GenAI: the $85 Billion Productivity Boost for New Zealand

📊 45% of respondents in Google’s survey, The ROI of GenAI, said using Generative AI doubled their productivity.¹

How much could you accomplish with double the productivity?

Let’s take a look at the value proposition.

The average salary in New Zealand is $65,748.80.

According to StatsNZ, there are 2.9 million people working in New Zealand full-time.

If 45% of them doubled their productivity, that would mean a productivity boost of $85 billion for the national economy.

AI educator Simon Kriss says that 2025 is the year for AI Literacy. Artificial intelligence is no longer the future; it’s the present, and those who are not training themselves for the future of work will soon be left behind.

That’s why I’m so happy to be focused on training knowledge workers in my new AI-Powered Professionals Program.

Enrollment is now closed, but I will be announcing new dates shortly

I hosted the first AI-Powered Professionals workshop on Friday, and it felt like I was bestowing superpowers on my students. I love hearing people blurt out “this is f*cking amazing!” while we are in the middle of an exercise.

During one of the exercise demonstrations in last week’s workshop, I asked ChatGPT for ‘the most kiwi image’ and replied to every response ‘not kiwi enough, make it more kiwi’ until this happened:

We explored how AI can enhance creativity, productivity, and strategy, and the results were nothing short of inspiring.

💡 Biggest Wins

✅ AI-Generated Creativity: We pushed AI image generation to the extreme (hot dogs have never looked so…nuclear 🔥🌭). It was a great reminder that AI works best when we experiment and iterate.
✅ The GPT Triplicate Challenge: Participants asked AI three connected prompts, showing how chaining prompts leads to deeper insights.
✅ Prompt Engineering Mastery: We broke down the PILLARS framework (Persona, Intent, Layout, Limits, Audience, Style) to supercharge AI outputs with better clarity and specificity.
✅ Task Management with AI: Organizing ChatGPT conversations into Projects helps keep ideas structured. Somebody said learning this simple feature made the entire 90 minutes worth it! (Pro tip: Upgrade to the paid version to use Projects)
✅ From Chaos to Clarity: Participants shared struggles in getting AI to “think” the way they wanted. Refining prompts and structuring ideas first led to much better results.

🤖 Think of AI like this….

It used to take weeks to cross the Pacific Ocean on a boat, but now it only takes hours on a plane. Once we had better tools, we became exponentially more effective.

‽ How could you use GenAI today?

Are you keeping a list of ideas? If not, start that list now. The next time you hear of a cool trick to do with AI, write it down. Then, when you are at the prompt window, use your list!

Here’s a suggestion:

🛠️ Talk to ChatGPT – no typing required!

Did you know you can have real conversations with ChatGPT using voice? No more typing—just talk and listen like you’re chatting with a coach, assistant, or even a ghost (👻).
In this video, I’ll show you:

✅ How to use ChatGPT’s voice feature for hands-free AI conversations
✅ The difference between voice-to-text and interactive voice chat
✅ How to use ChatGPT as a fitness coach, brainstorming partner, or thought organizer
✅ Why this is perfect for walks, workouts, or on-the-go productivity

📰 New AI News This Week

• China Announces Generative AI Labeling to Cull Disinformation – Starting 1 September, labels must be added (even if only in metadata)
• ​Study: AI Search Engines Cite Incorrect Sources at a 60% Rate – Perplexity averaged 37%, while ChatGPT was 67%
• French publishers and authors sue Meta over copyright works used in AI training – The case demands the removal of data directories created by Meta for AI training

**please note – AI helped me find these stories, but I link to their primary sources, because AI is a partner to humans, not a replacement

“AI will not make us obsolete, but it will make us superhuman.”

— Max Tegmark

⚙️ Upskill Your Team

Do you need a trainer to teach your team how to use Generative AI effectively? I teach webinars and in-person workshops in Christchurch, and around New Zealand.