KiwiSaver hardship withdrawals have spiked to their highest in a decade last month, amid rising fuel prices.

According to the IRD, more than 5600 people withdrew their savings due to financial hardship - the second-highest amount ever since August 2016.

Over 49 million dollars was withdrawn, a 12.6 percent increase from March last year.

Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub says the cost of living crisis, and the recent spike in job losses and business closures have all cumulated into the current increase.

"Mostly, what we're seeing at Simplicity is just that people have lost their jobs, they've lost their businesses, or they can't repay their mortgage - it's kind of life stuff. But the recession has real human cost."

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A Kiwi company is flipping the bird, pivoting from making environmentally friendly wool shoes to AI.

After years of losses, Allbirds sold all its assets this month and now plans to lease GPUs – chips used to train AI software.

It's revised its moniker to NewBirds AI.

Kevin Milne joined Jack Tame to talk about the rise and fall of the company.

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Kiwi company Allbirds has announced a new direction and it's drawn questions from experts.

After years of losses, the former sustainable shoe company is transitioning to AI after selling all its assets this month.

It's revised its moniker to NewBirds AI - seeing share values surging up to 700 percent.

NZ Herald senior business writer Chris Keall says the tech and business-based press has raised concerns about what this could do for the company.

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