New Zealand is 'vulnerable' without control over the AI models it uses, Green MP Francisco Hernandez argues

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By Anna Whyte

Three weeks ago, Anthropic's most advanced AI models were suspended by US export controls over national security concerns and access disabled for foreign nationals, including foreign national Anthropic employees, and restored only after a fortnight of negotiation.

As the New Zealand Government embarks on a technological overhaul of the public service, with AI expected to transform the way it works, Green Party public service spokesperson Francisco Hernandez says the Anthropic example is exactly the scenario New Zealand should be worried about.

Hernandez's view on a successful AI rollout in the public service is that control is needed ahead of deployment.

"AI can potentially be a powerful tool but guidelines and safeguards need to be developed first in consultation with workers and the wider public," he tells Interest.co.nz.

"If the guidelines and safeguards are robust enough and supported by workers and the public, it can be deployed in certain areas to enhance what the public service does.

"But we need to make sure that we actually have control over the models - the Trump administration’s unilateral withdrawal of Fable from Anthropic shows how vulnerable NZ could be if we relied on overseas models without adequate safeguards."

A scathing review of the Government's digital delivery agency raised potential data sovereignty issues, using an example of a large agency forced to rely on AI tools based in Australian data centres rather than in NZ.

"The hard issues around data privacy, Māori data sovereignty and the ability of the public service to actually own the models they are using and the data associated with it have to be resolved in a way that protects the public, workers, tangata whenua and people who might be disproportionately negatively impacted by it," Hernandez said.

He said AI use should be optional, and there should be auditability and human responsibility "at the heart of it and an option to always request a human."

"The Green party co-leaders signed onto a call on parliament to regulate AI and we agree with the letter’s authors on the need to ensure that it serves the public good."

For Hernandez, sovereignty over the technology is only half the risk, the other is who gets left behind.

"We should also ensure that AI does not widen the digital exclusion gap for retirees, low income and rural communities that have issues with connectivity or accessing digital tools."

On the importance of upskilling the workforce, Hernandez said the priority had to be enhancing public services.

Hernandez says he agrees with the position paper the Public Service Association released, which says; 'the use of AI should be aimed at enhancing public and community services and improving the quality of jobs, not aimed at job displacement."

Earlier this year, the Government’s digital delivery agency functions were moved from the Department of Internal Affairs to the Public Service Commission, and with Public Service Commissioner Brian Roche now at the helm, he is eyeing a major overhaul with new veto powers to stop agencies spending frivolously.

Hernandez says the Green Party would support transitioning the leadership of the Government's Digital Delivery Agency (GDDA) to; "an expert because the impression I got from the Minister’s answers [in a select committee hearing] and his answers to several media interviews, is that he doesn’t have a single clue about AI and barely understands it."

That was in reference to Public Service and Digitising Government Minister Paul Goldsmith.

"It is deeply dangerous that at the same time the Government is undertaking a comprehensive transition into AI that the Minister actively doesn’t understand the subject which is why having an expert leading the [G]DDA is so critical," Hernandez said.

In response, Goldsmith said the comments did not seem to be following "the so-called Greens kaupapa of not being abusive and making personal attacks."

"The Government has absolutely got a clear sense of the opportunities that AI will bring to deal more effectively with data and information and help provide better services," Goldsmith said.