Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says we should reframe how we think about AI (2025)

“My experience with people who ever doubt themselves is that they will prepare, they will read everything, they will reach out to the experts, they'll do their job with humility because they won't believe they have all the answers,” former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on stage at the recent Zendesk Relate 2025 conference.

After sharing stories from her time as Prime Minister, including her approach to empathetic leadership, the nation’s struggles with social media and her own battles with confidence when stepping into the global spotlight, Ardern’s discussion quickly turned to artificial intelligence.

“You can either have excitement or enthusiasm for the opportunity that lays ahead,” she said as she likened the emergence of artificial intelligence to an endless list of technological advancements over the course of decades.

A human-centric AI landscape

One of the biggest concerns we’ve been writing about regarding AI since the public preview of ChatGPT, which opened up a new chapter in public artificial intelligence, is its impact on the workforce.

The growing apprehension that AI will replace human workers, particularly in roles involving repetitive and administrative tasks, continues to play out today.

According to Ardern, these fears don’t just stem from the technology itself, but from workers’ past experiences of changes that have maybe failed them – changes that didn’t fully consider human impact.

In her discussion with the audience at Zendesk Relate 2025, it was clear that the former New Zealand Prime Minister advocates for proactively addressing such concerns through more clarity, guidance and transparency.

Ardern’s approach involves shifting the dialogue from one of fear to one of opportunity – understanding that jobs will be redefined rather than wiped out completely.

Although their roles will change, potentially considerably, the leader said that workers need to understand that the value they bring to organizations will remain constant.

Sure, artificial intelligence can significantly boost the productivity of workers who operate within certain fields, but even AI agents can’t operate entirely autonomously – they still require plenty of human input, be it on development, guidance or correction.

Moreover, she highlighted how governments can protect workers on a macro level. Ardern cited New Zealand’s initiatives, including state-level income insurance and lifelong learning programs designed to ease the transition into this new era of employment.

Citizens are more likely to feel comfortable about such major changes when there’s the guarantee and backing of their own government.

This aligns with the need for a cultural evolution, where citizens and employees must adopt the values of continuous learning, innovation and increased agility. Companies and government agencies hold most of the responsibility for this, however workers must be just as proactive in their approach to adapting.

To summarize, it appeared that Ardern is not concerned about AI’s impact in the long term. Though she acknowledges short-term displacement can be worrying for some, deeper support and commitment from all parties involved, including governments, companies and staff will ultimately secure our continued role on this planet.

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