19937 (2026). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister of Internal Affairs

19937 (2026). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister of Internal Affairs: How, if at all, has artificial intelligence been deployed in a customer service function in the Minister’s departments, agencies, crown entities and any other bodies that the Minister is responsible for, if any?

Hon Brooke van Velden: Department of Internal Affairs: I am advised by the Department of Internal Affairs that it is currently trialling AI-assisted call summarisation within its existing contact centre platform. This capability generates draft summaries of phone calls once they have concluded. The trial commenced on 21 May 2026 and is limited in scope, involving five contact centre trained Life and Identity Services Officers, and is focused solely on summarising calls made to the passport line. It will run for approximately three months, after which it will be evaluated before any decisions are made regarding future use. Lotto NZ: I am advised by Lotto New Zealand that they use AI in customer service capacities to convert text into audio messages for callers, facilitate the initial inbound contact with customers prior to connecting them with our team on phone and webchat, and creating case summaries of previous customer interactions for our team to review. Classification Office: I am advised by the Classification Office that they have not created, used, or released any artificial intelligence systems that interact directly with the public. Fire and Emergency New Zealand: I am advised by Fire and Emergency New Zealand that Artificial intelligence has been deployed in a limited way and is currently not used in customer service functions.