When Angelo Dalli began studying artificial intelligence at the University of Malta in the mid-1990s, he often had to justify why anyone would dedicate their life to such an abstract field.

In 1996, AI was not a buzzword or a global investment magnet; it was a niche academic subject that many people dismissed as futuristic speculation. “Back then, it wasn’t obvious why you’d study AI,” he says. “We were a bunch of optimists, maybe a little bit too early – three decades early. Now that choice has been vindicated.”

Angelo’s foresight has shaped a career defined by persistence, experimentation and an unusual ability to combine scientific depth with entrepreneurial daring. Born in Malta and raised in Birzebbuga, and later Floriana, he never saw the island’s size as a limitation. “I’ve been selling software all my life,” he says. His first venture into entrepreneurship was mailing software on floppy disks to customers around the world in the days before downloads existed. That instinct to see opportunity in uncharted spaces set the tone for the nine startups he went on to found, and for his current role at Umnai, an AI company at the frontier of hybrid intelligence.

After completing his undergraduate degree in computer science and AI in Malta, Angelo moved to the UK to pursue a PhD at the University of Sheffield, where he published over 23 peer-reviewed papers on AI, reasoning and computational methods. He has also filed over 52 patents in hybrid intelligence and explainable AI. The UK has become a second base for him: it’s where he built companies, established investor networks and developed a perspective that spans both European and international contexts. Today, Umnai is headquartered in London but has its development office in Malta, reflecting its dual ties.

“The combination of having a non-EU company and an EU base is very good,” he says. “There’s a balance of perspectives and opportunities.” The setup also illustrates how Malta can play a role in global entrepreneurship even if its local market is small.

Angelo is a seasoned serial entrepreneur: Umnai marks his ninth startup, following ventures like Traffiko (intelligent transport systems), Bit8 (AI-driven gaming algorithms later acquired by Intralot) and others spanning technology, entertainment and fintech. These earlier companies operated in more mature markets with predefined demand, but Umnai, founded in 2019, is different. When he began building it, AI was still not mainstream, and he found himself explaining what AI meant to almost everyone he met. “It sounds strange now, but until recently it was rare to meet anyone who actually knew what AI was.”

The market changed rapidly. By late 2022, when ChatGPT became a household name, AI stopped needing an introduction. But Angelo’s approach was never about hype. He had already been thinking about the fundamental shortcomings of large language models (LLMs): their inability to reason, tendency to “hallucinate” and unsuitability for critical, high-stakes contexts.

At Umnai, Angelo and his team are pioneering what he calls “hybrid intelligence,” based on neurosymbolic AI. The idea is to combine the statistical pattern recognition of neural networks with the logical structure of symbolic reasoning. LLMs like ChatGPT rely almost entirely on probability: they predict the next word in a sequence based on vast amounts of training data, which makes them powerful at generating text but prone to “hallucinations” and errors in reasoning. Symbolic AI, by contrast, encodes explicit rules and logic that can be inspected and traced, so every step of the decision-making process is transparent. “Once you get AI that can reason like a human, you have something much more powerful,” he says. “It’s not about making AI look like a person. It’s about ensuring that when it gives an answer, you can see exactly why.”

For him, building hybrid intelligence is not just a technical project but a philosophical return to what AI was always meant to be. “When I started in AI, the image was of systems you could trust, like Spock in Star Trek,” he says. “Today, we have AI that lies or invents facts. That’s not what I signed up for when I dedicated my career to this field. What we’re doing at Umnai is restoring trust.” Unlike LLMs, which generate convincing but unverified answers, his approach ensures each step of the reasoning process can be inspected. “You can actually rely on the output and the decisions of our models because you can check it and see exactly what steps were taken. It’s not kind of lying or making things up.” For him, the distinction between playful and critical uses of AI is key. “If you’re writing a poem, you don’t need trustworthy AI. But if you’re flying a plane, driving a car or making healthcare or financial decisions, you do.” In his view, the current LLM systems are impressive but unstable: “Even though modern GPTs can reason a bit, the foundation of that is not mathematically sound in a lot of cases.” By grounding AI in reasoning and transparency, Umnai aims to restore the reliability that early pioneers envisioned: a technology that can be depended on when the stakes are highest, targeted precisely at those mission-critical systems where the cost of error is measured in lives or millions of dollars. “We’re building fundamental technology that can change the way AI is conceived in consequential applications,” he says.

