UMNAI
Hybrid Intelligence: combining neural learning and symbolic reasoning to make AI decisions understandable, inspectable, and useful.
AI RESEARCHER / FOUNDER / INVESTOR
Angelo
Dalli.
I build AI that can explain its decisions.
Then I turn it into things people can use.
25+ years working on AI. Co-founder of UMNAI. Working at the intersection of neural learning, symbolic reasoning, and real-world decisions.
9Startups founded
4Exits
70+Patents
PhDAI · University of Sheffield
1995IOI bronze medal
01 / BUILDING
Research meets reality.
CO-FOUNDER
Decision Intelligence
Taking AI beyond prediction. Connecting models, explanations, counterfactuals, and simulation to the decisions people actually need to make.
Company building & investing
A career turning technical ideas into businesses across AI, transportation, entertainment, and fintech. Supporting founders who build things that matter.
02 / WORKING PRINCIPLES
Ideas I keep returning to.
Understanding before persuasion.
“The purpose of an explanation is not simply to persuade someone to accept an answer. It is to help them work out whether they should.”
Make uncertainty useful.
“I do not want AI that hides uncertainty to look intelligent. I want AI that helps us manage uncertainty intelligently.”
They are in the loop.
But are they in control?
“The best AI should not have the last word. It should help us ask a better next question.”
Contrarian thinking.
Scalable execution.
Build a scalable, repeatable business around contrarian ideas. Question the assumptions. Prove the idea. Make it work at scale.
03 / BACKGROUND
Scientist by training.
Builder by instinct.
I built my first neural network in 1996 and have been working on AI for over 25 years. I started selling software as a teenager. What began small became a career building technology companies, researching AI, and backing other entrepreneurs.
My academic path took me from computer science and computational linguistics in Malta to a PhD in AI at the University of Sheffield. I’m interested in the whole journey: from an idea on paper to a system that works outside the lab.
Member of IEEE, AAAI, ACM, and ACL.
AI across different worlds.
DNA & language
Developed mathematical formulas for sequence alignment, with applications in DNA analysis and natural language processing.
Computer vision on the road
Built early applications of licence plate recognition for congestion charging, dynamic pricing, automated parking, and road safety.
Patterns at scale
Developed recommendation algorithms and data mining methods for large text datasets and commercial transactions across retail, entertainment, and fintech.
AI in entertainment
Pioneered early commercial uses of AI in entertainment businesses, applying learning and personalisation to products people used every day.
Creativity is part of the research.
I explore how AI and human creativity can work together, collaborating with artists through UMA, the Universal Machine Artist.
My philanthropic and creative research arm, the Creative Science and Arts Institute Foundation (CSAI), brings together AI, science, and the arts to explore new ways of creating and thinking.
FOUNDATIONSAlgorithms & language
Computer science, computational linguistics, and competitive programming.
COMPANY BUILDINGIdeas into products
Nine startups and four exits. Technical depth with commercial experience.
CURRENT FOCUSHybrid Intelligence
AI that learns, reasons, and makes its decisions understandable.
04 / ON THE RECORD
Writing & conversations.
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Building something ambitious?
AI research, company building, investment, or a thoughtful conversation about what comes next.