Latest news with #BenWarner
Times
15-07-2025
- Business
- Times
What I learnt … from the dangers of bad data
Ben Warner, 38, is the co-founder of Electric Twin, which creates synthetic populations to give instant results to survey questions for businesses. He gained his physics PhD from University College London in 2013, before becoming a research fellow. In 2015 he joined Faculty, a data science and AI consultancy co-founded in 2014 by his brother, Marc Warner. He was also a key figure in the modelling program used by Vote Leave's EU referendum campaign in 2016, and in the 2019 election, his model predicted that the Conservatives would win, off by only one seat. Warner joined No 10 in 2019 before holding a central role in data predictions for Covid. He launched Electric Twin in 2023 after his experiences during the pandemic highlighted a gap in the market for data modelling. I joined No 10 in late 2019. In early 2020, Covid struck. At that point in time, we really needed to understand how people were going to behave, what policies were going to be important. When we were trying to make the decisions in Covid, we tried our best to get the best possible data, the best possible information. But fundamentally, the tools and the systems didn't exist to actually do that, which meant that although we were trying our hardest, we obviously made decisions that weren't good enough. • The genius who finally persuaded Boris Johnson to lock down When it came down to it, in March 2020, we were sitting in the prime minister's office and slowly walking through that our current plan meant that the NHS would be overrun. That tens or hundreds of thousands of people might needlessly lose their lives. The tool we did that with was the whiteboard. Given all the modern technology, all the AI that exists in the world, I just felt there had to be a better way to solve these problems. Since leaving No 10, I've been thinking about it and I think Electric Twin is the way to do that. The prime minister [during Covid], was reliant on essentially the educated guesswork of lots of people. The data being run at him was saying 'if we flatten the sombrero', as was said, 'we can pass through'. And actually, that was wrong. If we flattened the sombrero, the NHS would still be overrun, we'd still not have the beds in intensive care that we needed for people who have heart attacks, etc. So it's a combination of the data and the modelling all together and it comes down to that decision making. Lots of companies in the world today are reliant on that guesswork. The idea of Electric Twin is that companies aren't reliant on that guesswork. They can quickly get the answers to the questions that they want, so that they can make better decisions. Rather than having to sit there with a pencil and paper, or trying to draw it out in their head, they can actually use a top-level system that uses the world's best AI to put it together and make a more substantive estimate of what's going to occur and be able to test different courses of action before they make a decision. So that decision will be better. BETTY LAURA ZAPATA FOR THE TIMES We spent six months making sure that our experimental engine is the cutting edge of this type of work. We spent a lot of time validating to demonstrate to customers that our accuracy is 95 per cent. We use large language models that are trained on the entirety of the internet to co-create synthetic populations with our companies. Most of the internet is not people talking about how to code or how to write a business report. It's people talking about their thoughts, their beliefs, their reactions to different things. So the large language model can represent some areas of that human experience. Then what we do at Electric Twin is we make sure that the output is reflective of the audience and the population that we're trying to model, so that decision-makers and business people have these tools they can really trust and rely on. It's all about trying to make sure that we deliver value to that business and allow them to make sure that they can get accurate answers in five, ten seconds to address their business problem. Whether that's being able to understand their current audience that they're trying to build a better product for, or starting to build out a new proposition for maybe an audience that they're not so used to seeing. At the moment, we don't have any policymakers using the tool. We're already helping companies, and we could help governments make better decisions for people. I think a lot of the wrong decisions we make are avoidable — avoidable if we truly understand the people they affect. Too often, we talk past each other without understanding someone's lived experience. Electric Twin helps close that gap — it lets you test ideas quickly, with a deeper understanding of real people. Ultimately, when you make more informed decisions, you can create better outcomes. Ben Warner was talking to Niamh Curran, reporter at the Times Entrepreneurs Network
Los Angeles Times
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Sound decibels to be measured when Irvine Bowl hosts concerts during Coast Film & Music Festival
Two nights of live concerts in November will serve as further opportunity for sound testing at the Irvine Bowl on Laguna Canyon Road as the city of Laguna Beach seeks to refine its noise policy for events at the venue. The City Council this week voted unanimously to authorize a three-day suspension of the noise policy from Nov. 7 through Nov. 9, which coincides with the final days of the seventh annual Coast Film & Music Festival. Laguna Beach has shown interest in having more events at the Irvine Bowl, which is located on the Festival of Arts grounds. Under a lease agreement with the city, the Festival of Arts has exclusive rights to the amphitheater from May 1 through the end of the period during which the venue is largely dedicated to the Pageant of the Masters. The Irvine Bowl noise policy, established in February of 2020, dictates that sound levels should not exceed 70 decibels at the neighborhood sound boundary. In April of this year, the City Council approved a $22,220 contract with Rincon Consultants, Inc. to study decibel levels, an agreement that could rise to as much as $27,000 if an