Peak AI analyzes short audio clips to identify traits and states — both someone’s ingrained personality traits and their more variable state of mind, which is influenced by physical and mental stresses. Spun out of Google U.K. and built largely on the work of behavioral psychologist Walter Farfan, Peak AI might be the best tool developed to date that can crack the code on both clubhouse chemistry and daily readiness.
“Psychology leads physiology,” said Peak AI CEO Gary McCoy, a former baseball strength and conditioning coach who later worked at sports tech firms specializing in monitoring athletic output (Catapult) and biometrics (Whoop) as well as applying AI for injury risk (Zone7). What remained missing was an objective measure of cognitive load. “It starts there, but I never had anything to measure it.”
Peak AI
MISSION: Leveraging natural language processing to measure and monitor mental health. The goal is to leverage artificial intelligence to improve the human condition.
|FOUNDED: Trace Data Science (original company name) was launched in 2017 at the U.K. Google incubator by Walter Farfan and Mike Blaster. Peak AI was born in July 2023.
HQ: Offices in the United Kingdom (London) and the United States (Scottsdale, Ariz.)
EMPLOYEES: 12
KEY EXECUTIVES: Walter Farfan, chief innovation officer; Mike Blaster, CTO; Gary McCoy, CEO; Paul Zander-Hicks, COO
KEY PARTNERS: Southampton, Brentford and five Formula One teams
Peak AI’s early clients and testing partners include EFL Championship and Premier League sides Southampton and Brentford, Ligue 1 power Paris Saint-Germain, the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and five Formula One teams, which McCoy described as “probably the most cognitively challenging sport on the planet.” Race strategy, he noted, is being adjusted based on a driver’s mental state.
After someone has completed an assessment, Farfan said he would speak to the person about “utilizing what you have internally, what you’re born with, what you’ve inherited — these unbelievable skill sets within your personality — to bring the best out of you, rather than trying to make [you] something you’re not.”
The potential is for motivation, conflict resolution and day-to-day management to be done more intentionally and effectively. Elite sports is Peak AI’s first target market, but the technology could affect off-field executives — and, really, just about anybody. Mental wellness is Farfan’s overarching mission.
