Workplace harassment prevention is long overdue for an upgrade. At LSE, after completing his mandatory consent training, Cyril Estier found himself in a university lift in 2022, overhearing two students. They were speaking about their mandatory online sexual harassment training, and not in a good light. “I just clicked through it”, one said, and the others agreed on what they felt was a waste of their time. Cyril knew that day that a change had to be made.
This throwaway exchange marked the beginning of Arti, an AI facilitator for personal, impactful anti-harassment training. Founded in 2025, Arti helps organisations drive real cultural change by delivering effective AI education on sexual harassment.
In this article, we outline Cyril’s journey to creating Arti, the problem it solves, and how he got started as a young entrepreneur.
Key takeaways
- Conventional sexual harassment training has significant limitations in engagement and effectiveness. Arti addresses this gap by combining expert-curated content with AI conversations that adapt to each learner’s context and pace.
- UK employers and higher education providers now face concrete legal obligations around harassment prevention under OfS Condition E6 and the Employment Rights Act 1996. Arti helps organisations meet these requirements while driving genuine cultural change.
- Cyril Estier’s journey from LSE student to founder illustrates a core principle: start by deeply understanding the problem. His advice to new entrepreneurs is to prioritise ruthlessly and simply “go for it”.
The big problem
Sexual harassment in the workplace and on campuses is still a significant problem that conventional training has failed to address.
A study from 2022 demonstrated that one in five people has experienced direct sexual harassment in the workplace, and over 60% of UK workers and students have experienced unwanted sexual behaviour at work or university.
But sexual harassment courses are currently far from where they could be. Most e-learning is treated as a box-ticking exercise, and according to Arti, 70% of content is forgotten within 24 hours of traditional e-learning sessions.
The most obvious remedy is in-person training, but this carries its own limitations. Studies have shown that in-person workshops rely heavily on group dynamics and the effectiveness of the facilitator. They’re also expensive, time-consuming, and easy to skip for participants who might need to attend most. For those who have already been affected by harassment, in-person events can pose the additional risk of retraumatisation.
The opportunity lies in finding the best of both worlds – something accessible and scalable, but that generates genuine engagement and measurable results. Arti is the answer to that gap.
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What higher education providers and employers need to know
The Employment Rights Act 1996 sets out the fundamental rights of employees in the UK, including protections against unfair dismissal, redundancy, and workplace conditions. It establishes the legal baseline that organisations must meet to ensure fair and compliant treatment of their workforce.
In August 2025, OfS Condition E6 (confirmed in 2023) came into effect. This requires higher education providers to take “clear, effective steps to prevent and respond to harassment and sexual misconduct”. It places a strong emphasis on safeguarding students, embedding appropriate policies, and ensuring institutions can demonstrate meaningful action and accountability.
Higher education providers now have a direct responsibility to prevent and investigate sexual harassment. Aside from moral and social obligations, failure to comply can lead to sanctions and loss of registration.
The creation of Arti
After the lift encounter, Cyril’s idea began to crystallise through his collaboration with Sasha Gutenmacher. Sasha’s Oxford University thesis demonstrated that conversational AI could be used as a vehicle for consent and harassment education. These initial success metrics with social impact AI became the foundation of Arti.
Cyril also decided that he wanted to create his own venture and branch out himself first before starting a career:
I noticed I was never fulfilled by following other people’s projects. I really wanted to be driving a project of my own.
A true journey of innovation begins with “learning about the problem, understanding it more, and getting a higher-level view”. Arti is a meaningful project that is quickly taking shape in the AI education space.
How Arti works
Arti is an AI-powered digital training platform that combines expert-curated course content with live AI conversations, adapting in real time to the context of each user and their organisation.
Users interact with course material that adjusts its tone, pace, and format to match individual learner preferences – making the experience feel more like a dialogue than a compliance exercise. Organisational policies can be imported directly into the learning environment, ensuring content aligns with internal standards rather than defaulting to generic content. A centralised resource hub gives learners easy access to key information and signposts them to the most relevant support services when needed.
For organisations, Arti provides a data dashboard that tracks engagement, surfaces sentiment and topic insights, and detects risk patterns – giving leadership a clear, data-driven view of training performance and where gaps exist. Each deployment is configurable, so organisations can roll out training quickly and optimise it for their specific context and challenges.
Tailored, AI-powered training
Powered by multi-agent AI and expert-curated content, Arti delivers prevention training that feels like a genuine dialogue rather than a static course. It combines research-backed methodologies with both voice and text interaction, creating a more engaging and responsive learning experience for each user.
Learners receive personalised feedback on demand, helping them apply knowledge in real time and reinforce understanding as they progress. Arti also incorporates a range of metrics, enabling organisations to track engagement, measure impact, and continuously improve training outcomes.
Progress monitoring
Arti’s insight dashboard allows organisations to measure learning outcomes, track cultural trends, and identify where meaningful change is needed. Engagement analytics, sentiment and topic insights, and risk pattern detection combine to give a clear view of how training is performing and where gaps may exist.
The result is a more effective approach to learning – one that addresses specific organisational challenges rather than relying on generic, one-size-fits-all solutions. Arti helps learners engage with the ambiguity of everyday situations, tailored to their role, pace, and context.
Cyril’s journey to becoming an entrepreneur
As any new founder knows, the road to success is bumpy and not without significant challenges.
We asked Cyril what advice he would give to a potential future founder and how he managed to make the leap. The main problem that founders face, according to Cyril, is that “the RAM of a founder is completely jammed” – there is “just so much to do”. The best course of action is to “figure out your priorities first. Take some time to sit down and think about the infrastructure you need to make this happen.”
But ultimately, all new founders should seize the opportunity. “Go for it” is Cyril’s advice.
The future of Arti
With OfS Condition E6 and the Employment Rights Act, tools like Arti are becoming essential for higher education providers and employers. More than just compliance, Arti sparks a shift in perspective. It is transforming what was once a box-ticking exercise into an engaging tool that drives real cultural change.
Aspiring founders seeking to make a meaningful impact can draw inspiration from Arti’s blend of technology and human well-being. If you’re ready to launch a socially impactful business, 1st Formations can help you incorporate quickly and ensure compliance. You’ll also connect with a growing community of entrepreneurs using business as a force for good.
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