option was exercised for a representative event ambient noise study. The consulting firm simulated a concert at the venue on June 13, measuring sound from several locations. The location of the meters included the east end of Olive Street, which was identified as the closest location to the neighborhood sound boundary. The four meters were placed at a range of 150 feet to 600 feet from the stage, with one aiming to capture sound levels in the adjacent open space area. The council has approved an additional budget of up to $15,000 for the consultant to measure and analyze the sound recorded during the real-life concerts. The cheering coming from a crowd was among the variables that could not be replicated in the June test. Council representatives will also collaborate with an informal working group to outline best practices for a formal sound and use policy for concerts at the Irvine Bowl. The Santa Barbara Bowl was discussed as a possible venue to help guide those recommendations. 'Ultimately, what we're doing is, I believe, what the [Irvine Bowl policy] committee was supportive of unanimously, which is waiving the [noise] policy as it relates to this one concert,' Mayor Alex Rounaghi said. 'Then we can use this concert as a case study to figure out what the right decibel limits are, so that we could perhaps have maybe six to eight live music concerts a year, which I think would be great for the community.' Ben Warner, who along with Enich Harris co-founded the Coast Film & Music Festival, said festival organizers plan to provide a sound and lighting system from a third party and build a temporary stage over the orchestra pit. The Coast Film Foundation requested a maximum sound level of 110 decibels from a front-of-house location for its scheduled concerts. Warner promised benefit concerts with 'world-class bands' on the Saturday and Sunday during which the sound policy would be waived. He wouldn't reveal the bands just yet but said the performers have already been booked. 'This can serve as a test case for sound logistics and feedback, showing what's possible when we work together,' Warner said. 'Let's bring the Bowl back to life for the artists, for the local economy, and for the heart of Laguna Beach.' The council heard from several speakers who supported having music performed live in the Irvine Bowl. Resident Conner Cooper appealed to the council by detailing the scene at Bluebird Park over the Fourth of July weekend, when the ska and rock band Party Foul played to lead off Music in the Park, a free public concert series held on Sundays in July and August. 'Looking down into the park, seeing everyone dance and sing along is just something that you can't get anywhere else,' Cooper said. 'That's, I think, why we're here to show our support. We want more of that. We want more dancing and singing. Yeah, it shouldn't take place every night. It should take place on special occasions, but it should take place more than it's taking place now.' The potential inconvenience of concerts on residents whose homes are above the Irvine Bowl is one concern. The effect of that sound on the surrounding wildlife in open space is another. 'My concern is that we already have a relatively limited amount of acreage, and you don't want to be in a situation where you are making habitat that's adjacent to the bowl unusable for wildlife,' Councilwoman Hallie Jones said. 'I think intermittent sound — when you have loud sound on one night — concerns me way less than development of some sort that would have consistent loud noise every night. Even if that were high-density housing, things like that, I think that could be more impactful on wildlife than a one-time event.'
BBC News
30-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Minimum age for train drivers being lowered to 18 to address shortage
"If I could go back and talk to my 18 year old self, I'd force myself into the railway," said Ben Warner, a recently qualified train Warner, who works for Great Western Railway (GWR), is nearly 40 but from December could find himself surrounded by teenagers as the minimum age for train drivers has been lowered from 20 to 18, to help with driver base is Westbury, Wiltshire, and told the BBC: "Look out of the window - best office in the world."With the changes set to come into place later in the year, we take a look at what is involved with training and qualifying to become a train driver. Adam Walding is a driving standards manager with GWR - drivers in training get their final tests with explained training is usually about 10 months, including three to four months of theory - covering what everything in the cab is then another process for a few months of sitting with drivers, who will give you "direct instruction, as you progress, that instruction reduces"."You then have a five-day final driving test with somebody like myself." He said that to get into training at 18, people need to think about their transferable skills: "Start building your CV - what does a train driver do? What do I do?"My first job for example was working in a shop, I used some of the safety examples from that in my interview."Mr Walding said someone's age should not make a difference: "If someone has the right transferable skills, age shouldn't be a barrier."Meanwhile, Mr Warner said he enjoys his work, but admitted it is a "massive responsibility"."The training GWR put us through is so rigorous. My first day as a qualified driver, I felt ready to go, I felt in a really strong position to take the train where it needed to be." Mr Walding explained that young people who previously wanted to learn at 18 would have had to find another role but now the opportunity is there for them."The more colleagues we have available to us the less likelihood your train will be cancelled because of a lack of train crew," he this month, the government said 87% of cancellations made the night before a service runs were down to driver average train driver is aged 48, with 30% due to reach retirement age by 2029, according to the Department for Transport (DfT).Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said lowering the minimum age was about "future-proofing" the railways, adding that it was "bold action to improve train services and unlock thousands of jobs".
