Welcome to episode one of The Business of Tech, hosted by leading tech journalist Peter Griffin and BusinessDesk technology editor Ben Moore. 

This week, the pair talk about Ben's recent trip to Microsoft's HQ in the US and what the company has planned for OpenAI. Then, Peter interviews Judith Collins who shares her views on government's role in the tech sector.

New episodes every Thursday. Follow or subscribe to get it delivered straight to your favourite podcatcher.

@petergnz

@bentm_journo

@businessdesk_nz

Welcome to episode one of The Business of Tech, hosted by leading tech journalist <a href="https://businessdesk.co.nz/journalist/peter-griffin">Peter Griffin</a> and <a href="https://businessdesk.co.nz/podcasts">BusinessDesk</a> technology editor <a href="https://businessdesk.co.nz/journalist/ben_moore">Ben Moore</a>. 
This week, the pair talk about Ben's recent trip to Microsoft's HQ in the US and what the company has planned for OpenAI. Then, Peter interviews Judith Collins who shares her views on government's role in the tech sector.
New episodes every Thursday. Follow or subscribe to get it delivered straight to your favourite podcatcher.
@petergnz
@bentm_journo
@businessdesk_nz

The Business of Tech, hosted by leading tech journalist Peter Griffin. Every week they take a deep dive into emerging technology and news from the sector to help guide the important decisions all Business leaders make.

Issues such as cybersecurity, retaining trust after a cyberattack, business IT needs, purchasing SaaS tools and more.

New Episodes out every Thursday. Follow or subscribe to get it delivered straight to your favourite podcatcher.

@petergnz

@businessdesk_nz

Proudly sponsored by 2degrees Business!

 

The Business of Tech, hosted by leading tech journalist Peter Griffin. Every week they take a deep dive into emerging technology and news from the sector to help guide the important decisions all Business leaders make.
Issues such as cybersecurity, retaining trust after a cyberattack, business IT needs, purchasing SaaS tools and more.
New Episodes out every Thursday. Follow or subscribe to get it delivered straight to your favourite podcatcher.
@petergnz
@businessdesk_nz
Proudly sponsored by 2degrees Business!
&nbsp;

The Business of Tech

Judith Collins on AI and regulating tech, plus inside Microsoft HQ

Artificial intelligence isn’t coming to the New Zealand public sector – it’s already here. 

AI is shaping everything from your tax bill to how quickly police process crime reports. And right now, it’s happening in a way that’s fast, fragmented and largely hidden from public view.

On the latest episode of The Business of Tech, I talk to BusinessDesk journalist Cécile Meier about her multi‑part investigation into the use of AI across government – an investigation built on a trove of Official Information Act responses from major agencies. What she found is both encouraging and unsettling.

Real efficiency gains and cost savings

There are genuine wins. Police have slashed processing times for lower‑severity crime cases from eight to ten minutes per file to as little as one to three minutes using an AI‑powered workflow tool – a saving estimated at 18,000 hours and around $1 million a year. Inland Revenue is using AI in its debt collection models, helping secure tens of millions of dollars in payment arrangements in just weeks. ACC and others report large productivity gains from Microsoft’s Copilot baked into everyday tools.

But scratch the surface, as Meier has, and the story gets a lot more complicated. There is a  public‑service‑wide AI framework governing how these tools should be deployed, but it is not binding. Agencies have guidlines for adoption but are largely left to design their own pilots, measure their own “time saved”, and often rely on the very vendors selling them AI to prove the return on investment. Quality, error rates and real‑world impacts on citizens barely get a look‑in.

The AI deployment divide

Her reporting also exposes a stark divide. Some agencies – IRD, ACC, Police and DOC – are forging ahead, training thousands of staff and embedding AI deep into decision‑support systems. Others, like Oranga Tamariki and Corrections, are so wary of the risks that they’ve blocked external AI tools and confined usage to tightly constrained, low‑stakes tasks. All of this is happening under the same loose, non‑binding guidance.

AI tools are stumbling over te reo Māori and Māori legal concepts, raising obvious concerns about bias and fairness. There's growing reliance on a handful of US tech giants to supply and measure government AI, and a rising wave of “shadow AI”, as public servants quietly use banned tools on personal devices because they’re simply too useful to ignore.

