What Labour wants to do about AI if it wins the election
The Labour Party says that if it is elected, it will set up a watchdog for artificial intelligence (AI), create a government team to coordinate AI rules, make sure creators get paid when their work is used by AI, and put new rules on the big computing buildings that power AI.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins and Technology spokesperson Reuben Davidson announced the plan at Victoria University of Wellington on 9 September 2026. RNZ
An AI watchdog
AI is the technology that lets computers do things that normally need human thinking, like writing, recognising faces, or making decisions. Labour wants an independent regulator — a watchdog that stands on its own, not inside a government department — to oversee AI in New Zealand. Its job would be wider than just policing a planned social media ban for people under 16.
A government team for AI
Labour also wants to set up an Office of AI inside the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, which is the government department that advises the Prime Minister. This office would coordinate AI policy across all government agencies and would not need new funding. A senior minister would be in charge of AI, and the government would publish a plan so the public can see what is being done.
Paying creators and banning fake porn
When AI learns from existing work — like books, music, or images — the people who made that work often get nothing. Labour says it would create rules so creators can control how their work is used by AI and get paid for it. The party also wants to ban deepfake pornography, which means fake sexual images or videos of someone made without their permission.
Rules for data centres
AI needs enormous amounts of computing power, which comes from data centres — large buildings full of computers. Labour would require these centres to get their own renewable energy, pay their own costs to connect to the electricity grid, use less power when the grid is under strain, and use water efficiently.
Schools and overseas work
Labour wants an AI in Education team to help schools, teachers and students use AI safely.
New Zealand would also work with Australia to line up AI standards, and with Pacific countries on safety and security.
Māori data
Labour pledged to work with iwi and hapū on how Māori data is collected, owned, governed and used. Data sovereignty — the idea that Māori should control data about their own people — has been raised by iwi and hapū in other policy areas too.
The wider picture is that Labour's plan pulls together several issues the government has been dealing with one at a time. Copyright law is already being reviewed by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. A law allowing more automated decision-making in the welfare system came into effect on 1 July 2026. Library of Congress And the Government has already proposed extending copyright protection by 20 years. MBIE What Labour is proposing is one coordinated approach: a minister in charge, an office to keep things joined up, and a regulator with a broad mandate.
One thing worth noting is where Labour would put things. The Office of AI would go in the department closest to the Prime Minister, giving AI direct access to the top of government. The regulator would sit outside the Department of Internal Affairs, which already handles online safety. That suggests Labour wants the rule-enforcer kept separate from the department running day-to-day programmes.
The data centre rules push the costs of AI infrastructure back onto the companies running it, rather than treating it as something the public should help pay for.
The practical question, if Labour wins, is timing. The Office of AI could be set up fairly quickly using existing staff. A regulator needs new law to be passed. And the copyright rules would need to fit with the copyright review already underway. Whether those pieces line up neatly or overlap will decide whether the plan works as intended.
