More tech infrastructure needed to bring AI scribe data to NZ

The company behind medical AI scribe tool Heidi has committed to having regional infrastructure within New Zealand, but says the timing depends on when infrastructure is available.

The government announced in late 2025 that the AI scribe tool was being rolled out across the country's emergency departments, following trials in Hawke's Bay and Whanganui.

Health New Zealand said any data held in the cloud platform was currently stored in Australia.

"Although Heidi's primary infrastructure currently uses ISO27001-certified cloud storage in Sydney, Heidi has committed to relocating this infrastructure to Aotearoa New Zealand within the next 12 months, as the infrastructure becomes available," said Health New Zealand head of government services Sasha Wood in an Official Information Act response.

Wood said Heidi was limited to accessing de-identified data that could not be used for product improvement, that the AI scribe did not store any data on the device used, and that any data held on the cloud platform was automatically deleted after 14 days.

In response to questions from RNZ, Heidi confirmed it was committed to relocating cloud storage infrastructure to New Zealand.

"However, we can't guarantee a timeline because this is dependent on the availability of suitable regional cloud infrastructure in-country, which is outside of our control," the company said.

Heidi head of legal and regulatory affairs Yass Omar said regional cloud infrastructure in New Zealand was still developing,

"Some capabilities required to run Heidi at full capacity are not yet available."

Omar said Heidi's engineering team had added New Zealand to its regional prioritisation framework and was progressing scoping work.

"We will move as soon as we can do so without compromising the experience our clinicians depend on."

Omar said Heidi was not in a position to share specific provider or location details at this stage.

"We also want to be transparent: data localisation is one part of a broader conversation," Omar said.

"Even with data held in New Zealand, we recognise there is ongoing governance work to be done, and we're committed to that long-term journey."