AI training in New Zealand that leaves your team able to do it themselves
Structured AI training programmes with clear learning outcomes, delivered through hands-on, interactive sessions - in person or online, anywhere in New Zealand. You don’t watch us do it; you learn to do it yourself.
Three structured programmes
For business owners and managers
Management capability programmes: owners, founders and managers learn to use AI in their own work and lead adoption across their business - setting the rules, choosing the tools and coaching their team. New to AI? Start with AI Foundations for Business Owners, a plain-language, tool-agnostic half day. Looking for Claude training? Build Your Claude Brain is our hands-on Claude training in New Zealand, where you set Claude up against your own work.
For whole teams
Team training: your wider staff upskilled together against your own tools and workflows. This is a separate offering from the owner and manager programmes above.
Training, kept separate from our other services
Training - what this page is
- We teach; you do the building yourself, hands-on, in the session
- Structured programmes with published curricula and stated learning outcomes
- The capability stays in your business - you leave able to do it without us
- Built to develop business owners, managers and their people
Advisory, builds & implementation - separate engagements
- Consulting, strategy, custom builds and fractional engineering are where we do the work for you
- They are scoped, priced and delivered separately - never mixed into a training programme
- If done-for-you is what you need, that lives on its own page: consulting & builds
Three ways to engage - same structured outcomes
Public workshops
Small, scheduled sessions anyone can book. Hands-on from the first hour, capped so everyone gets help.
See upcoming public datesLive online
The same curricula delivered over video for people and teams outside Christchurch - same exercises, same outcomes.
Ask about online datesPrivate in-house
Run privately for your team, tailored to your tools and workflows - on site anywhere in New Zealand or online.
See the team programmeAI training in New Zealand, answered
Something not covered here? There are more answers on the FAQ page, or just ask us directly.
The kind of thing you will learn
Short walkthroughs of tools and workflows covered in the sessions. Free to watch before you book anything.
Training delivered across New Zealand
Evidence of learning outcomes
- Every attendee at the July 2026 Build Your Claude Brain public workshop (5 of 5) completed the hands-on build and left running their own Claude setup, with a working automation they built themselves.
- Delegate feedback at the Bed & Breakfast Association NZ 2026 conference most frequently cited the AI workshop as the most valuable session of the conference - described as practical, relevant and immediately useful.
- Feedback is collected at every session, and outcome results are published here after each public workshop.
Businesses we have trained and worked with
Who delivers the training
Blake Harkness
Lead Trainer & Founder, Harkness AIBlake is a Christchurch-based AI engineer who runs AI education across New Zealand - from small hands-on workshops to conference sessions of 300+ people. He founded Harkness AI to help Kiwi businesses build real AI capability, and has published over 150 educational AI videos.
His training style is practical and hands-on: plain-language foundations, live demonstrations, then building against each participant's real work until they can run it themselves.
- Mechatronics engineering background
- AI Strategy and Governance - University of Pennsylvania (certified 2025)
- IBM AI Engineering Professional Certificate - IBM
- AI Forum New Zealand - AEC Working Group contributor
- Engineering New Zealand - AI Advisory Group member
- Young Kiwis in AI - Founder (meetups in 5 cities)
- 150+ published AI educational videos, 1M+ views
Jack Zarifeh
Trainer & Business Owner, PowerhouseJack is a mechatronics engineer turned business owner who runs Powerhouse in Christchurch on the same Claude setup taught in these programmes. He co-delivers the hands-on sessions alongside Blake, bringing the owner's view - what it actually takes to run AI in a real business day to day - and hands-on help while participants build.
- Mechatronics engineering background
- Business owner - runs Powerhouse on the Claude setup taught in these programmes
- Co-facilitator, Build Your Claude Brain public workshops
Feedback from the room
Blake ran a couple of sessions for my team. He was fantastic; he made it really simple for the whole team to understand, regardless of their previous AI experience.
Recently completed a half day course with Blake building my Claude Brain. The course was insightful & practical. Running 2 companies I know this is going to help me claw back some time on a lot of the repetitive tasks. Thank you Blake, excellent value and advice.
Blake is amazing, his knowledge of AI is really impressive. He helped us become more confident with AI and showed us how to use it in our business. The training sessions were great, and he's very approachable and always happy to help. He also presented at our networking event and received fantastic feedback from everyone.
Blake’s AI presentation was among the most frequently cited as the most valuable session of the conference - consistently described as practical, relevant and immediately useful for delegates’ businesses.
Ready to build capability in your business?
See the upcoming public dates, or register your interest and you’ll hear first when new sessions open - public or online.
Last updated 25 August 2026 - grouped programmes by audience, condensed the FAQ into one accordion and added learning-outcome evidence