This week on The Business of Tech, I talk to Inspired Education founder Nadim Nsouli to explore a bold experiment in AI‑driven schooling that will reach Auckland primary students from 2027.

Inspired Education operates seven ACG private primary schools in New Zealand, including five in Auckland, focusing on personalised learning. A new learning programme, Inspired Edge Academy, compresses the traditional core curriculum – English, maths, science, computing and languages – into three highly structured, interactive hours each morning.

Afternoons are turned into a lab for real‑world skills: financial literacy, entrepreneurship, public speaking and problem‑solving.

Underpinning it all is an adaptive AI learning system that changes questions and pathways in real time, depending on where each child is struggling or racing ahead, making progression based on mastery rather than age.

AI can personalise learning

Nsouli told me that Inspired has already invested tens of millions of dollars in technology across its 125 schools, using platforms like Century Tech to personalise homework and classwork for 95,000 students. In some subjects, students using these adaptive tools have lifted assessment scores by the equivalent of a GCSE grade boundary in just six weeks.

Nsouli walks through what this looks like for an eight‑year‑old: short 20–25 minute learning blocks, small clusters of students regrouped by mastery for each subject, a teacher‑to‑student ratio of about 1:8, and AI dashboards that show educators exactly where to intervene.

The philosophy behind the empire

Nsouli also tells Inspired's origin story. He left a successful private equity career after a personal tragedy, the death of his daughter Lyla, who died in 2012 at age 3 from a rare, aggressive brain cancer.

It was a turning point in Nsouli’s life, inspiring him to build a global group of premium schools that now employ 15,000 staff and educate 95,000 students on six continents. He sees the use of AI as “digitally native but human‑centred”. Smartphones are banned in all Inspired schools globally, teachers remain central, and technology is used where it can clearly outperform paper – in adaptive practice, feedback and assessment.

What it means for New Zealand

From 2027, the Edge model will appear in Auckland’s Inspired schools, after an early access launch in London, with the potential to spread faster where parent demand is strongest.

We also discuss whether AI‑powered mastery learning will widen the gap between private and state schools or eventually filter through to the public system as costs fall and evidence grows.

Listen to the conversation with Nadim Nsouli, streaming on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Meet Jason Huljich, co-CEO of ASX 200 property fund manager Centuria Capital. Since the 90s, Centuria has built an empire worth $22B, managing 150 funds spanning from industrial warehouses to private credit.

Why does Jason believe the work from home shift is finally stabilising—and how is it impacting office supply vs demand? How do you offset the risks of lending billions to residential developers during a housing crisis? Why does Centuria use 26 different banks?

We discuss Centuria’s expansion from bricks and mortar into digital infrastructure and alternative assets—and partnering with Nvidia to build "AI factory" data centres, using liquid immersion technology to cool high-powered processors.

Plus, hear Jason’s view on luring workers back to the office with saunas.

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Reserve Bank chief economist Paul Conway weighs in

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"The markets are saying two rate hikes before the election and that's going to be tough for people" - Independent commentator Bernard Hickey

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The Prime Minister comments on the fuel crisis, the tax credit relief package, Winston Peters and Halter.

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We have apparently moved from “obliterate” to “productive conversations” in just over a day. Matthew Goodson from Salt Funds Management

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Business update with Garth Bray thanks to Forsyth Barr

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The New Zealand sharemarket turned downwards, finishing with a fall of over 1.53 percent.

The conflict in the Middle East has continued on, and oil prices have kept going up as a result.

Milford Asset Management's Jeremy Hutton explained further.

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