Matt Ensor | Profile

Profile

Join date: Aug 24, 2024

About

Matt Ensor is a New Zealand AI governance expert, keynote speaker and advisor. He advises boards, executives and professional organisations on the strategic, ethical and governance implications of artificial intelligence, Generative AI, AI agents and agentic commerce. Matt is Chair of the AI Forum New Zealand Generative AI Working Group, an Institute of Directors facilitator, and a member of Engineering New Zealand’s AI Advisory Group. With a background in civil engineering, sociology and senior technology leadership, he is known for making AI practical, safe and relevant for high-trust professions and regulated organisations.

Posts (2)

Jun 10, 2026 ∙ 3 min

AI is now a "basic expectation" for the public service. Governance has to be the other one.

A few decades ago, when I worked in a Government Ministry, there were a few phrases you heard often. “Give the Minister options.” “Keep the Minister off the front page of the Dom.” And perhaps most importantly: “Do what the Minister asks for.” That last one mattered. Government is ultimately a political democratic system. Ministers weigh up a whole range of factors that officials may not see, and then they make decisions. A non-partisan public sector has to understand that. So when Nicola...

Jun 7, 2026 ∙ 2 min

AI Governance of Agentic Commerce

As someone who spends most of my time helping organisations understand the governance, risk and strategic implications of AI, I wasn't at CryptoCon NZ to hear predictions about Bitcoin prices. I went because agentic commerce creates one of the next major AI governance challenges. If AI agents are going to search, compare, recommend, negotiate and eventually transact on behalf of people or organisations, then governance needs to move beyond content, privacy and hallucination risk. It needs to...