The rangatahi in the research see being online as part of everyday life. Many also say generative AI is making it harder to know what’s real.
That’s a central finding of Connected Rangatahi: Digital Inclusion in the Age of AI. The research was carried out by One New Zealand and its charitable foundation, Te Rourou, One Aotearoa Foundation, with research partner Brainbox Institute, a technology policy think tank.
The work is qualitative. 28 rangatahi, predominantly aged 16 to 24, took part in one-to-one and group discussions run by four youth organisations, Number 10, VOYCE, The Y South and Te Ara Tirama, between March and July 2026.
Connection is how they learn
The research found connection underpins education, work, banking and access to services for rangatahi, and is a vital way to stay in touch with whānau and friends. The report says losing connection can have immediate consequences for learning, work and access to essential services.
Device and data costs, patchy rural coverage and power cuts all got in the way. One participant couldn’t do their Te Kura work because their laptop screen was broken. Another said power cuts in the country affected their ability to study.
One participant said learning worked well when schools supported students properly, delivering devices like Chromebooks, often with chargers and setup, direct to students, which made learning more accessible and reduced stress.
AI makes trust harder
Of their concerns about AI, trust was the biggest. Rangatahi described approaching online content with scepticism because of scams and misinformation, and said generative AI added another layer of difficulty in working out what’s authentic.
One participant’s rule of thumb was blunt. “If it looks like AI, it’s AI.”
Some had found AI useful for job applications and admin tasks. But the report says their views were mostly of uncertainty and concern, about trust, learning, work and society. One participant said they had relied on AI so heavily in late high school that it had quite negative effects, and pulled back.
Rangatahi described learning to manage risks through friends, whānau, training and their own experience, and experience came up most. Most of those who talked about age-based social media bans criticised blanket restrictions as an ineffective way to manage risk online, though many supported action on harmful content reaching tamariki and younger rangatahi.
Dr Ellen Strickland of Brainbox Institute, a lead researcher on the project, said young people were solutions-focused. They’re learning and adapting their behaviour rather than waiting for adults to solve these problems, Strickland said.
AI is changing how people search
Shoppers are changing how they look things up too. In a PwC survey of 1,000 New Zealanders who had used AI while shopping, 44% said AI had reduced their use of search engines when researching purchases, and 64% used it to compare products and prices.
Jono Swanston, general manager of digital marketing agency Sprocket Digital, said AI needs information it can trust and put into context. Good journalism is usually clearly attributed, dated, focused on a subject and based on independent reporting or expert sources, he said, and those are valuable signals for an AI platform deciding what to use.
A Muck Rack analysis of more than 25 million links cited by ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini found 84% came from earned media, including journalism, academic research and government sources. Paid and advertorial content made up 0.3%.
The One NZ report sets three priorities. They are treating reliable, affordable connection as essential, strengthening safety and trust online, and involving rangatahi in shaping the digital future.
Ezekiel Raui, head of Te Rourou, said the third priority is critical to getting the first two right. Rangatahi have ideas, capability and a real appetite to contribute, Raui said, and the job now is to create genuine opportunities for that voice to influence research, policy and technology.
