As investment in generative AI continues to grow globally, New Zealand’s government has been implementing its use across the public sector and businesses to embrace the technology’s potential. But the environmental, social and governance risks and costs of AI remain under-investigated.

New Zealand university researchers have come up with a novel use of Google’s free Street View service to analyse public roads and footpaths for their risk of causing falls.

In dusty factories, cramped internet cafes and makeshift home offices around the world, millions of people sit at computers tediously labelling data. These workers are the lifeblood of the burgeoning artificial intelligence (AI) industry.

Google is threatening to pull New Zealand news snippets from its search and Google News platforms. But the Government should hold firm in a rare effort to address the power imbalance between Big Tech and nations grappling with the implications of their influence.

When platforms control access to the “product”, they also control the science around its impacts. Ultimately, these self-research funding models allow platforms to put profit before people – and divert attention away from the need for more transparency and independent oversight.

Sam Altman will now be able to become a major equity holder in OpenAI and reap the financial rewards. His long-suffering execs could have cashed in to an even greater degree too, but have decided to jump off that particular AI train, which is rather telling.