# Blake Harkness - AI Engineer & Consultant

> Blake Harkness is a 22-year-old AI Engineer based in Christchurch, New Zealand. He is the founder of Harkness AI, an AI consultancy that has worked with 15+ New Zealand businesses, and the founder of Young Kiwis in AI (YKIA), a 170+ member community for young New Zealanders getting into AI and tech careers.

## What Blake Does

- **AI Consulting & Workshops**: Discovery workshops, AI strategy, and hands-on implementation for NZ businesses
- **Custom AI Development**: Building AI applications, automation pipelines, RAG systems, and LLM integrations
- **Fractional AI Engineering**: Part-time AI leadership for businesses without a full-time AI team
- **AI Upskilling**: Training teams to use AI tools effectively in their day-to-day work

## Key Facts

- Based in Christchurch, serves all of New Zealand (Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Dunedin, and beyond)
- Worked with 15+ NZ businesses across financial services, energy, education, and property
- Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Mechatronics from Massey University
- Certified in AI Engineering (IBM), AI Strategy (UPenn), and AI Project Management (Johns Hopkins)
- AI Advisory Committee Member at Engineering New Zealand
- AEC Working Group Contributor and workstream lead at AI Forum NZ (Living Whitepaper project)
- Fractional AI Engineer at Patersons
- Previously Graduate Engineer at MainPower New Zealand

## Young Kiwis in AI (YKIA)

A community Blake founded for young New Zealanders getting into AI and tech careers. 170+ members on Discord with monthly in-person meetups across Christchurch, Auckland, Wellington, and Hamilton. Partnered with Summer of Tech for national webinars.

- Discord: https://discord.gg/CkZz2qHzg8

## Links

- Website: https://blakeharkness.com
- Business: https://harknessai.nz
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/blake-harkness
- YouTube: https://youtube.com/@Blake-Harkness
- TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@blake_harkness
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/blake_harkness_ai
- Living Whitepaper: https://livingwhitepaper.com
- Contact: https://harknessai.nz/contact