As someone from NZSA was involved in helping to shape our Long-term Insights Briefing (LTIB) 2025, Culture in the Digital Age, MCH are very pleased to share that a final version has now been published. As you are likely aware, this briefing looks ahead to 2040 and explores how digital technologies – like artificial intelligence (AI) – will change the ways New Zealanders create, share and protect their stories.
By 2040, our cultural landscape will be deeply intertwined with AI and other emerging technologies. These changes offer unprecedented opportunities for our cultural system – but they also raise significant ethical, legal, cultural, and governance challenges.
Key insights include:
- The use of technology will significantly impact the cultural and creative workforce. While emerging technology can support the creation of new roles and provide productivity gains, it also poses risks. New skills and training are required to maximise opportunities for the workforce.
- By 2040, the concept of creativity will have changed. While creativity and technology have always been linked, recent developments in generative AI are calling into question what it means to be creative, and who has the power to create.
- By 2040, we won’t be able to tell which stories are real. The increasing use of AI-generated synthetic content in mis- and disinformation, are making it harder for people to tell what is real and exacerbating existing socioeconomic inequalities.
- How New Zealanders’ stories are protected will shape our future history. New tools are emerging for the preservation and revitalisation of knowledge, culture, heritage and language. However, the global community continues to grapple with how to best protect cultural heritage and intellectual property.
- Māori data governance principles and cultural values may help safeguard future stories in New Zealand’s unique context. Emerging frameworks are guiding responsible data governance, empowering communities to control and protect their cultural knowledge.
Read the briefing: Long-term Insights Briefings | Manatū Taonga | Ministry for Culture & Heritage
