Over the last few months, Aotearoa has started moving AI out of the demo phase and into ordinary systems. Wellington has a Public Service AI Framework, but it isn’t binding, and the wider regulatory posture is still deliberately light-touch. The government is now funding an AI Advisory Pilot to push uptake in business, while Health New Zealand has already endorsed an AI-powered wellbeing guide. At the same time, Te Kāhui Raraunga has been warning that agencies still need bias monitoring, algorithm transparency, public registers, and a way to shut systems down when they start reinforcing prejudice. In Waikato, researchers are pushing a different path, keeping Māori language technology inside Māori-led environments where authority over data…