In recognition of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month, I connected with Jon Wu, FSA, MAAA, CERA, to gain his insights into an actuarial career guided by curiosity, honesty and a commitment to always helping others. Here, Jon, who retired in 2024 from his consulting practice that focused on enterprise risk management…
Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere, promising faster results and more intelligent decisions, among other things. I have spent a lot of time experimenting with AI in my own work, from Excel and Power Query to editing and analysis. What I’ve learned is straightforward: Current, widely deployed AI systems perform exceptionally well when tasks are structured,…
Humans have long sought to understand death, whether caused by natural factors such as aging or disease, or by unnatural events such as accidents or wars, through various fields, including biology, pathology, philosophy, metaphysics, spirituality, psychology, sociology, law, ethics, technology and economics. Besides natural and unnatural causes, suicide—the voluntary and deliberate act of ending one’s…
International Financial Reporting Standard 17 (IFRS 17), as detailed by the IFRS Foundation, marks the most significant transformation in insurance financial reporting in decades. For insurers in IFRS 17 jurisdictions (which include at least 169 countries), implementation may feel complete, but in my experience, many stakeholders (such as investors) are only now encountering IFRS 17…
The Society of Actuaries (SOA) established the Greater Asia Committee in 2015 to serve SOA members and candidates and to coordinate activities across nine key regions in Asia. This committee supports the Asian actuarial community in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, and helps inform SOA members and…
Look up, the future is coming. And it looks increasingly certain that the future will include artificial intelligence (AI). Certainly, as articles show, the folks investing hundreds of billions of dollars in AI believe that. And a Gallup poll says that in late 2025, 45% of employed people report using AI for work, up from…
In my experience, when people think about insurance, education rarely comes to mind. Insurance exists primarily to protect against life’s major risks: premature death, illness, disability or the destruction of valuable property. Yet for many individuals, as the Federal Reserve notes, the single largest investment they make before middle age is neither a home nor…
Earlier this year, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health, which it calls “a dedicated experience that securely brings your health information and ChatGPT’s intelligence together, to help you feel more informed, prepared, and confident navigating your health.” 1 This announcement underscores the widespread use of ChatGPT for medical and wellness-related topics. OpenAI reports there are “hundreds of…
For its April issue, The Actuary Asia spoke with Rosaporn Attawiriyanupap, FSA, FSAT, Director, Regulatory & Certifying Actuary at AIA Thailand, about regulatory and other developments affecting the insurance industry and actuarial work across Thailand. Here, Rosaporn shares her perspectives from a career built on a broad foundation across the actuarial landscape. Can you tell…
Women’s History Month invites us to reflect on the women whose careers—sometimes quietly, sometimes boldly—have shaped our profession in lasting ways. I was especially excited to sit down with Laura Bennett, FSA, CFA, MBA, in part because we share a meaningful common starting point: We both began our actuarial careers in Canada, and also because…