It remains essential that Aotearoa New Zealand builds, adapts and evaluates AI in ways that reflect the values and priorities that matter here — including sustainability, fairness and equity, Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations, Māori data sovereignty, multiculturalism, intergenerational thinking, whānau and community wellbeing, and holistic approaches to decision-making. As AI systems become more capable and increasingly able to act as well as advise, the need to embed these values in how AI is designed, governed and deployed becomes even more important. A central message of this third edition is therefore that New Zealand must strengthen its own AI capability and build a genuinely connected ecosystem in which research, industry, government and Māori can work together — sharing talent, infrastructure, knowledge and missions — to create, adopt and govern AI in ways that deliver lasting economic, social and environmental benefit for Aotearoa New Zealand.