Media
Media releases, coverage of our work and how journalists can reach us for comment
Media releases
25 September 2026
NZ could be in the dark if an AI agent hacked a government system here
Good Ancestors New Zealand calls for mandatory AI incident reporting after an OpenAI agent accessed non-public files on an Australian Government health portal.
22 September 2026
NZ missing from global statement on keeping AI under human control
Good Ancestors NZ is calling on New Zealand to add its name to a statement by leaders from 20 countries calling for frontier AI models to remain under human control.
14 September 2026
NZ urged to take heed of warning bells from global AI leaders
Warnings from inside the world's leading AI companies should prompt every political party to set out its AI safety plans before the election.
13 September 2026
AI needs to be an election issue
Good Ancestors calls on every major party to publish a detailed AI policy before the election, welcoming Labour's plan as the first contribution.
Good Ancestors in the news
- Newstalk ZB23 September 2026
Disappointment NZ's missing from a global push for more control of AI
Radio news bulletins, 5am to 6:30am. Audio used with permission of Newstalk ZB.
- Wellington Scoop12 September 2026
Artificial intelligence: boon or doom?
Dan Foote in conversation with novelist Jenny Williams at Unity Books, Wellington
- 1News10 September 2026
1News at Six, 10 September 2026
AI segment starts at 13:38
- Stuff6 September 2026
Two former government officials warn NZ sleeping on 'issue of our time'
AI in the news
AI developments that matter for New Zealand, with our commentary.
- RNZ3 October 2026
AI has finally entered the election campaign arena
RNZ is bringing AI into the election debate. On Midday Report, Guyon Espiner has been asking politicians about their hopes and fears for AI and the role of government, with Labour's Reuben Davidson, Opportunity leader Qiulae Wong and ACT leader David Seymour taking part so far. We look forward to hearing from the other parties before the 7 November election.
- CNN29 September 2026
Top AI executives sign commitment to 'self-police' after meeting at White House
On 29 September, President Trump signed the White House Accord on Super Intelligence with Anthropic, Google, Meta, OpenAI, xAI and Nvidia. The one-page accord commits the companies to internal controls on their most advanced models, independent auditors and board-level oversight, focused on cyber, biological and chemical risks. It is a welcome first step to see the US Government coordinating the leading AI companies to make safety commitments. But the accord is voluntary, and it may be pointed to as a reason to delay more serious efforts to manage the risks of AI. And nothing in it obliges anyone to tell New Zealand about a serious incident or to share what the auditors find.
- CNN23 September 2026
OpenAI agent hacked into Australia's national healthcare system
This is a worrying example of an AI agent hacking a government system, and the latest in a growing list of AI agents acting beyond what their developers intended. An OpenAI agent accessed non-public files on an Australian Government portal in June, during an internal test. OpenAI found the activity in August but only told the Australian Government on 10 September, by email to a public inbox. New Zealand has no requirement for AI companies to report incidents like this, so if the same thing happened here we might not find out at all. Improved incident reporting requirements are a minimum first step.
- Dario Amodei, Anthropic CEO12 September 2026
We Must Pace the Frontier
The head of one of the leading AI companies is now calling for the industry to slow down. "We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models," writes Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei, pointing to AI systems that now do much of the work of building their successors. OpenAI's Sam Altman said within hours he agreed. New Zealand needs to sit up and listen. New Zealand currently has no requirement for AI companies to report incidents and no AI Safety Institute to monitor and advise on the risks.
