Stanhope ai Raises £2.3m in Seed Funding for Human-like Decision-making ai
Stanhope ai, a company utilizing decades of neuroscience research to teach machines human-like decision-making abilities in the real world, has secured £2.3m in seed funding led by UCL Technology Fund.
Prominent Neuroscientists and ai Researchers Found Stanhope ai
Creator Fund, MMC Ventures, Moonfire Ventures, Rockmount Capital, and leading angel investors also participated in the funding round. The company was founded as a spinout from University College London (UCL), backed by UCL Business, by three eminent neuroscientists and ai researchers: CEO Professor Rosalyn Moran, Director Karl Friston, and Technical Advisor Dr Biswa Sengupta.
Active Inference: The Core of Stanhope ai’s Agentic ai
Stanhope ai applies neuroscience principles to ai and mathematics, leading the new generation of agentic ai technology. The team has developed algorithms inspired by human brains that continuously update their “internal models of the world” based on real-time data and discrepancies between predictions and actual events. Stanhope agentic ai models learn autonomously, decoding environments and refining their “world models” using onboard sensors.
The Future of Agentic ai
Stanhope ai’s approach, rooted in the neuroscience principle of Active Inference, differs significantly from traditional machine learning methods. Traditional models can only operate within their training data and make best-guess decisions based on available information, without the ability to learn on the go. In contrast, Stanhope’s Active Inference models minimize uncertainty and update predictions continuously, moving towards human-like reasoning and decision-making. Additionally, the size and energy requirements for these models are drastically reduced, enabling operation on small devices such as drones.
The Impact of Active Inference and Free Energy Theory
Stanhope ai’s approach is fueled by its founding team’s extensive research into the neuroscience principles of Active Inference and free energy. Professor Karl Friston, inventor of the Free Energy Theory Principle and a world-renowned neuroscientist at UCL, is leading this research. Friston’s principle theory explains that all living things are driven to minimize surprise and uncertainty by minimizing the energy needed for predictions and perception of the world. Active Inference is a part of this theory, detailing the process our brains use to minimize this energy.
Real-World Applications for Stanhope ai
In the near term, Stanhope ai is testing its technology with delivery drones and autonomous machines from partners like Germany’s Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation and the Royal Navy. In the long term, applications include manufacturing, industrial robotics, and embodied ai. The investment will support the company’s development of its agentic ai models and practical application of research.
Quotes from Stanhope ai Leaders
Professor Rosalyn Moran, CEO and co-founder of Stanhope ai, stated, “Our mission at Stanhope ai is to bridge the gap between neuroscience and artificial intelligence, creating a new generation of ai systems that can think, adapt, and decide like humans. We believe this technology will transform the capabilities of ai and robotics and make them more impactful in real–world scenarios.”
David Grimm, partner at UCL Technology Fund, commented, “ai startups may be some of the hottest investments right now but few have the caliber and deep scientific and technical know-how as the Stanhope ai team. Their unique approach combining neuroscience insights with advanced ai presents a groundbreaking opportunity to advance the field and address some of the most challenging problems in ai today.”
Marina Santilli, associate director at UCL Business, added, “The promise offered by Stanhope ai’s approach to artificial intelligence is hugely exciting, providing hope for powerful yet energy-light models. UCLB is delighted to have been able to support the formation of a company built on decades of fundamental research at UCL led by Professor Friston, developing the Free Energy Principle.”
