How much, if any, was spent in the 2025/26 financial year in the Minister's departments, agencies, crown entities and any other bodies that the Minister is responsible for, if any, on artificial intelligence, including costs on training staff, deploying systems, maintaining subscriptions and any other associated costs?

Answer

Officials advise that AI is embedded in most solutions in use at Inland Revenue; therefore, the amount spent specifically on AI cannot be calculated. Vendor pricing models often encompass the full suite of product features, without distinguishing between AI-enabled and non-AI functionality. Inland Revenue worked with an external organisation to plan deployment and co-design training for M365 Copilot for staff, in the 2025/26 financial year, to the value of $143,121.55. Training was provided to all staff with a M365 Copilot license, for a minimum of 60 minutes. The cost of time spent training staff is not held. $251,516.61 was spent on AI implementation specialist support, $75,750 on creation of governance instruments and $24,240 on training material creation during the 2025/26 financial year. All figures are GST-exclusive.