What is Generative AI?

Read about GenAI and its related fields, discover case studies and further reading to help improve services provided to New Zealanders.

Download a one-page summary or the full interim guidance in PDF format:

Interim GenAI guidance for the public service — Summary (PDF 230 KB)

Interim GenAI guidance for the public service — Full guidance (PDF 193 KB)

Note: This is interim advice and will be reviewed as AI and GenAI evolves and the risks are better understood.

What is GenAI?

Generative AI (GenAI) can use prompts or questions to generate text or images that closely resemble human-created content. These tools work by matching user prompts to patterns in training data and use probability to ‘fill in the blanks’. ChatGPT is the most well-known example of a GenAI.

GenAI is being integrated into many services across the cloud, security, creative and media sectors just to name a few. GenAI is here and, like any new potentially disruptive technology, we need to learn about it, understand it and work through how to use it safely.

Glossary of other terms

AI (Artificial intelligence)
Artificial intelligence is the field of computer science that seeks to create engineered systems that can generate outputs for particular sets of objectives, without explicit programming.
ML (Machine learning)
Machine learning is a subset of AI that trains machines to learn from existing data and improve upon that data to make decisions or predictions.
DL (Deep learning)
Deep learning is a more specialised machine learning technique in which more complex layers of data and neural networks are used to process data and make decisions.

Learn more about GenAI

Case studies

Generative AI — Ministry of Education

Further reading

Data Leads

Privacy leads

Generative Artificial Intelligence — Office of the Privacy Commissioner

Procurement leads — NZGP

Security leads

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Utility links and page information

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