Listen to The Business of Tech for the full interview, and hear how AI is quietly rewiring the state, often without the scrutiny it deserves. Streaming on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes

'Slippery slope': Concerns millions spent on AI may not be delivering for public - BusinessDesk

Light rules, high stakes: Agencies push AI into frontline work - BusinessDesk

Government AI spending hits $20.2m with real cost likely far higher - BusinessDesk

Artificial intelligence isn&rsquo;t coming to the New Zealand public sector &ndash; it&rsquo;s already here. 
AI is shaping everything from your tax bill to how quickly police process crime reports. And right now, it&rsquo;s happening in a way that&rsquo;s fast, fragmented and largely hidden from public view.
On the latest episode of&nbsp;The Business of Tech, I talk to BusinessDesk journalist C&eacute;cile Meier about her multi‑part investigation into the use of AI across government &ndash; an investigation built on a trove of Official Information Act responses from major agencies. What she found is both encouraging and unsettling.<a href="https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/attachments/9487280/c247545c-e4ad-48fd-933f-30cea2837a90/cecile-peter.txt"></a>
Real efficiency gains and cost savings
There are genuine wins. Police have slashed processing times for lower‑severity crime cases from eight to ten minutes per file to as little as one to three minutes using an AI‑powered workflow tool &ndash; a saving estimated at 18,000 hours and around $1 million a year. Inland Revenue is using AI in its debt collection models, helping secure tens of millions of dollars in payment arrangements in just weeks. ACC and others report large productivity gains from Microsoft&rsquo;s Copilot baked into everyday tools.<a href="https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/attachments/9487280/c247545c-e4ad-48fd-933f-30cea2837a90/cecile-peter.txt"></a>
But scratch the surface, as Meier has, and the story gets a lot more complicated. There is a&nbsp; public‑service‑wide AI framework governing how these tools should be deployed, but it is not binding. Agencies have guidlines for adoption but are largely left to design their own pilots, measure their own &ldquo;time saved&rdquo;, and often rely on the very vendors selling them AI to prove the return on investment. Quality, error rates and real‑world impacts on citizens barely get a look‑in.<a href="https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/attachments/9487280/c247545c-e4ad-48fd-933f-30cea2837a90/cecile-peter.txt"></a>
The AI deployment divide
Her reporting also exposes a stark divide. Some agencies &ndash; IRD, ACC, Police and DOC &ndash; are forging ahead, training thousands of staff and embedding AI deep into decision‑support systems. Others, like Oranga Tamariki and Corrections, are so wary of the risks that they&rsquo;ve blocked external AI tools and confined usage to tightly constrained, low‑stakes tasks. All of this is happening under the same loose, non‑binding guidance.<a href="https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/attachments/9487280/c247545c-e4ad-48fd-933f-30cea2837a90/cecile-peter.txt"></a>
AI tools are stumbling over te reo Māori and Māori legal concepts, raising obvious concerns about bias and fairness. There's growing reliance on a handful of US tech giants to supply and measure government AI, and a rising wave of &ldquo;shadow AI&rdquo;, as public servants quietly use banned tools on personal devices because they&rsquo;re simply too useful to ignore.<a href="https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/attachments/9487280/c247545c-e4ad-48fd-933f-30cea2837a90/cecile-peter.txt"></a>
Listen to The Business of Tech for the full interview, and hear how AI is quietly rewiring the state, often without the scrutiny it deserves. Streaming on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Show notes
<a href="https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/technology/slippery-slope-concerns-millions-spent-on-ai-may-not-be-delivering-for-public">'Slippery slope': Concerns millions spent on AI may not be delivering for public</a> - BusinessDesk
<a href="https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/technology/slippery-slope-concerns-millions-spent-on-ai-may-not-be-delivering-for-public">Light rules, high stakes: Agencies push AI into frontline work</a> - BusinessDesk
<a href="https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/editors-picks/government-ai-spending-hits-202m-with-real-cost-likely-far-higher">Government AI spending hits $20.2m with real cost likely far higher</a> - BusinessDesk

AI is shaping everything from your tax bill to how quickly police process crime reports. And right now, it’s happening in a way that’s fast, fragmented and largely hidden from public view in the New Zealand government..

How algorithms are quietly rewriting the state

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/ddfc7326-298e-4b75-ab02-b433017a054c/transcript

Big organisations love to talk about innovation. They set up labs, hire “transformation” teams, and run hackathons. 

Yet inside many companies, the best ideas still die in PowerPoint decks or get buried in cautious business cases.

In this week’s episode of The Business of Tech, I talk to Gravity cofounder James Boult, an innovation specialist who has spent years inside large New Zealand organisations, watching this play out in real time. 

Boult’s verdict is that most corporates are structurally set up to smother genuinely new ideas, even when the will – and the talent – is there.

Boult’s core advice is to treat every significant new idea as if it were a venture‑backed startup inside your organisation. That means giving it a dedicated budget, a finite runway, clear deliverables, and hard stage gates where the project must “earn” the right to continue. No more quietly funding side projects from the core P&L. No more open‑ended experiments that drift for years without real customers.

