Description: Short insights on different innovation and entrepreneurial topics. These come from the Entrepreneurial & Innovation Section's e-bulletin, Innovation Insights.

Description: We explore the question of how an actuary–artificial intelligence collaboration might look in the future and how actuaries should be trained to best leverage this technology. It felt fitting to accomplish this through a conversation with an AI system, as AI involvement is warranted to ground the analysis in the technology’s true capabilities.

Description: A generational perspective on the decline of traditional defined benefit plans and hope for the future. Do we need to wait until all the actuaries and plan members from the old DB system have retired before a new system can emerge?

Description: When responding to RFPs, it's not just about the technical specs or hard facts. You have to have finesse to persuade and convince, and really capture the attention of the evaluators. This article will help you do just that.

Description: Editor’s note: This is the first article in a series of three covering the Society of Actuaries (SOA) Competency Framework. The subsequent articles will appear in future issues of the Actuary of the Future newsletter. The Society of Actuaries (SOA) Competency Framework is a powerful tool to enable you to design your future. Though it has been the SOA’s instrument for prioritizing continuing education and support to members since 2010, many actuaries are still not fully aware what a potent tool it can be to them in planning their personal careers.

Description: This article reflects on the decision on creating NAAJ to replace the Transactions. The NAAJ, published quarterly for more timely information, is being marketed aggressively internationally within the academic community and to allied professions.

Description: As actuaries, we’re trained to see patterns in numbers and to design solutions that mitigate risk. But I can tell you from experience that while quantitative analysis and modeling are critical actuarial tools, looking at the numbers alone can lead to insurance products that don’t succeed in the real world the way the math says they “should.” With new digital technologies, we have more data at our fingertips than ever before, but I believe it’s equally as important to bring qualitative research methodologies into your product development process if you want to design solutions that meet real needs in the market. In this article, Amanda Turcotte shares what happens when qualitative research is neglected or ignored, what happens when you incorporate it into the product design process, and how to implement qualitative research practices in your organization.

Description: In this editorial, the author draws on the past to briefly address the uncertainties of the future. From The Actuary Vol. 33, No. 8.

Description: Notes on the IAA meeting that took place in D.C. in May

Description: Even if you aren’t interested in going to Rome, this article is the first in a series on the process of innovation. It defines innovation, describes an overview of the innovation process, and includes a few innovative techniques and examples of innovation. However, it does not provide directions to Rome, as all roads lead there anyway.