I tētahi wā, he nui ngā mahi i noho tonu ki te kete “uaua rawa”. He mea i hiahia tātou ki te whai, engari i whakakorehia hei mea uaua rawa, ka pau te wā, kāore rānei e taea. Kei te huri tēnei āhua nā te mātai pūhanga (AI). Kei te āwhina i a tātou ki te whakatutuki i ngā mea, i roto i ngā meneti noa iho, i pau ai ngā rā i mua – ā, he maha ka eke ki tētahi taumata kounga e wero ana i ō tātou whakapae mō te kaha me te hiranga.

I maumaharatia ahau ki tēnei i tētahi kōrero tahi me tētahi kaiārahi hangarau i roto i tētahi rōpū ratonga pūtea matua o Aotearoa. I whakaae mātou kua whakamātau kē te AI hei taputapu tino pai mō te kohi, te whakarōpū me te mārama ki ngā raraunga rerekē. Ko tōna kaha ki te hono i ngā wāhanga i roto i ngā kohinga raraunga kāore i te hangarite e whakarerekē ana i te āhua o te whakatau kaupapa. Engari i mōhio hoki mātou ki ōna here: kei te hapa tonu te AI whakaputa i ētahi wā, ā, ka tino whakawhirinaki te tangata ki a ia ki te waihanga mai i te tīmatanga, ka puta he hua hōhā, kāore rānei i te ōrite.

Koia ahau i kite ai, ko te whakamahi whai hua o te AI ehara i te whakakapi i te kaha tangata, engari he whakanui ake i taua kaha. Ka tuhi, ka hoahoa, ka wetewete, ka ārahi hoki tātou me ā tātou ake whakatau me te whakaaro – ā, ka tere ake, ka koi ake, ka whānui ake e te AI. Ka āwhina ia i a tātou ki te neke atu i te matatini ki te mārama, i te nui ki te aronga, i te wawata ki te whakatinana.

He tauira whaiaro: Nāku anake i tuhi tēnei tuhinga ki te reo Pākehā. Engari he te wiki o te Reo Māori i tēnei wiki, ā, i hiahia au ki te whakanui i tērā. Nō reira i tahuri au ki te AI ehara i te mea kia tuhi mōku, engari kia mahia tētahi mea kāore au e taea – kia whakamāori ki te reo Māori. Kāore tēnei i pā ki te tino tika, engari ki te whai wāhi. Ki te whakanui i te reo me te ahurea i roto i te mahi, mā ngā taputapu e āhei ai i te tere me te rahi.

Kei roto i te iOS 26 hou a Apple te whakamāoritanga kōrero ora hei āhuatanga paerewa. Ka taea e ngā tūāpapa AI pēnei i ā mātou te whakamāori, te tuhituhi ā-rongo, me te tuku horopaki i te tere kāore pea i taea te whakaaro i te rua tau ki muri. Ehara ēnei i te mea whakangahau noa, engari he taputapu tautoko. Ka riro i a rātou ngā mea i kīia he kore e taea, ā, ka waiho hei mea o ia rā.

He māmā noa te akoranga: whakawhirinaki ki ngā taputapu. Kāore e tino tika. Kāore e whakakapi i te hihiri tangata mō te auahatanga me te whakaaro. Engari ka āwhina kia nui ake te uru atu, kia nui ake te mārama, ā, kia nui ake te tuari i ngā mea i mua atu. Koinei te tino kupu a te AI – ehara i te mea ka mahi mō tātou, engari māna e whakatutuki ai ngā mea i kīia he kore rawa e taea.

Te anga whakamua, ehara i te tino tika. Whakamātauria.

(Kāore tonu e taea e ia te waihanga whakaahua tangata i runga i te tika!)

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There was a time when many tasks sat firmly in the “too hard” basket. They were things we wanted to do but often dismissed as impractical, too time-consuming, or out of reach. Artificial intelligence is changing that. It’s helping us do, in minutes, what once took days – often to a level of quality that challenges what we thought was possible.

I was reminded of this yesterday in a conversation with a technology leader in one of New Zealand’s leading financial services firms. We agreed that AI has already proven itself as an outstanding tool for gathering, sorting and making sense of disparate data. Its ability to connect dots across large, unstructured datasets is transforming decision-making. But we also recognised the limitations - generative AI still falls short in some areas, and relying on it too heavily to create from scratch can lead to shallow or inconsistent results.

That’s why I see the most powerful use of AI not as a replacement for human capability, but as an amplifier of it. We write, design, analyse and lead with our own judgement and intent – and then AI accelerates, sharpens, and extends what we do. It helps us move from complexity to clarity, from volume to focus, from aspiration to execution.

I wrote this article in English, in my own words, but this week is te wiki o te Reo Māori and I wanted to do something to honour that. I turned to AI not to write for me, but to do something I can’t – translate it into te reo Māori. This wasn’t about perfection, it was about participation. About celebrating language and culture in practice, with the support of tools that make it possible at speed and scale.

This week, my iPhone also updated to Apple’s new iOS 26, which ships with live conversation translation built in. AI platforms like this can translate, transcribe and contextualise at a pace that would’ve seemed unimaginable even two years ago. These aren’t gimmicks, they’re enablers. They take things that once felt unattainable and make them everyday.

The lesson is simple - embrace the tools. They won’t be perfect, and they won’t replace the human spark of originality and intent, but they’ll help us access more, understand more, and share more than ever before. That’s the real promise of AI – not that it does the work for us, but that it makes the seemingly impossible entirely doable.

Progress, not perfection. Give it a go.

(It still can't generate pictures of people very well though!)