Tēnā koe AC

We acknowledge receipt of your Official Information Act request.

If we have any questions or need to seek clarification on any points we will be in touch soon. Otherwise, we will seek to respond to your request as soon as practicable and no later than 20 working days after the date your request was received (by 25 March 2026). If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of this timeframe.

Ngā mihi
Jo

JO PEARSON (she/her)
Coordinator Official Information and Compliance

Office of the Registrar and Secretary to the Council | Te Tari o Te Pouroki me te Kaituhi ki te Kaunihera
University of Otago | Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka

New Zealand | Aotearoa

Email/Īmera [University of Otago request email]
 

Tçnâ koe AC

Please find attached the University of Otago's response to your Official Information Act request dated 25 February 2026.

Ngâ mihi
Bill

Bill Frewen
Manager Policy and Compliance | Kaiwhakahaere Kaupapa Here mete Tikaka Mahi

Office of the Registrar and Secretary to the Council | Te Tari o Te Pouroki me te Kaituhi ki te Kaunihera University of Otago | Ôtâkou Whakaihu Waka

Email | Îmera [University of Otago request email]

-----Original Message-----
From: AC <[FOI #33850 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, 25 February 2026 4:23 pm
To: UoO - Official Information Act <[University of Otago request email]>
Subject: Official Information request - AI Use by Senior Leadership

[You don't often get email from [FOI #33850 email]. Learn why this is important at https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific... ]

Dear University of Otago,

I noticed the message from the Vice Chancellor sent as "Communications - University Of Otago Student update: 25 February 2026" at 4PM today contained several linguistic structures highly associated with AI use. For example the it's not X it's Y structure and em dashes. ( e.g. "The people who live around you aren’t just locals — they’re your neighbours.")

Placing the letter into GPTZero (Model 4.2b) the commercial AI detector tool usually considered ~90% accurate at detecting AI written tex ( see https://doi.org/10.62273/PZWW7741) the model predicted 100% likelihood of AI Generation for the entirety of the welcome to Otago message.

To be clear I am not stating or accusing the VC of using AI in the text or behaving unethically, simply that commercially available detection tools which are not always perfectly accurate flag the text as AI generated.

Please respond to the following three questions:

1) Did the Vice Chancellor use Generative AI to write his start of the year message? If so Please provide any information held by the University of Otago regarding whether Generative AI was used to draft or edit the "University of Otago Student update: 25 February 2026." including any prompts or AI conversation transcripts.

2) What policies if any does the university of Otago have in place for AI use by staff and senior leadership. Including any policies surrounding disclosure of AI use.

3) More broadly, does the University of Otago allow staff to send AI generated text, especially emails without stating that the text was AI generated.

Thank you, and I reiterate that I am not stating that the VC has used AI or acted unethically.

Yours faithfully,
AC

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Tēnā koe AC

I refer to your information request dated 26 February 2026 made under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), to which the University responded on 23 March 2026.

To further clarify our response, we decline to provide the relevant AI transcript and prompts under section 18(g), as the information requested is not held.

If you are not satisfied with our response to your information request, section 28(3) of the Act provides you with the right to ask an Ombudsman to investigate and review this response. However, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss any concerns with you first.

Ngā mihi
Bill

Bill Frewen
Manager Policy and Compliance | Kaiwhakahaere Kaupapa Here mete Tikaka Mahi

Office of the Registrar and Secretary to the Council | Te Tari o Te Pouroki me te Kaituhi ki te Kaunihera University of Otago | Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka

Email | Īmera [University of Otago request email]