Listen : Watch : Read #23
Originally Posted: May 18, 2025 here
🎙️Listen 🎙️
Great to hear this from Sasa Brcerevic of Aon and Edward Howkins of Artificial Labs as they explore the evolving dynamics of wholesale broking, why now is the moment to digitise trading relationships and how insurers can stay competitive in a rapidly transforming landscape.
One industry has stood out to me for a while when it comes to AI and true disruption. I'm not the only one. In her article, "Unbundling the BPO: How AI Will Disrupt Outsourced Work," Kimberly Tan (Partner, Andreessen Horowitz) explores how the rise of AI is challenging the status quo. This includes the shift from call centers and invoice processing to cross-system automation and coding agents. Starts out with the basics, but gives a high level of summary of Kims article.
They explore how AI is redefining the economics of scale, unlocking new markets, and expanding the reach of automation beyond the Fortune 500. BPO, BPS, Insurance TPA - the world has very much changed here!
📺 Watch 📺
Not one to give movie recommendations, but the current trend for humanoid or robot/human relationship movies, long after the brilliant Her from 2013 with Joaquin Phoenix! Companion is at it again, and I strangely enjoyed it. A weekend getaway at a remote cabin turns to chaos when it's revealed that one of the guests -- a subservient android built for human companionship -- has gone haywire. TLDR, theres loads more of these coming!
If you wanted a movie recommendation, the whole Walsh family will be glued to the last instalment of the Mission Impossible franchise on May 23rd!
Just tuned into this while I settled into work for the evening - is the era of brand over? 15 mins in - Scott Galloway gets to Insurance, specifically Health, although he does touch on Homeowners, Fire etc. Scott is fortunate enough to Self Insure and re-iterates his position on Insurance being a transfer of wealth from the Young to the Old. In addition, where have all the Ad Men and Ad Women go in board meetings over the last 15-20 years!
And who knew Rory Sutherland of WPP is a fan of Crocs (ok maybe not!), but my We Are Rival community Eric Fulwiler will have a good smile! Great work from Jon Evans and Uncensored CMO. Loved this!
Here Sam Altman, OpenAI is back at Sequoia Capital talking about how he envisions transforming ChatGPT into a deeply personal AI service that remembers your entire life's context—from conversations to emails—while working seamlessly across all services. Drawing from how younger users already treat AI as an operating system rather than just a search tool, Sam describes a future where a single, efficient model can reason across your full history without retraining, fundamentally changing how we interact with technology in our daily lives.
📚 Read 📚
A shocking statistic, despite progress, AI is still not on the agenda for a third of boards, while 66% don't know enough about AI. I find this staggering, It's fair to say - i think every Insurer I have spoken to over the last few years, firmly has AI on their board agenda - I'm not sure we will every say yes to the second questions. The key question remains, how do we govern, educate and scale it! Thanks to Anna Marks Lara Abrash Arno Probst and the Deloitte team for this.
Klarna made huge headlines in August last year with promises of AI to half their workforce. 8 months in an interview with Bloomberg, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO admitted that Klarna’s AI-driven job cuts have “gone too far”, with the FinTech now testing a new cohort of staff “in an Uber-type of setup” that can log in and work remotely and take up customers’ requests as representatives of the bank.
Excited to see this from Karthik Ramakrishnan, CEO of Armilla AI on their launch - where there is risk there is opportunity! Insurers launch cover for losses caused by AI chatbot errors covered by Lee Harris at the Financial Times. We are going to see more of these over the coming years.
My good friends over at Sønr launched a huge global study into Insurance Innovation - Beyond Boundaries. Check it out here. Better still hear Matt Connolly talk to Matt Ferguson on what they are up to and where next for this project here.
The interview series begins here with Matt talking to Matt - not confusing at all about Beyond Boundaries - the latest and greatest insights from Sønr . If they are allowed double Matt, I'm allowed double Sønr
It's already off to a fast start with a behind the scenes look with Sønr research director, Emily P. The journey to InsureTech Connect truly has begun and I'm looking forward to seeing you there!
With the speed of everything right now.- especially when it comes to AI, I shouldn't be surprised. But huge congrats to the team over at Convergence, acquired by Salesforce just 12 months after launched. Seb Johnson 📊 has a good write up here.
Speaking of which, If you have made it this far, and your as passionate as I am about Insurance, my colleague Brian Macallister is hiring an Insurance Product Manager here at ServiceNow . Come join the fun and support and be part of the 🚀 working with hundreds of Insurers around the world. We have some exciting things ahead!
👀 Quick bites 👀
Bots or Bust: ServiceNow’s Bill McDermott Makes an All-In Bet on AI - A timely reminder post a phenomenal week in Vegas at ServiceNow #Knowledge25
Simplifying the Insurance Rules - Breakdown of initiatives proposed in the Consultation - a good update on the UK's proposed Insurance regulation changes Kareline Daguer Christopher Jamieson John Lonen Suchitra Nair Junn Wei Tan Guillaume Legrand and Charlie Morris at Deloitte
M&S hackers believed to have gained access through third party - a stark reminder to the open letter a few weeks back from Pat Opet at JPMorganChase
And thats It! See you next week!