38684 (2026). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister of Education

38684 (2026). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister of Education: How much, if any, was spent in the 2024/25 financial year in the Minister's departments, agencies, crown entities and any other bodies that the Minister is responsible for, if any, on artificial intelligence, including costs on training staff, deploying systems, maintaining subscriptions and any other associated costs?

Hon Erica Stanford: The Ministry of Education (the Ministry) meets costs associated with artificial intelligence (AI) through existing departmental baselines and investment programmes. Training costs for Ministry staff in AI-enabled tools are incorporated within broader workforce capability activities and are not separately identified. Ministry AI-related expenditure identified in 2024/25 included Microsoft 365 Copilot licences ($53,206.80). Network for Learning (N4L) reported AI-related expenditure of approximately $160,000 in 2024/25. This expenditure covered licences and subscriptions, and research and discovery activities. Education New Zealand spent $1,164 on AI in the 2024/25 financial year. This was for software licencing. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority incurred costs totalling $1,282,908 on AI initiatives and related activities in the 2024/25 financial year. The Education Review Office did not identify any AI-related expenditure in 2024/25.