Major UK education company Pearson has acquired Australian AI firm Faethm in a bid to improve its data analytics and AI capabilities.
Faethm’s AI is used to model how technology will affect a given workforce and will be integrated into Pearson’s Workforce Skills division.
Michael Howells, President of Workforce Skills at Pearson said Faethm’s acquisition will help the company improve its predictions about the future of work.
“Together, Faethm’s analytics capabilities and Pearson’s learning products will help companies of all sizes understand what skills they need and how to develop them,” Howells said.
“In this digital age, we want to help the world’s workforce unlock its potential and ensure that companies have highly skilled employees who can work alongside new technology.”
Michael Priddis (CEO) and Greg Miller (Executive Director) founded Faethm in 2017.
It graduated from ACS’ Harbour City Labs scale-up accelerator in July 2020 and has grown to sell its data insights in 26 countries.
Early last year, Faethm showed off its data analytics skills by preparing a report for ACS looking at the extent of technological change on different industries as technological adoption increases in Australia.
The Technology Impacts on the Australian Workforce warned that technology will impact the jobs of 7.2 million Australian workers by 2034 through either displacement or augmentation.
[L-R] Labor MP Matt Thistlethwaite, ACS President Ian Oppermann, and Faethm Chief Data Scientist Richard George holding the Technology Impacts on the Australian Workforce report last year.
“Faethm has helped many organisations understand what the future of work looks like,” Faethm Executive Director Greg Miller said.
“The next question we’re often asked is: 'now that we know our workforce needs, how do we help our people upskill and adapt to the changing world?'
“With Pearson, we can identify where the world's future workforce needs to be and help it get there.”
Neither party has disclosed the acquisition’s value.
