A group of university students were left feeling increasingly anxious after putting their concerns directly to an AI chatbot, Gill Higgins reports. They felt greater Government regulation was the only solution. This echoes calls from around the world from NGOs to tech companies for AI development to slow down.
Gen Z are the first to grow up fully online, raised on social media, apps and instant connection. But now these young people face an adulthood inextricably linked with AI - and many say they don’t like what they see.
In a social experiment, 1News arranged for a group of Auckland University of Technology students to put their concerns directly to the chatbot ChatGPT.
They challenged it on some of the biggest issues surrounding the technology: political manipulation, deepfakes, bias, job losses, education, loneliness, therapy chatbots and whether governments are moving fast enough to control it.
The AI platform suggested better verification tools and platform warnings, but students pushed back, saying many people would not know those tools existed or how to use them.
They questioned the ethics of making AI companions so attractive and emotionally rewarding. In response, ChatGPT admitted this could lead to problems, admitting: “We risk a world where our closest listener is programmed with commercial intent.”
Bias was another flashpoint. When one student asked who chose the data AI models were trained on, the chatbot said human developers and researchers made those decisions. The student argued that meant bias was built in and that human judgement wouldn’t account for this as answers from AI were often treated as fact.
Clear anxiety
And there was clear anxiety over the future of education and the availability of jobs. One student asked whether it made sense to keep refining AI to be capable of an increasing number of human skills when people already felt threatened. The chatbot responded that humans could limit how far development goes.
Each of these debates ended in discussions on the need for more regulation. In the experiment, ChatGPT repeatedly said humans must take responsibility for how the technology is used. Which is why the students could not understand the New Zealand Government’s light touch approach.
This thought was echoed by Andrew Lensen, a senior lecturer in AI at Victoria University of Wellington. “I'm constantly frustrated that we allow a few big tech companies in the US to control our future, and I just find it disheartening that we are doing that, and our leaders, our political leaders, are not confronting that,” he said.
The calls for more regulation are getting louder around the world. Just this month, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was necessary to put safeguards around the use of AI in health to prevent inequalities getting worse.
Even huge AI tech company Anthropic warned guardrails need to be put in place before humanity loses control of the powerful capabilities of the technology.
Lensen echoes this, saying: “We need to be more proactive, so we get the benefits from the technology and minimise the harms.”
But the Government here is standing firm. In response to 1News, Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology Penny Simmonds said: “Cabinet has endorsed a light‑touch, proportionate and risk‑based approach - relying primarily on existing, technology‑neutral laws, with targeted updates only where needed. This avoids premature regulation while ensuring the right guardrails are in place to build public trust.”
The students weren’t satisfied. It seemed AI was also perplexed in response to a student’s question about whether this approach was appropriate. The chatbot said: “Some form of targeted regulation will eventually be necessary as AI becomes more integrated into crucial areas like health or employment. Having clear specific rules ensures we protect people from harm or bias.”
The students ended the exercise with more questions than answers - better informed about AI’s risks, but more unsettled about the future it’s shaping.
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