AOT-AI, the Leicester company building an AI dialogue platform for conflict resolution, has appointed Ed Brown as its third co-founder and technical director, completing a founding team that started with a philosopher and a creative strategist and was waiting for someone who could build the technology they had in mind.
The company was founded by Dr Greg Scorzo and Lizzie Soden, who combined backgrounds in philosophy, behavioural science and creative strategy to develop a framework they call the Values-Embedded Architecture — an approach designed to keep AI systems aligned with human ethics throughout the decision process. The product, AOT FISTBUMP, is a dialogue platform intended to help people identify and understand the beliefs, misunderstandings and behaviours that underlie conflict.
Brown brings six years of AI applications experience, including a stint co-founding Appally, a workplace support platform for neurodivergent employees that reached the Tech Nation Rising Stars final and participated in the Bethnal Green Ventures accelerator. He later founded EB Data & AI Solutions, building bespoke AI systems for growing businesses.
“What convinced me to join was the ambition and originality behind Art of Thinking and FISTBUMP,” Brown said. “This isn’t simply another AI application. It’s a vision for how AI and humans could interact in a fundamentally different way, particularly within conflict resolution.”
Soden described the hire in terms of alignment rather than capability alone. “We’ve found someone who understands not only how to build sophisticated AI systems, but why this technology matters. Ed thinks deeply about how artificial intelligence can strengthen human understanding rather than replace it.”
Scorzo, who has been working with Brown on the prototype, noted the practical dimension: “Working with Ed on the prototype has been seamless. He’s contributing far beyond software engineering. He’s thinking about architecture, deployment and how the technology can work effectively in real-world settings.”
The product is currently at Technology Readiness Level 3, with the company working toward a prototype that can demonstrate its approach in real-world settings across workplace mediation, legal services, education and public services. AOT-AI is SEIS eligible, has an academic partnership with De Montfort University providing methodological and ethical oversight, and is based in the Leicester Startups incubator programme. It is currently seeking SEIS-eligible investors.
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