The gatekeepers and the fear factor

Instead, project owners should be forced to pitch for the next tranche of funding just like founders fronting up to investors. That shift, says Boult, changes behaviour overnight. Teams become sharper on the problem they’re solving and far less likely to hide behind internal politics or legacy metrics.

The episode also digs into the human side of corporate innovation – the “gatekeepers” who can make or break new ideas. These people aren’t cartoon villains. They’re often acting out of fear about budgets, risk, or their own roles. Boult explains how to identify them early, understand their motivations, and design an innovation process that works with – rather than around – those emotional realities.

For frustrated “intrapreneurs” who feel like they’re “going mad” inside a big company, Boult offers a practical playbook for testing startup thinking without immediately quitting the day job. And for senior leaders, he lays out why outsourcing innovation, spinning up venture arms, or re‑branding old projects as “agile” won’t work unless the underlying incentives and governance change.

If you work in a large organisation that talks a big game on innovation but struggles to ship anything truly new, this episode is required listening. Listen to The Business of Tech wherever you get your podcasts. 

 

Big organisations love to talk about innovation. They set up labs, hire &ldquo;transformation&rdquo; teams, and run hackathons.&nbsp;
Yet inside many companies, the best ideas still die in PowerPoint decks or get buried in cautious business cases.
In this week&rsquo;s episode of The Business of Tech, I talk to Gravity cofounder James Boult, an innovation specialist who has spent years inside large New Zealand organisations, watching this play out in real time.&nbsp;
Boult&rsquo;s verdict is that most corporates are structurally set up to smother genuinely new ideas, even when the will &ndash; and the talent &ndash; is there.
Boult&rsquo;s core advice is to treat every significant new idea as if it were a venture‑backed startup inside your organisation. That means giving it a dedicated budget, a finite runway, clear deliverables, and hard stage gates where the project must &ldquo;earn&rdquo; the right to continue. No more quietly funding side projects from the core P&amp;L. No more open‑ended experiments that drift for years without real customers.
The gatekeepers and the fear factor
Instead, project owners should be forced to pitch for the next tranche of funding just like founders fronting up to investors. That shift, says Boult, changes behaviour overnight. Teams become sharper on the problem they&rsquo;re solving and far less likely to hide behind internal politics or legacy metrics.
The episode also digs into the human side of corporate innovation &ndash; the &ldquo;gatekeepers&rdquo; who can make or break new ideas. These people aren&rsquo;t cartoon villains. They&rsquo;re often acting out of fear about budgets, risk, or their own roles. Boult explains how to identify them early, understand their motivations, and design an innovation process that works with &ndash; rather than around &ndash; those emotional realities.
For frustrated &ldquo;intrapreneurs&rdquo; who feel like they&rsquo;re &ldquo;going mad&rdquo; inside a big company, Boult offers a practical playbook for testing startup thinking without immediately quitting the day job. And for senior leaders, he lays out why outsourcing innovation, spinning up venture arms, or re‑branding old projects as &ldquo;agile&rdquo; won&rsquo;t work unless the underlying incentives and governance change.
If you work in a large organisation that talks a big game on innovation but struggles to ship anything truly new, this episode is required listening. Listen to The Business of Tech wherever you get your podcasts.&nbsp;
&nbsp;

A discussion with innovation expert James Boult about how ideas are killed in big companies and how to avoid them dying.

Why big companies kill good ideas – and how to save them

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/53187675-a4ee-4e2d-ae9a-b42c015d6a8a/transcript

Forget soy, pea, or lab-grown meat – the next frontier in sustainable food might just be hiding in plain sight. Specifically, in the leaves of everyday plants growing across New Zealand’s farmland.

In the latest episode of The Business of Tech podcast, I talk to Ross Milne, the CEO of Rolleston-based startup Leaft Foods, which has pioneered a breakthrough technique to extract and process Rubisco, a naturally occurring protein found in every green leaf. 

Scientists have long known Rubisco’s potential, calling it the “utopia protein” for its rich nutritional profile and low environmental footprint. What’s been missing until now is a practical way to isolate it for use in food and animal feed.

From milk to leafy greens

Milne, a former process engineer who worked for some of the world’s largest food companies, saw an opening for innovation back home in New Zealand, teaming up with Leaft Food founders John Penno (Synlait Milk co-founder) and Maury Leyland Penno. Leaft’s approach promises not just a powerful alternative to traditional protein sources, but a clever circular system where farmers can use the high-protein byproducts as feed supplements, boosting productivity while cutting emissions.

The engineering ingenuity allowing Leaft to extract sufficient quantities of Rubisco is what caught the eye of global investors in 2020, when Leaft raised US$15 million in a Series A round. Among Leaft’s backers is Khosla Ventures, the legendary Silicon Valley venture capital firm known for betting early on world-changing green technologies. 

