Fran O'Sullivan: How can New Zealanders get their share of the AI spoils?

Fran O’Sullivan frames the AI “spoils” question around whether New Zealand can capture economic gains from the technology boom. She points to Elon Musk as the world’s wealthiest person and cites GDP comparisons in USD trillions, placing the United States ($32.38T) and China ($20.85T) ahead, with Germany ($5.45T), Japan ($4.38T), and the United Kingdom ($4.24T) after. Prediction markets such as Kalshi are cited for a 32% chance that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg becomes the world’s second trillionaire, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Dell CEO Michael Dell also expected to reach 13-digit net worths. The piece links AI infrastructure—such as SpaceX’s Grok-focused supercomputing campus in Memphis—to broader shifts affecting politics, taxation, employment, education, and capitalism’s legitimacy, arguing New Zealand has barely begun the debate.