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. The company has worked with the UK government, and is linked with the Conservative Party, Dominic Cummings, Vote Leave, and Cambridge Analytica.[1][2][3][4]

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

The company was founded in 2014, by Marc Warner, Se Miao Angie Ma, and Daniel James Hulme.[5] While Warner and Ma remain at the company, Hulme resigned from the company in 2016.[6]

The company was a supplier to the Vote Leave campaign during the 2016 United Kingdom EU referendum.[7] Between 2017 and 2018, journalist Carole Cadwalladr exposed Faculty's (then ASI Data Science) involvement in the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal,[1]and reported that members of ASI Data Science were part of an intricate web performing work for Vote Leave, Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, and Cambridge Analytica.[1] The Guardian reported in 2020 that Faculty had received £260,000 from Dominic Cummings personal firm to work on Vote Leave.[2]

Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, ASI Data Science rebranded as Faculty in 2019.[3]

Following the company's involvement with Vote Leave, Marc Warner has spoken publicly about the benefits of Brexit and the advantages to the AI industry.[8]

Controversy

In February 2018, the Home Office and ASI developed a terrorist content blocking tool that claimed to identify 94% of Daesh propaganda, aiding in preventing it from being uploaded to the Internet.[9] Despite considerable hype by Faculty, the tool was widely criticised and it was reported by Wired (magazine) that Daesh could easily dodge the tool.[10] In 2019, it was then reported by the Financial Times that the tool had not been adopted by any companies, even after it had been offered free of charge.[11]

During the coronavirus pandemic, Faculty and the CIA-backed Palantir carried out data analysis work for the UK government.[12] The Guardian reported in May 2020 that Faculty had won seven government contracts in 18 months at a time when Warner's brother Ben Warner had gone to work with Dominic Cummings as a data scientist.[2] It further emerged that Warner had also attended SAGE meetings.[13] The government contracts were raised at a Cabinet Office meeting, and when Warner was asked how he ensured that he "did not influence" the awarding of several contracts to Faculty, he declined to answer the question.[14]

The newspaper noted that a source at the UK's Department of Health had described Marc Warner dropping Cummings’ name in his meetings, saying the chief executive of Faculty gave the impression he had the personal support of the prime minister's chief adviser. “It felt like he was bragging about it,” the senior source said, saying Warner would casually tell officials: “Don’t worry, I’ll text Dom,” or “I’m talking to Dom later.”[2][3]

The same month 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"[15] in order to "identify trends, and then develop "interactive dashboards" to inform policymakers".[16] According to The Guardian, the contract was awarded directly to Faculty without it being put out to tender for other firms to bid on it.[15] Theodore Agnew, the Cabinet Minister with responsibility for promoting the use of technology in public services had a shareholding in the company worth £90,000 as of May 2020 raising questions of potential conflict of interest.[3]

References
  1. Cadwalladr, Carole (7 May 2017). "The great British Brexit robbery: how our democracy was hijacked". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  2. Pegg, David; Evans, Rob; Lewis, Paul (12 July 2020). "Revealed: Dominic Cummings firm paid Vote Leave's AI firm £260,000". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  3. 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.
  4. Pegg, David; Evans, Rob (2 June 2020). "AI firm that worked with Vote Leave given new coronavirus contract". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  5. McGrath, Hannah. "ASI Data Science launches AI brand Faculty". National Technology. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  6. "Daniel James Hulme". www.gov.uk. 7 May 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  7. Volpicelli, Gian (March 12, 2020). "Inside Dominic Cummings's coronavirus meeting with big tech". Wired UK – via www.wired.co.uk.
  8. Boland, Hannah (2020-05-04). "Britain's AI industry could boom post-Brexit by escaping damaging Brussels moves". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
  9. Lee, Dave (13 February 2018). "UK unveils extremism blocking tool". BBC News. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  10. Lee, Dave (13 February 2018). "Isis could easily dodge the UK's AI-powered propaganda blockade". Wired. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  11. Lee, Dave (6 April 2019). "Businesses show no appetite for anti-terror AI tool". BBC News. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  12. Lewis, Paul; Conn, David; Pegg, David (April 12, 2020). "UK government using confidential patient data in coronavirus response". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
  13. Carrell, Severin (12 July 2020). "No 10 advisers at Sage meetings: key questions that need answering". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  14. Evans, Rob; Shahid, Nimra; Conn, David (2020-09-03). "Minister relinquishes control of shares in firm given UK government contracts". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  15. 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.
  16. 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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