AI sackings reach New Zealand, which will use it to eject 14 percent of government staff

"Aotearoa's answer is to task its Chief Digital Officer "to embed AI deployment as a basic expectation for all public entities." Minister Willis mentioned a "recent trial of an AI scribe tool in hospital emergency rooms which has reduced the amount of time clinicians have to spend on file notes and increased the time they spend with patients" as an example of the sort of thing she hopes to replicate."

"She characterized the nation's public service as "scared of AI, slow to move to the cloud" and said it operates a "complex and fragmented set of overlapping IT solutions." "Our government is as frustrated as you are by the fragmentation and silos, the complexity, the status-quo thinking and the dangerously slow take up of digital and AI technologies," she added."

"She said the planned overhaul will therefore "reduce the number of government departments, increase the use of AI and other digital tools, and deliver significant savings." The government plans to cap departmental budgets and says that combined with redundancies it will save NZ$2.4 billion ($1.4 billion) over four years - less than one percent of all core government spending."

New Zealand plans an overhaul of its public service that makes AI a basic expectation for government agencies. The change is tied to reducing fragmentation and silos across overlapping IT solutions and accelerating adoption of digital and AI technologies. The government aims to reduce the number of departments, increase use of AI and other digital tools, and deliver significant savings. A trial of an AI scribe tool in hospital emergency rooms reduced clinician time spent on file notes and increased time spent with patients. The government will cap departmental budgets and, combined with redundancies, expects savings of NZ$2.4 billion over four years, while cutting about 9,000 staff, roughly 14% of headcount.

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