Low-impact protein

Working mainly with alfalfa crops in the Canterbury region, Leaft harvests and processes the leaves, extracting the protein which is sold to food suppliers and which features in Leaft Blade, the company’s line of nutritional products. The leftover leaves are used by farmers for supplementary feed.

“The interesting thing about [Alfalfa] from a grower point of view is it regrows straight away,” Milne told me. 

“So about six weeks later, for example, we're back in that same paddock harvesting it again. And we just constantly do that. It's a perennial which stays in the ground for multiple years.”

As the world races to find scalable, low-impact protein sources, Leaft’s innovation could place Canterbury at the center of the solution. For Milne, it’s a mission to transform the food system from scratch.

Listen to the entire conversation on The Business of Tech podcast to find out how this Kiwi startup is redefining what we eat, how we grow it, and why the leaves in your backyard might hold the key to feeding the future.

Streaming on iHeartRadio, Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes

Developing a new plant-based protein - Science Learning Hub

An IPO could be on the cards for Leaft Foods one day - BusinessDesk

NZ green protein producer sprouts new deal with Asian food giant - RNZ

Leaft protein boosted from ground up - Farmers Weekly

Forget soy, pea, or lab-grown meat &ndash; the next frontier in sustainable food might just be hiding in plain sight. Specifically, in the leaves of everyday plants growing across New Zealand&rsquo;s farmland.
In the latest episode of The Business of Tech podcast, I talk to Ross Milne, the CEO of Rolleston-based startup Leaft Foods, which has pioneered a breakthrough technique to extract and process Rubisco, a naturally occurring protein found in every green leaf.&nbsp;
Scientists have long known Rubisco&rsquo;s potential, calling it the &ldquo;utopia protein&rdquo; for its rich nutritional profile and low environmental footprint. What&rsquo;s been missing until now is a practical way to isolate it for use in food and animal feed.
From milk to leafy greens
Milne, a former process engineer who worked for some of the world&rsquo;s largest food companies, saw an opening for innovation back home in New Zealand, teaming up with Leaft Food founders John Penno (Synlait Milk co-founder) and Maury Leyland Penno. Leaft&rsquo;s approach promises not just a powerful alternative to traditional protein sources, but a clever circular system where farmers can use the high-protein byproducts as feed supplements, boosting productivity while cutting emissions.
The engineering ingenuity allowing Leaft to extract sufficient quantities of Rubisco is what caught the eye of global investors in 2020, when Leaft raised US$15 million in a Series A round. Among Leaft&rsquo;s backers is Khosla Ventures, the legendary Silicon Valley venture capital firm known for betting early on world-changing green technologies.&nbsp;
Low-impact protein
Working mainly with alfalfa crops in the Canterbury region, Leaft harvests and processes the leaves, extracting the protein which is sold to food suppliers and which features in Leaft Blade, the company&rsquo;s line of nutritional products. The leftover leaves are used by farmers for supplementary feed.
&ldquo;The interesting thing about [Alfalfa] from a grower point of view is it regrows straight away,&rdquo; Milne told me.&nbsp;
&ldquo;So about six weeks later, for example, we're back in that same paddock harvesting it again. And we just constantly do that. It's a perennial which stays in the ground for multiple years.&rdquo;
As the world races to find scalable, low-impact protein sources, Leaft&rsquo;s innovation could place Canterbury at the center of the solution. For Milne, it&rsquo;s a mission to transform the food system from scratch.
Listen to the entire conversation on The Business of Tech podcast to find out how this Kiwi startup is redefining what we eat, how we grow it, and why the leaves in your backyard might hold the key to feeding the future.
Streaming on iHeartRadio, Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Show notes
<a href="https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/3335-developing-a-new-plant-based-protein">Developing a new plant-based protein</a> - Science Learning Hub
<a href="https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/primary-sector/an-ipo-could-be-on-the-cards-for-leaft-foods-one-day">An IPO could be on the cards for Leaft Foods one day</a> - BusinessDesk
<a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/573399/nz-green-protein-producer-sprouts-new-deal-with-asian-food-giant">NZ green protein producer sprouts new deal with Asian food giant</a> - RNZ
<a href="https://www.farmersweekly.co.nz/technology/leaft-protein-boosted-from-ground-up/">Leaft protein boosted from ground up</a> - Farmers Weekly

From Leaf to lunch: the Canterbury startup rethinking protein

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/de451654-8a2e-4b04-9e8c-b425001b4f89/transcript

Judith Collins on AI and regulating tech, plus inside Microsoft HQ

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