Our AI in Creative Industries Summit was amazing – the conversations were the perfect mix of challenging and positive – we didn’t shy away from discussing the big topics. Major thanks to Auckland Council’s new Te Puna Creative Centre and Datacom for hosting and to all of the 50 speakers who contributed!
The 1 Minute AI Film Festival ran along side the summit, attracted 187 entries, with 63 selected for consideration. 12 finalists were selected for exhibition on the day. With the audience voting for the overall winners. The quality was exceptionally high with the final three separated by fewer than 10 votes!
Congratulations to Best Film Aotearoa winners Hazel Abraham, Thomas Watts, John Pelasio and Best International Film winner Arastoo Moradi from Turkey. We are in the process of uploading the selected entries we have permission to share to our dedicated YouTube Channel – take a look next week and visit again after that (it will take a while to get them all up!)
💡 AI Hackathon Festival 2025
Our 4th annual AI Hackathon Festival is going live next week – watch out for information on venues, participating and free training.
Visit the website for the most up to date information.
Thank you to Callaghan Innovation
With June comes the final winding down of Callaghan Innovation who have been great partners of the AI Forum – special thanks to Sarah Sun, Stefan Korn and Nick Sterling for their amazing support – we look forward to working with you more in your next roles! Every change presents new opportunities and there are two very well established and respected pieces of work that we publish widely (for free) that are available for new partnerships:
aigovernance.nz is produced by our AI Governance Working Group. First published in 2023, it’s a well respected (and visited) free toolset curated to help New Zealand organisations understand and start their journey towards responsible AI. We have added to the content regularly, with the whole site about to be refreshed. Callaghan looked after the publication of content and hosting of the website.
AI in Action
Our 3rd survey measuring the impact of AI on productivity in Aotearoa New Zealand is live now! With the research and analysis carried out independently by Victoria University and production and design by Callaghan Innovation, Reports 1 & 2 were incredibly well received, providing empirically sound data that tells the story as it is.
We encourage you to complete and share our survey as widely as possible – we’re interested in reaching as many contributors as possible, including those who do not use AI.
Click here to complete – and feel free to share!
Help Shape the Future of AI in Architecture, Engineering & Construction!
The AEC Working Group invites you to participate in our AI Innovation Questionnaire. Your insights will inform the design of new initiatives to accelerate AI’s positive impact in your organisation and for Aotearoa New Zealand’s AEC sector. This brief survey is designed for organisational leaders to help uncover gaps and gather insights to frame a governance and implementation strategy for initiating a pilot project.
Complete the survey today: AI Innovation Questionnaire
Member Contribution: Learn through play with academyEX
The best way to master the future is to play with it. That’s the idea behind The Play Lab – an immersive new experience from academyEX where teams explore emerging tech like AI, robotics, 3D printing, and sensors through hands-on experimentation.
Designed for professionals – The Play Lab is a space for grown ups to get comfortable with change and the messiness by trying new tools, building quick prototypes, and working together to solve problems.
And there’s science behind it: research shows that play activates the brain’s most powerful learning systems. It reawakens our instinct to explore, experiment, and adapt – helping teams build confidence and uncover smarter ways to solve real-world challenges.
Future-focused organisations are already using The Play Lab to move faster, think differently, and shape what’s next. Now open for bookings in Auckland.
Explore The Play Lab
Contributed by Louise Ashley-Iles, academyEX
