Understanding Aotearoa New Zealand: The Ipsos AI Monitor 2025
In Ipsos Global Trends we see an interesting tension people feel about technology. That tension applies to our views of AI as well. In Ipsos Global Trends, a majority believe that technology is needed to solve the world’s problems. But a majority of the exact same people also feel that technological progress is “destroying our lives.” That’s literally how the question is phrased.
For years, in the Ipsos Global AI monitor, we have seen a similar tension related to this specific set of technologies: People are excited about the advances in Artificial Intelligence, but they are also nervous about the changes those advances could bring. We have dubbed this tension the Wonder and the Worry of AI.
Key findings from the AI Monitor include:
New Zealanders’ understanding of AI has increased steadily in the last three years, with nearly three-quarters (73%) of us reporting having a good understanding of AI (up from 69% in 2024 and 62% in 2023.
However, 2 in 3 (66%) of New Zealanders say that AI makes them nervous, placing us as the second highest country in terms of nervousness, just behind Australia at 67%.
New Zealanders’ nervousness may be tied to concerns around trust and transparency:
New Zealanders feel strongly that products and services using AI should have to disclose its use;
Only 39% of us trust that companies using AI will protect our personal data; and
58% think that the increased use of AI will exacerbate the spread of disinformation
New Zealanders have a strong preference for human-driven rather than AI-driven content, particularly for news articles and photojournalism (84%)
Nevertheless, New Zealanders accept that AI will have a prominent role in the future, particularly in areas like advertising content creation, job application screening, and ordering food in restaurants.
While New Zealanders can see some benefits of AI (52% think that AI will reduce the amount of time it takes to get things done within the next 3-5 years), half of us (50%) believe that AI will have a negative impact on the job market (in comparison, 18% say that that it will have a positive impact).
