Accenture to acquire UK-based AI firm Faculty to scale enterprise AI capabilities
Accenture has agreed to acquire Faculty, a UK-headquartered AI-native services and products firm, in a move aimed at strengthening its capabilities to deliver secure, scalable and outcome-driven AI solutions for enterprises.
The acquisition, announced on January 8, 2026, is expected to expand Accenture’s ability to help organisations redesign core and mission-critical business processes using advanced applied AI, particularly in areas requiring high levels of safety, transparency and decision intelligence. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and the deal remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
Expanding applied AI and decision intelligence capabilities
Founded in 2014, Faculty has built a track record of deploying AI solutions for both public and private sector clients in the UK and other global markets. Its offerings span AI strategy, AI safety, and the design and implementation of high-performance AI systems, with a focus on enabling organisations to adopt AI at scale while managing operational and ethical risks.
Faculty is also known for its work in decision intelligence, including advanced simulation and optimisation capabilities. As part of the transaction, Faculty’s enterprise decision intelligence product, Faculty Frontier™, will be integrated into Accenture’s portfolio of decision-making solutions. According to Accenture, the product connects data, AI models and business processes into unified decision systems, with current deployments including work with life sciences companies such as Novartis on clinical trial planning and execution.
Focus on AI safety and responsible deployment
A key rationale behind the acquisition is Faculty’s long-standing emphasis on AI safety. The company works with clients to embed safeguards against bias, privacy risks and opaque decision-making throughout the AI lifecycle, from development and validation to deployment and monitoring.
Faculty collaborates with leading AI labs including OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as institutions such as the UK AI Security Institute, to conduct baseline safety assessments of general-purpose AI models. Accenture said this expertise aligns with growing enterprise and regulatory expectations around responsible AI adoption.
Leadership integration and talent scale-up
Following the close of the transaction, Faculty’s team of more than 400 AI professionals—including data scientists and AI engineers—will join Accenture. Faculty CEO Marc Warner will take on an additional role as Chief Technology Officer at Accenture and become a member of the company’s Global Management Committee.
Before founding Faculty, Warner was a Research Fellow in Quantum Physics at Harvard and has served on the court of Imperial College London and as a member of the UK’s AI Council.
Commenting on the acquisition, Julie Sweet, Chair and CEO of Accenture, said, “With Faculty, we will further accelerate our strategy to bring trusted, advanced AI to the heart of our clients’ businesses. I’m pleased to welcome the Faculty team to Accenture and look forward to Marc’s contribution shaping our technology vision and strategy as Chief Technology Officer.”
Warner said the partnership would enable Faculty to support clients through larger-scale AI transformation efforts. He said, “Our vision has always been a world in which safe AI delivers widespread benefits to humanity. We have spent the last ten years supporting our clients to bring this world about, step by step. As AI advances rapidly, the ambition of our clients is now, rightly, no less than the reinvention of their business. I am delighted that by teaming up with Accenture, we have everything in place to support AI transformation from start to finish.”
Applied AI in mission-critical environments
Faculty is recognised for deploying AI in high-stakes, real-world environments. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company developed the UK National Health Service’s Early Warning System, which was used by NHS leadership to forecast patient demand and allocate critical care resources nationwide.
Accenture said it plans to leverage Faculty’s Fellowship Program—an early-career training initiative designed to transition PhD and master’s graduates from academia into applied AI roles—and expand it globally across its workforce and client ecosystem.
Manish Sharma, Chief Strategy and Services Officer at Accenture, said, “Accenture bridges the best of technology and human ingenuity to maximise returns on AI investments. Together with Faculty we will assemble a powerhouse of talent helping clients make AI work in the real world—linking data, processes, and people so value shows up faster, orchestrated through multiple combinations of bespoke client specific solutions, partner solutions and Faculty FrontierTM. This will help our clients stay competitive, pursue sovereign solutions, and reinvent their operations with transparency and resilience at a critical time.”
Building on an existing partnership
Accenture and Faculty have worked together since December 2023, when Accenture became a preferred implementation partner for Faculty Frontier™. The acquisition formalises and deepens that relationship at a time when enterprises are moving from AI experimentation to large-scale, regulated deployment.
The deal underscores Accenture’s broader strategy to invest in specialised AI capabilities that combine deep technical expertise with governance, safety and operational execution—areas increasingly seen as critical as AI becomes embedded into core business processes.