That same long-term view defines Angelo’s approach as a founder. His experience across nine startups has shown him that building transformative technology is never linear – it comes with moments of exhilaration and moments of crisis. “Every founder faces that moment where you think, This is it, the sky is falling, the company is going bad.” But if there is one quality Angelo insists on above all, it is persistence. “Too often, founders give up too easily,” he says. “If you give up, it’s a disaster for whoever is backing you.”

Persistence, in his view, must be matched with community – whether through accelerators, coworking spaces, or startup hubs. He sees the growth of such spaces in Malta as a positive step forward. He also emphasizes discipline in time management. “Time-boxing is essential. If you don’t guard your time, you won’t be efficient, and efficiency can be the difference between success and failure.” Over the years, he has also learned to value financial planning and careful hiring. Rushing to scale a team without clear processes can damage culture, while neglecting financial oversight can derail innovation. “Having someone constantly scrutinize the cash – using it to enable innovation, not slow it down – makes a huge difference.” For him, every startup should also begin with an exit strategy, even if that strategy evolves. “You should always have a goal in mind, where you want to take this. It helps keep your eyes on the prize.”

Although Umnai is based in London, Malta plays an important role in its development. The island, Angelo says, offers a unique mix of incentives and support that makes it attractive compared to larger countries. “When it comes to intellectual property treatment and business environment, Malta is strong.” And during the pandemic, Malta Enterprise proved invaluable in helping companies like his survive turbulence.

The ecosystem has also matured significantly. “In the early 2010s, there were very few startups. It was almost impossible to build one,” he says. Today, events regularly fill auditoriums, and there is genuine interest in entrepreneurship. “The change has been very positive.” Malta’s small size can be a huge advantage, as it fosters community. “It’s easier to make connections and become part of the right circles. That sense of community is critical.”

Another consistent theme in Angelo’s journey is the importance of mentors. During his PhD at Sheffield, he was guided by figures such as the late Professor Yorick Wilks, a pioneer in machine translation. “Mentors are a sounding board,” he says. “You need people who can show you what you might be overlooking.” He stresses that the quality of a founding team can often be judged by the quality of mentors they bring on board.

He also believes that the best innovators balance science with art. He himself studied music and visual art, and he sees direct benefits in his technical work. “A bit of knowledge of art, of perspective, of how colors change in daylight or nighttime, can actually help in fields like computer vision.” And creativity is a transferable skill. “All the best performing scientists had an artistic background. Einstein played the violin. Newton did color theory. It’s creativity in another form, but it comes from the same brain.”

Ultimately, his story is one of long-term vision: from a teenager mailing floppy disks to a scientist building hybrid intelligence, from a small island education to a global company with roots in two countries. Through it all, Angelo has remained committed to the idea that technology must be trustworthy, entrepreneurship requires discipline, and innovation is inseparable from creativity.

Do you have a favorite book?
Anything by Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Larry Niven.

What is your most used app?
WhatsApp.

What do you do to start your working day well?
Espresso, a bit of meditation and exercise, then daily team syncs.

When did you found your first business?
I was fourteen.

What’s your favorite place for deep work or creative thinking in the city?
Relaxing by the sea.

Which restaurant would you recommend?
Marvin Gauci’s restaurants, and Ion. In Gozo, Ta’ Frenċ.

Which museum would you recommend?
MICAS (Malta International Contemporary Art Space) in Floriana.

What should every newcomer get once they arrive in Malta?
A guided tour around Valletta.

Do you have a favorite weekend activity in Malta?
Relaxing by the sea with family, or enjoying the island’s nightlife with friends.