Ideas

How we think about it.

Plain-English thinking on what AI can actually do for a New Zealand business, what's still hype, and how to put it to work.

A network of small connected nodes, standing for a business's tools and workflows, all hanging off a single control unit at the top marked with an orange power symbol; the supply line feeding the network is cut just below the control, showing the business depends on a switch it does not hold.

Ideas

18 June 2026 · 7 min read

If the AI you run on got switched off tomorrow

Last week the US government told a major AI company to cut off its two newest models worldwide, allies included, and it did, the same day. Most New Zealand businesses now run on AI they do not control. Here is the sober version of the risk, and the practical way to not be held hostage by it.

On the left, mechanical gears on a grid stand for rule-based automation; on the right, an organic network of connected nodes stands for AI judgment, the two meeting at an orange node in the centre.

Ideas

25 May 2026 · 8 min read

AI vs automation: which one does your business actually need?

The government wants New Zealand businesses moving on AI. But half the wins owners want aren't AI at all, they're automation. Here's how to tell which one fits the job, and where to start.