New Zealand AI research platform proposal successful in first stage

University of Auckland researchers, working with partners across New Zealand’s universities and research and business partners, have been awarded seed funding for a test bed to develop Agentic AI.

Next generation AI assistants or agents will learn and maintain themselves to perform tasks autonomously but safely in conjunction with humans.

Seed funding of $250,000 will enable the proposal to be developed in detail for consideration for funding in 2026.

The Aotearoa Agentic AI Platform: A Productivity Multiplier, led by the University, is one of the proposals to be considered by the newly-formed Public Research Organisation, the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Technology to establish a new national platform for AI research.

The  successful proposal will develop and deliver the platform backed by government investment of up to $70 million over seven years.

Professor Michael Witbrock, a computer scientist, said Agentic AI encompasses the next generation of smart agents. “Currently AI agents wait for human input. The next generation will be autonomous, actively seeking and evaluating data and observing the physical world in collaboration with humans.”

The aim, said colleague Professor Gill Dobbie, was to augment how New Zealanders worked, leveraging the creativity, insights, efforts and ideas of five million people to scale up productivity. “Our goal is to safely develop and test Agentic AI agents to tackle societal challenges, drive new industry and upskill researchers, industry and the community in AI, to support a skilled population ready to use AI to enhance our economy and society.”

The Aotearoa Agentic AI Platform would develop agents tailored to the country’s needs and strengths and test them in realistic simulations. Agentic AI is already deployed in New Zealand, helping clinicians produce more accurate diagnosis and reducing the time farmers spent checking stock and crops for pests and disease.

The initial focus for the proposed platform would be on Agentic AI for healthcare, robotics and automation and science discovery, including new drug discovery.

The Aotearoa Agentic AI Platform proposal is highly collaborative with partnerships ranging from New Zealand and international universities and PROs to private sector companies, including Beca, Spark, Fonterra and Datacom.