Faculty (company)

Faculty Science Ltd (formerly ASI Data Science and Advanced Skills Initiative Ltd.) is a British technology company based in London, founded in 2014, by Marc Warner.

Faculty Science Ltd
Founded2014 (2014) (as ASI Data Science)
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
Key people
Marc Warner (founder, and CEO)
Ben Warner
Websitefaculty.ai

Warner is a graduate student of Harvard and London Centre for Nanotechnology. ASI has worked on more than 200 artificial intelligence projects, with partners including London Irish, easyJet, Tesco and the BBC.[1] The company is focused on AI technology.

The company was a supplier to the Vote Leave campaign during the 2016 United Kingdom EU referendum.[2] Their tools include SherlockML, a data science platform "for accessing large amounts of data, which can be used to design and test artificial intelligence models."[3] Previous work included building a tool to identify and block ISIS propaganda, and work for EasyJet and London Irish rugby club.[3]

In February 2019, the company rebranded as Faculty.[4]

UK government

The Guardian reported in May 2020 that Faculty had won seven government contracts in 18 months at a time when Warner's brother Ben had gone to work with Dominic Cummings as a data scientist. The newspaper noted that "Faculty is working at the heart of the government’s response to the pandemic. It has been processing large volumes of confidential UK patient information in an “unprecedented” data-mining operation".[5]

SherlockML is a python-based AI software tool, which was unveiled during an event at PyCon UK in October 2017. In February 2018, the Home Office and ASI developed a terrorist content blocking tool that identifies 94% of Daesh propaganda that prevents it from being uploaded to the Internet.[6]

During the coronavirus pandemic, Faculty and US company Palantir carried out data analysis work for the government.[7] In May 2020, it was reported that Faculty had secured a £400,000 contract with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to "analyse social media data, utility bills and credit rating scores"[8] in order to "identify trends, and then develop "interactive dashboards" to inform policymakers".[9] The contract was awarded directly to Faculty without it being put out to tender for other firms to bid on, according to the Guardian.[8]

References
  1. "Who are ASI Data Science, the company behind the Government's terror content blocking tool?". www.shropshirestar.com. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  2. Volpicelli, Gian (March 12, 2020). "Inside Dominic Cummings's coronavirus meeting with big tech". Wired UK – via www.wired.co.uk.
  3. "New AI Leader, Faculty, Launches with Pledge to 'Make AI Real'". www.businesswire.com. 2019-02-07. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
  4. "New AI Leader, Faculty, Launches with Pledge to 'Make AI Real'". www.businesswire.com. 7 February 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  5. Evans, Rob; Pegg, David (2020-05-04). "Vote Leave AI firm wins seven government contracts in 18 months". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
  6. Lee, Dave (13 February 2018). "UK unveils extremism blocking tool". BBC News. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  7. Lewis, Paul; Conn, David; Pegg, David (April 12, 2020). "UK government using confidential patient data in coronavirus response". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
  8. Pegg, David; Evans, Rob (2020-06-02). "AI firm that worked with Vote Leave given new coronavirus contract". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
  9. Boland, Hannah (2020-06-01). "Government presses ahead with Cummings' data science revolution". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
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