not a regulatory body with enforcement powers [1], [4]
D11 Minimum training standard is defined 0
D12 Enforcement mechanism exists with named authority 0
Public Access 1/4
D13 Free or publicly funded AI literacy resources available 1 Free resources publicly available; bilingual English and te reo Māori materials; January 2026 AI Advisory Pilot provides government co-funded AI advisory support (up to NZ$15,000) for SMEs via Regional Business Partner Network [1], [2], [5]
D14 Digital infrastructure support for schools and institutions 0
Index history
May 25, 2026 4/28 No score changes; new evidence reinforces dim 10 (public service AI adoption mandated as 'basic expectation' May 2026) and dim 13 (government co-funded AI Advisory Pilot for SMEs from January 2026). Scores unchanged as governance remains adoption-focused without enforcement, and SME pilot is co-funded not free.
March 27, 2026 4/28 Research refresh: new files document Day of AI Aotearoa national rollout (9 March 2026) and proposed secondary school AI specialist subject (pending from 2028). No score changes; rollout confirms voluntary status of primary programme; secondary subject is pending policy, not yet enacted.
March 17, 2026 4/28 Governance rescore: dim10=1 (Algorithm Charter — governance commitment without enforcement mandate)
March 17, 2026 3/28 Initial scoring from research archive