How, if at all, has artificial intelligence been deployed in a customer service function in the Minister’s departments, agencies, crown entities and any other bodies that the Minister is responsible for, if any?

Answer

Artificial Intelligence is not used directly in customer-facing channels or to independently interact with customers by the Ministry of Education. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) customer service function uses an AI powered chatbot to provide 24/7 support, helping customers access information, resolve common queries and retrieve their national student number. This improves response times and reduces demand on frontline staff, allowing them to focus on more complex cases. Depending on the nature of the queries, the chatbot escalates issues to the Contact Centre agents. Customers can choose to bypass the chatbot if they wish to talk to a person during office hours. Education New Zealand has not deployed artificial intelligence using large language models within its customer service function and the Education Review Office does not have a customer service function.