Crisp Thinking

What they do

Crisp Thinking spent close to 20 years building technology to identify and reduce online harm. Founded in 2005, the company trained AI models to detect threats to children, brands and online communities across digital platforms. Its work spanned CSAM detection, social moderation, brand reputation monitoring and adversarial intelligence — the kind of work that requires both machine learning at scale and human analysts who understand context.

The core product line centred on what Resolver now markets as Trust & Safety Intelligence. That includes Athena, a CSAM detection service, online safety compliance tooling, and intelligence reports that help platforms understand the threat landscape they operate in. A July 2025 announcement from the Leeds office launched an Unknown CSAM Detection Service, powered by the Roke Vigil system — an indication that the technical work originating with Crisp continues under the Resolver brand.

Crisp also built a Social Listening and Online Risk Intelligence capability, covering social moderation, risk monitoring and pharma compliance. Large consumer brands used this to track reputational threats in near real time and respond before issues escalated. The pharma compliance strand is notable: regulated industries face specific obligations around what appears alongside their products on social platforms, and Crisp developed tooling to address that directly.

The Trust & Safety division has maintained a ten-year partnership with the Internet Watch Foundation, marked publicly in June 2025. It has also published original research — including a 2025 report on 'the Com', a hybrid online threat ecosystem targeting children globally — positioning the Leeds team as a source of public-interest intelligence, not just a vendor.

In early 2026, Resolver's Trust & Safety division announced a collaboration with Illuminate Tech, a regulatory advisory firm founded by former Ofcom experts, to help online platforms prepare for UK online safety regulation. That partnership was announced from Leeds, which suggests the Trust & Safety operation remains substantively based there.

Where they sit in Leeds

Resolver lists a Leeds office at Central Square, 29 Wellington Street, LS1 4DL. The Trust & Safety division — the direct continuation of Crisp Thinking — issues press releases datelines from Leeds, including the Illuminate Tech partnership and the CSAM detection launch. The corporate headquarters is in Toronto; Kroll, the parent, employs around 5,000 people globally.

Crisp's origins in Leeds place it among the earlier wave of AI companies in the city. The AI models it trained from 2005 onward predate most of what is now described as the UK AI sector. That history gives the Leeds team a depth of domain knowledge in online safety that is difficult to replicate quickly — 18 years of labelled data and operational experience in a field that regulators, including Ofcom, are now treating as a compliance priority rather than a nice-to-have.

The broader Resolver platform covers enterprise risk management, GRC, security investigations and compliance — but the Leeds presence is anchored in the Trust & Safety work that Crisp built. For Leeds engineers and researchers interested in applied AI, content moderation at scale, or online safety regulation, this is one of the few places in the city with genuine depth in the field.

What they offer

• Athena CSAM Detection — identifies child sexual abuse material, including previously unknown content via the Roke Vigil-powered detection service launched in 2025.
• Online Safety Compliance — tooling to help platforms meet regulatory obligations, including UK Online Safety Act requirements.
• Social Moderation & Risk Monitoring — near real-time monitoring of social platforms for brand reputation threats and community safety risks.
• Pharma Compliance Intelligence — tracks social media content relevant to pharmaceutical advertising and regulatory obligations.
• Trust & Safety Advisory — adversarial intelligence and strategic advisory services, including the partnership with Illuminate Tech for Ofcom regulatory readiness.