Over the past few months, I’ve been thinking a lot about the way many New Zealanders view the digital world. We’ve entered a period where mistrust has become almost instinctive. Whether it’s social media, online harm, misinformation, or the rise of artificial intelligence, the first response for many people is simply to recoil. And after attending the Porritt Lecture last night — an excellent and sobering talk about social media and its impacts on teenagers — I’m more aware than ever of how deeply these concerns run.
- Much of this anxiety is understandable. Parents, caregivers, teachers, and community leaders see real harm online. They see young people struggling with pressures that simply didn’t exist a decade ago. What I heard last night wasn’t wrong or exaggerated — far from it. These issues demand attention, care, and the kind of thoughtful caution that good parenting and good leadership have always required.
But something important often gets lost in these conversations:
- Not all digital tools are the same.
And not all technology leads us down the same path.
In fact, some of the new tools emerging now are quietly giving us the ability to think better, to work more creatively, and to organise our lives more gently, not more chaotically. That may sound surprising — even contradictory — if your starting point is the world of social media. But the digital world has always come in waves. Every new era brings its risks, of course, but also new possibilities.
And for me, one moment recently shifted everything.
It came during a presentation by Emily Broadmore, a creative New Zealand thinker whose clarity, confidence, and way of explaining AI struck me like a breath of fresh air.
A Different Tone: Moving Beyond Fear
What impressed me most about Emily wasn’t the technology she described — it was the tone. A tone of calm intelligence, grounded optimism, and respect for human judgement. Instead of the typical narrative of machines replacing people, she spoke about AI as a thinking partner — a companion in ideation, creativity, and clarity.
- That distinction matters.
It’s the difference between a threat and an invitation.
- As Emily put it, the real value of AI is not in getting machines to do more things faster. The deeper opportunity is in developing our own creative intelligence — our ability to ask better questions, explore more angles, and bring nuance, curiosity, and reflection back into our work.
This resonated with me immediately. I’ve been working with AI closely for a while now, and the joy of it — the real joy — is in the conversation. The way it helps organise thoughts, test ideas, and uncover connections I might not have seen otherwise. The quiet, steady presence of something that speeds up the thinking process without rushing it.
Emily described it beautifully:
- AI helps us explore before we execute.
- It helps us think better before we act.
The 20% Rule — From “Good Enough” to Great
One of Emily’s insights has stayed with me:
- AI can take most people to about 80% quality very quickly.
That’s the “good enough” level — the point where many stop because the result seems fine. But the most exciting part, she said, is the remaining 20% — the space where human creativity, judgement, and experience lift the work from competent to excellent.
That last 20% is where we shine.
- That’s where voice, nuance, originality, and genuine understanding live.
That’s where meaning is made.
This idea — going from good to great — is at the heart of what I’ve been thinking about for months, and hearing her articulate it so clearly was extraordinary.
Ordinary Tools, Extraordinary Access
One point that surprised many people in the session was the simple fact that large corporates — banks, government departments, major consulting firms — are using the exact same version of ChatGPT that everyday New Zealanders can use at home.
- There’s no hidden enterprise edition, no secret corporate-only upgrade, no locked vault of extra intelligence. We all have access to the same tool.
That’s remarkable.
And it’s democratic.
- It means a sole trader in Whanganui, a parent juggling whānau responsibilities, a retiree writing their memoirs, or a small volunteer group trying to put together a funding application have equal access to one of the most powerful thinking tools ever created.
It removes a barrier that previous eras of technology always reinforced.
And it means the mistrust many people feel isn’t a sign they’re behind — it’s simply a sign they haven’t been shown the gentle way in.
A New Way of Working: Clear, Calm, and Human
Emily also described a workflow that I found deeply inspiring:
- She attends a meeting.
- She records the discussion in a simple, unobtrusive way.
- Afterwards, as she’s walking or travelling to her next appointment, she asks AI to produce:
- a clean transcript
- a summary
- an action list
- any additional tasks the AI can complete immediately
By the time she reaches her next destination, everything is done.
I know business leaders in Whanganui doing exactly the same thing — capturing whole meetings, letting AI organise the content, and walking away with clarity instead of chaos. This isn’t fanciful; it’s already ordinary.
- And for someone like me, working across digital inclusion, community initiatives, and social enterprise, the real power here isn’t speed — it’s thoughtfulness. It frees up precious energy to focus on people, not paperwork.
Bridging the Gap: From Mistrust to Curiosity
So where does all this leave us?
- We don’t need to dismiss the fears around digital harm — they’re real, and they matter. But we also don’t need to let those fears overshadow the possibilities of a new kind of tool that can genuinely help us think, learn, and work more clearly.
The way forward, I believe, is to soften the ground — not to push or persuade, but to gently invite curiosity.
- To show people that AI doesn’t have to be intimidating or dangerous.
- It can be quiet, helpful, reflective — even quite beautiful in its way.
- It can help us organise our thoughts, understand complex issues, and turn scattered ideas into something clear and meaningful.
For me, it brings joy.
- And joy is not something we should be shy about in the digital world.
A More Human Digital Future
AI won’t solve every problem.
It won’t remove all risks.
It won’t make parenting easier or wipe away the pressures our young people face.
- But it can help us approach our mahi, our learning, our conversations, and our creativity with more clarity and less overwhelm.
It can give time back to those who need it.
It can support people who feel stuck.
It can simplify what feels complicated.
And it can open new paths for people who have never felt fully confident in the digital world.
- As a community, as a country, I believe we can move toward AI with open minds and steady hearts — not rushing, not resisting, but exploring together.
A kinder way in.
A gentler digital future.
And perhaps, if we let it, a more human one too.
Acknowledgements
This reflection was inspired by a recent webinar hosted by ACE Aotearoa, an organisation dedicated to adult and community education across Aotearoa New Zealand. ACE continues to create generous learning spaces for people wanting to deepen their understanding of emerging technologies and how they might shape our future.
The session, Beyond Productivity: The Philosophy of AI Enablement through Creative Intelligence, was presented by Emily Broadmore, a Wellington-based creative intelligence practitioner and founder of Beyond Logic. Emily works at the intersection of strategy, narrative, creativity, and technology, helping organisations think more clearly and communicate with purpose in a rapidly changing world.
For those interested in exploring Emily’s work or connecting with her professionally, you can find more information on her website:
Beyond Logic – click here
and through her LinkedIn profile:
LinkedIn — Emily Broadmore
More about ACE Aotearoa’s programmes and events can be found here:
ACE Aotearoa — click here
This blog post is a collaborative creation by Alistair Fraser, with the innovative assistance of OpenAI’s ChatGPT 5.1 highlighting the synergy of human creativity and advanced AI technology.