# New Zealand

- **Record type**: Jurisdiction profile
- **Short name**: New Zealand
- **ISO code**: NZ
- **Type**: country
- **Region**: Oceania

## In brief

New Zealand has 2 recorded AI policy instruments, none of them binding. National AI Strategy (2025) and responsible-AI guidance as policy; Algorithm Charter for government agencies; no AI-specific law. Regulators include Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Stats NZ (Government Chief Data Steward).

## Overview

New Zealand released its first national AI Strategy in July 2025 (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment), taking a light-touch, principles-based approach that relies on existing law rather than a dedicated AI act, alongside Responsible AI Guidance for Businesses. Public-sector use is guided by the Algorithm Charter for Aotearoa New Zealand (2020) and the Public Service AI Framework (2025); the Privacy Act 2020 and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner's AI guidance apply to personal data.

## Regulatory status

National AI Strategy (2025) and responsible-AI guidance as policy; Algorithm Charter for government agencies; no AI-specific law.

## What is binding and what is guidance

Binding: none recorded. Strategy or guidance: New Zealand AI Strategy (2025); Algorithm Charter for Aotearoa New Zealand.

## Current priorities

Adoption in small businesses and the public sector, skills, privacy-compliant use of generative AI, international interoperability.

## Regulators

- Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) — AI strategy lead — https://www.mbie.govt.nz/
- Office of the Privacy Commissioner — Privacy Act 2020; AI and privacy guidance — https://www.privacy.org.nz/
- Stats NZ (Government Chief Data Steward) — Algorithm Charter stewardship — https://www.data.govt.nz/

## How to use this profile

- Open the official source on each instrument before relying on any date or obligation.
- Treat strategies and guidance as signals of coming regulation, not as binding requirements.
- Check data-protection, consumer, employment and sector law that applies to AI systems regardless of AI-specific instruments.

## Official sources

- New Zealand's Strategy for Artificial Intelligence — Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment — https://www.mbie.govt.nz/business-and-employment/business/support-for-business/artificial-intelligence-strategy
- Algorithm Charter for Aotearoa New Zealand — Stats NZ — https://www.data.govt.nz/toolkit/data-ethics/government-algorithm-transparency-and-accountability/algorithm-charter/

## Instruments recorded for this jurisdiction (2)

- **Algorithm Charter for Aotearoa New Zealand (2020)** — Code of practice, Voluntary standard, non-binding
  - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/new-zealand-algorithm-charter
  - Context file: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/new-zealand-algorithm-charter.md
- **New Zealand's Strategy for Artificial Intelligence: Investing with Confidence** — National strategy, Adopted, non-binding
  - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/new-zealand-ai-strategy-2025
  - Context file: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/new-zealand-ai-strategy-2025.md

## Provenance

- **Record page**: https://aipolicytracker.org/ai-regulation-new-zealand
- **Official source**: https://www.mbie.govt.nz/business-and-employment/business/support-for-business/artificial-intelligence-strategy
- **Source document**: New Zealand's Strategy for Artificial Intelligence
- **Published by**: Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
- **Review status**: verified
- **Confidence**: medium
- **Facts last confirmed**: 2026-09-26
- **Confirmed by**: AI Policy Tracker (see https://aipolicytracker.org/reviewers)
- **Retrieved**: 2026-09-27
- **Licence**: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

> This record is a structured summary with a link to the official text. It is not legal advice. Open the official source before relying on any date or duty. How current each record type must be is published at https://aipolicytracker.org/verification; what a record must carry at all is published at https://aipolicytracker.org/coverage.