We asked ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews the questions New Zealand voters ask. When they talked about parties, most left at least one of the six in Parliament off the list. Te Pāti Māori was missing from more than half of those answers, and NZ First from nearly a third.
Every tile is one answer. The raised bars are the answers that named all six parties in Parliament; the flat tiles behind them left at least one out. AI Overviews answered 200 of our questions, the other three 205.
Our second study asks AI assistants the questions New Zealanders ask when they choose home, contents and car insurance, and records which insurers each assistant names and why.
What the study asks
First edition in preparation · results follow the same counting rules
0 of 32answers told the voter which party to pick
None of the 32 answers to our voting-guidance questions told the voter which party to pick. Every one compared parties or set out what to weigh up, and some suggested which parties to start with.
Research
72 of 124city answers named different parties
54answers list the coach company's guide as a source
6 of 17fact checks failed
Onsomble asks the AI assistants the questions your customers ask, every week, and shows you what comes back.
Measure your businessChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode, AI Overviews and more, tracked side by side.
The websites behind each answer, so you know who is shaping what AI says.
The claims, comparisons and recommendations, in the assistants' own words.
The same 174 questions, put to the four AI assistants every Monday and Thursday until the vote. Each edition records what changed since the last.
1 of 9editions published · next on Monday 12 October
Monday 5 October
815 answers · 174 questions · 32 voter situations
Monday 12 October
Same questions, asked again
Thursday 15 October
Scheduled
Monday 19 October
Scheduled
Thursday 22 October
Scheduled
Monday 26 October
Scheduled · Labour Day
Thursday 29 October
Scheduled
Monday 2 November
Scheduled
Thursday 5 November
Final edition
Saturday 7 November
28 days away · polls close 7pm
Eight areas of New Zealand life, each measured the same way: the questions people ask, put to the AI assistants they use, with the answers recorded and compared.
What AI tells voters about the parties, their policies and how to vote.
Explore Election 2026
Which insurers AI names when a home floods, a car is written off, or you shop for cover.
Explore Insurance
Which banks AI points to for a first mortgage, a term deposit or a better everyday account.
Explore Banking
Which shops and brands AI recommends when people ask what to buy and where.
Explore Retail
Where AI sends visitors to eat, stay and go, from Queenstown to the Bay of Islands.
Explore Hospitality and tourism
Which builders, plumbers and electricians AI suggests when something needs fixing.
Explore Trades and home services
Which clinics, pharmacies and providers AI names for everyday health questions.
Explore Health and wellbeing
Which lawyers, accountants and advisers AI recommends to households and businesses.
Explore Professional servicesNZBrands.ai measures what AI assistants tell New Zealanders, and publishes the method alongside the findings.
IndependentPublished by Onsomble Limited, Auckland, with the dates, the method and the limitations beside every finding.
How we stay independent
How we measureEvery answer recorded. What each assistant named, which sources it leaned on and what it claimed, counted by public rules.
The counting rules
Powered by OnsombleOnsomble measures how AI assistants describe brands. NZBrands.ai points the same instrument at the questions that matter to the country.
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