29 April 2026
45 Pipitea Street, Thorndon, Wel ington 6011
PO Box 805, Wel ington
Phone: 04 495 7200
Jorja
Email
: [email address]
[FYI request #33982 email]
Website: dia.govt.nz
Tēnā koe Jorja,
Your Official Information Act 1982 request, reference (OIA2526-0949)
I am responding to your email of 6 March 2026 to the Department of Internal Affairs (the
Department) requesting the fol owing information under the Official Information Act 1982
(the Act):
I would like to request any of the fol owing documents or information which contain the
term “Grok” (i.e. the AI tool used on the platform X):
•
formal briefings and aides-memoire to Ministers
•
internal correspondence sent and received by Tier 1, 2 and 3 staff
•
agendas and minutes from internal or inter-departmental governance groups,
including those with Ministers and/or senior officials in attendance
In addition, I would like to know the number of times the word “Grok” has appeared
within DIA’s information system.
Extension to your request
On 7 April 2026, the Department advised you that the timeframe to respond to your request
had been extended by 15 working days to 29 April 2026 under section 15A(1)(b) of the Act as
consultations necessary to make a decision on the request are such that a proper response
to the request cannot reasonably be made within the original time limit.
Decision regarding your request
There are 20 documents within scope of your request. These items are correspondence
exchanged between the Department and other public agencies by Tier 1, 2 and 3 staff. We
have made a decision in principle on these documents under the Act to al ow further time to
complete additional consultation. The documents will be released with some information
withheld under the fol owing sections of the Act:
• 9(2)(a), to protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of deceased natural
persons;
• 9(2)(b)(i), would be likely to prejudice the supply of similar information, or
information from the same source;
• 9(2)(b)(ii), would be likely unreasonably to prejudice the commercial position of the
person who supplied or who is the subject of the information;
• 9(2)(f)(iv), to maintain the confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers of the
Crown and officials;
• 9(2)(g)(i), to maintain the free and frank expression of opinions by employees of any
public service agency;
• 9(2)(j), enable a Minister of the Crown or any public service agency or organisation
holding the information to carry on, without prejudice or disadvantage, negotiations;
and
• Out of scope
For some parts of your request, any information that the Department is unable to locate will
be refused under sections 18(e) and/or 18(g) of the Act. These parts of your request will be
confirmed in our subsequent letter to you.
In response to the final part of your request regarding the number of times the word “Grok”
has appeared, the term has been used 926 times (as at the time of response) within the
Department’s information systems.
Release of information
We anticipate releasing this information to you by 13 May 2026. As noted earlier, this
timeframe is required to allow sufficient time for the completion of the remaining
consultation related to the documents within scope.
Where possible, we wil provide the documents in advance of this date and wil keep you
informed of any issues or delays affecting delivery.
Public interest considerations
As is required by section 9(1) of the Act, we have considered whether the withholding of
information is outweighed by other public interest considerations which would make it
desirable to make this information available. In this instance, we do not consider this to be
the case.
Access to the Ombudsman
You have the right to seek an investigation and review of my decision by the Office of the
Ombudsman. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
Nāku noa, nā
Mark Batt
Director Branch Performance
Policy and Te Tiriti
