Description: As AI becomes more pervasive, we must consider the potential repercussions and risks associated with its widespread use. The SOA seeks essays that delve into the multifaceted risks posed by (AI) over both the short and long term.

Description: Hardly a day goes by without a feature story about the latest reverberation from the expanding use of Artificial Intelligence/Large Language Models (tools) in a variety of settings. The pace of use (and misuse) of these tools, such as ChatGPT and Bard, has been explosive and shows no sign of abating. Many experts would argue we are on the cusp of a permanent paradigm shift in teaching/academics and overall application of technology. With these issues in mind, the Society of Actuaries (SOA) Research Institute’s Aging and Retirement program is interested in an exploration of this topic from a variety of perspectives. The result of this effort is intended to provide a useful resource for readers to become well-grounded on the issues surrounding the impact of these tools in a retirement context and set the stage for future research.

Description: Electronic Health Records, or EHRs, are a major worldwide initiative to eliminate paper recordings – including Attending Physician Statements (APSs) – of an individual’s medical history and current treatment.

Description: To help familiarize actuaries in industry with statistical methods for imputing or modeling race and ethnicity in the U.S., the Institute’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Research Program is seeking a researcher to outline the various methods, including their strengths and weaknesses. The project intent is a methodology review rather than original thinking. The review should assume that the user will be working with structured datasets in an insurance context, for example, data associated with an in-force life or health insurance product.

Description: A call for proposals for research projects exploring recent insurance product innovations and their impacts on the industry. It outlines the background, purpose, objectives, proposal requirements, selection process, submission details, conditions, and conflict of interest disclosures.

Description: This study would assess the impact of recent patient care innovation(s) on health care and the health insurance industry.

Description: This article explores recent regulatory developments, in the U.S. and the E.U. related to artificial intelligence, and briefly discusses steps insurers can take to get ahead of the curve.

Description: The Actuarial Innovation & Technology Program Steering Committee (AITPSC) is seeking researchers to produce a report that discusses the life cycle of innovation and how to keep up with the increasing pace of change in our field. Research format should include interviews and case studies from across the actuarial profession.

Description: Decentralized finance, or DeFi, is an emerging financial system powered by blockchain technology. This research report aims to introduce actuaries to DeFi and help them develop a solid understanding of DeFi. It will begin with addressing “what is DeFi?” by providing an introduction on blockchains and DeFi. It will then discuss in further detail the key characteristics, applications, opportunities, and risks of DeFi. After providing the foundation, this report will discuss the potential adoption of DeFi and its interaction with the current financial system (sometime referred to as traditional finance for contrast with DeFi), and the implications for practicing and aspiring actuaries. In addition, a glossary of terms used in DeFi and a brief history of the development of DeFi have been included in the appendix.

Description: On November 30, 2021, the SOA Research Institute assembled an industry expert panel to discuss current issues in actuarial technology. Each participant who volunteered to be part of the discussion was selected because of their management-level responsibilities for the application of technology in an actuarial context. The group was diverse in terms of employment, including company actuaries from life, health, and property/casualty backgrounds, as well as consultants from various kinds of firms. This document summarizes the discussion that occurred during the three-hour meeting. To encourage candor during the discussion, participants were assured that this report would not attribute comments to individuals or companies, so no names appear in the body of the report. The names of those who participated are included at the end of the report.