Ipsos AI Monitor 2026: why 65% of Kiwis are nervous, only 21% trust AI outputs, and sentiment has not moved in three years | The AI Corner Ep: 59 Carin Hercock

Join host Mike Bayly and guest **Carin Hercock**, **Country Manager NZ** at **Ipsos**, to explore what the June AI Monitor study of 32 countries and 1,000 New Zealanders reveals about a country that keeps learning more about AI and keeps getting less excited about it. You'll hear why 65% of Kiwis report nervousness against only 40% excitement, why just 21% trust AI outputs enough to skip double-checking them compared with a 31% global average, and why only 35% believe the benefits to society outweigh the environmental cost, one of the lowest results measured anywhere. Plus her view on the Anglosphere cluster that puts New Zealand alongside Canada, Britain and Australia and far from the more enthusiastic markets in Asia and Latin America, the data sovereignty trade-off nobody has connected to the data centre debate, and why government and employers now carry the job of framing AI as something other than a payroll reduction exercise. In this episode we discuss: • 00:00 – Intro & guest bio • 00:45 – How the AI Monitor is run: 32 countries, 1,000 Kiwis, 18 plus • 01:30 – 65% nervous, 40% excited, 72% claim they understand AI • 02:00 – "Sceptically optimistic": why understanding rises as excitement falls • 02:30 – Power used for good or ill, and the time spent checking outputs • 03:30 – Saving time at work but expecting a worse job market • 04:00 – Consultancies dropping graduates and government headcount messaging • 05:00 – The growth-opportunity case the headlines miss • 06:00 – Framing AI as a leadership failure rather than a technology problem • 06:53 – Reskilling tasks versus losing whole jobs • 07:30 – The Anglosphere cluster: NZ, Canada, US, Britain, Australia • 08:00 – Economic growth potential and ageing populations as explanations • 09:00 – Leapfrogging: why less legacy infrastructure means faster adoption • 10:00 – NZ plateaued while Canada, Britain and the US went backwards • 11:00 – Anthropic's Economic Index: NZ ranked fifth of 121 countries • 12:00 – Super users snowballing while others feel left behind • 13:00 – Only 21% trust AI enough to skip double-checking outputs • 14:00 – Testing and tricking the model, and AI plus human intelligence • 15:30 – Legacy distrust from earlier models, and knowledge decay worries • 16:30 – 35% say benefits outweigh environmental cost, against 49% globally • 17:30 – Data centres, energy draw, and protecting the tourism economy • 18:30 – The data sovereignty trade-off nobody has joined up • 19:30 – Only 39% trust companies to protect their data • 20:30 – Where Kiwis accept AI: research and restaurant orders versus hiring and health • 22:00 – Disclosure: 85% want AI use declared up front • 22:30 – The biggest surprise: three flat years against soaring AI valuations • 24:00 – "We trained the team and gave them the tools, but nothing changed" • 25:00 – Why individual training alone will not shift an organisation • 26:30 – Trench or trend: where sentiment goes from here • 28:00 – Where to find the report and get in touch • 28:45 – Outro & next steps CARIN'S LINKEDIN: https://nz.linkedin.com/in/carin-hercock-20118313 SUBSCRIBE TO NZ'S AI NEWS: https://theaicorner.co.nz/subscribe