Digital Skills in the Age of AI

Technology is now one of the most important forces shaping Aotearoa New Zealand’s future. It influences how our businesses grow, how our public services operate, how our communities connect, and how we respond to national challenges. In the age of artificial intelligence (AI), the question is no longer whether New Zealand needs digital skills. The question is whether we are moving fast enough, and working together well enough, to build the capability our future requires. This fourth edition of Digital Skills Aotearoa provides a timely and important snapshot of where we are. It shows a technology sector that is continuing to make a significant contribution to New Zealand’s economy, with strong export growth and digital capability now needed across every sector. But it also shows a domestic skills pipeline under real pressure.

New Zealand’s digital skills challenge has entered a new phase. What was once described as a ‘leaky pipeline’ is now better understood as a structural national challenge with weak foundations, fragmented pathways and insufficient coordination between education, industry and government. This matters because advanced digital skills are now essential to New Zealand’s productivity, export growth, cyber resilience, AI capability and long-term economic growth. In the age of AI, every sector needs people who can build, secure, govern and improve complex digital systems. The message from this report is clear: AI does not reduce the need for advanced digital skills, it increases it.

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