Edison AI Academy · Innovators
AI Young Leader
The people who shape AI won't just understand it. They'll know how to communicate it, sell it, and govern it.
A leadership-oriented AI program for students who want to present ideas, guide teams, make decisions, and lead in an AI-shaped world.
- Age range
- 15–22
- Duration
- 20 weeks · 2 terms
- Format
- Hybrid
- Level
- Senior
- Cohort
- 10–14 students
- Outcome
- Public showcase + leadership portfolio
What is the AI Young Leader program?
AI Young Leader is a 20-week Edison AI Academy program for students aged 15–22 who have completed the AI Hypergeneralist or equivalent. It develops the communication, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills that separate technologists from technology leaders — public speaking, persuasive writing, stakeholder management, business models, venture economics, and team leadership.
The capstone is a full AI venture pitch — idea, market, product, financials, and presentation — judged by real entrepreneurs and investors. It is the pathway for future founders and public communicators, and can run alongside Year 2.
Leadership, ethics, and future-ready communication.
A leadership-oriented AI program for students who want to present ideas, guide teams, make decisions, and lead in an AI-shaped world.
AI Young Leader is for students who intend to lead, not only build. It develops the skills that separate technologists from technology leaders.
Two terms: the first on communication and influence — public speaking, persuasive writing, data storytelling, and speaking to executives, parents, and policymakers; the second on entrepreneurship and leadership — business models, unit economics, customer discovery, pitch decks, founder finance, and leading a team through ambiguity.
The capstone is a full AI venture pitch — idea, market, product, financials, delivery — judged by real entrepreneurs and investors. Students leave able to make a room believe in an idea.
- What this program is
Leadership, ethics, and future-ready communication.
- Who it is for
Students who want confidence, communication, leadership, and future career advantage.
- What students build
Public-facing leadership project
- What students learn
Extended cycles culminating in a public showcase. Students operate like junior product leads, scoping, building, critiquing, and exhibiting work to an external panel.
- How students are taught
Small cohorts of 10–14 students, mentor ratio 1 mentor : 6 students. Edison runs on case-based learning, rotating studio roles, prototype-first modules, and venture pitch night.
- Final outcome
Public showcase + leadership portfolio
The Edison Learning Engine
How a program assembles into capability.
Edison programs are not a sequence of lessons. They are a learning engine, six parts that fit together to produce thinkers who can build with AI, defend their work, and lead.
Assembly
- 01
Curiosity Core
Students begin with questions, not templates. They learn to investigate problems before reaching for tools, the genuine intellectual engine of the program.
- 02
AI Fluency Layer
Students learn how to use AI systems as thinking partners, research assistants, and creative collaborators, across prompts, models, tools, and workflows.
- 03
Builder Studio
Students move from ideas into prototypes, turning abstract concepts into tangible AI-powered outputs through structured, hands-on experimentation.
- 04
Systems Thinking Ring
Students learn to see the whole system: users, constraints, incentives, workflows, ethics, and impact, the connective tissue that turns parts into outcomes.
- 05
Communication Lens
Students learn to present their thinking clearly, explain how their solution works, defend their decisions, and refine in response to critique.
- 06
Final Prototype Engine
Every module ends with a working prototype that students can demonstrate, explain, and improve, the assembled output of the entire learning engine.
The learning pathway, term by term.
Twenty weeks across two terms. The first builds communication and influence; the second turns it toward entrepreneurship and a venture pitch.
- T01
Weeks 1–10
Term 1 — Communication & Influence
Technical communication, public speaking, persuasive writing, data storytelling, and speaking to executives, parents, and policymakers — closing with a published thought-leadership piece and a coached talk.
- Public speaking
- Persuasive writing
- Data storytelling
- Stakeholder communication
Artefact A published article and a coached talk
- T02
Weeks 11–20
Term 2 — Entrepreneurship & Leadership
AI entrepreneurship, business models and unit economics, customer discovery, pitch-deck design, founder financial literacy, and team leadership — built into a full AI venture pitch on Pitch Night.
- AI entrepreneurship
- Business models
- Pitch design
- Leadership
Artefact An AI venture pitch
A venture pitch, judged by people who write cheques.
The capstone is a complete AI venture — problem, market, product, financial model, and a live pitch — defended on Pitch Night before founders and investors.
- 01Pitch deck
- 02Shipped capstone
- 03External-panel defence
Students learn with the tools modern builders actually use.
The AI Young Leader toolkit is curated to match the depth and ambition of this program. Students learn to choose, combine, and switch between tools, not memorise a single platform.
Category
Communication & Strategy
- ChatGPT
- Claude
- Canva
Category
Presentation & Storytelling
- Figma
- Google Slides
- Gamma
Category
Research & Decision Support
- Perplexity
- NotebookLM
- Notion
Tools evolve. Edison teaches the durable thinking, choosing the right tool, combining tools well, and switching when a better tool emerges.
Edison AI Academy
Founding faculty
Students learn from instructors who combine AI fluency, curriculum design, strategy, and practical implementation experience. Edison AI Academy is built around the belief that young people do not just need to learn tools, they need to learn how to think, build, and lead with them.
Cohorts are deliberately small (10–14 students, mentor ratio 1 mentor : 6 students), so every student is known, stretched, and held to a high standard.
We teach young people how to think, build, and lead with AI, not just how to use it.
Edison AI Academy is a selective program. Fees reflect the small cohort size, mentor ratio, and the depth of the work students complete.
Flexible payment plans may be available for accepted students. Bursaries and scholarships are reviewed individually as part of the admissions conversation.
We frame this as an investment in your child's future readiness, not a transactional fee for content delivery.
AI Young Leader — answers we get asked most.
Not sure if AI Young Leader is the right fit?
Speak with Edison AI Academy about your child's goals, current skill level, and best-fit pathway. We will recommend the right program and the next available cohort.
Three short steps. We'll match you to the right Edison pathway.
Our admissions team reviews every application personally and replies within one business day. The form takes about two minutes.
Your AI Young Leader preference travels with you to the application form — we'll know exactly what you're interested in.