In this episode, we talk with Jim Guszcza — former US Chief Data Scientist at Deloitte and current CAS Board Member — about what the future of AI should look like. We challenge the ideology of artificial intelligence, explore how actuaries can lead the shift to human-centered systems, and dive into the power of collective intelligence, participatory design, and explainability. If you’ve ever wondered how to build models that actually work — and what we’re missing when we treat AI as magic — this episode is for you.

Jim's latest publications

In this episode, we talk with Drew Hill, a product manager at Mutual Capital Analytics, about what happens when product, actuarial, and data science roles start to blend — and why that might be exactly what the future of insurance needs. We get into AI, upskilling, regulatory hurdles, model trust, and how cross-functional teams are reshaping product strategy from the inside out.

We are joined by Molly Mowery, AICP, a national leader in wildfire mitigation and land use planning. She’s the founder of Wildfire Planning International and co-founder of the Community Wildfire Planning Center.

We explore how data, AI, and smart planning are shaping wildfire risk mitigation across the wildland-urban interface (WUI). Molly walks us through the evolving tools and policies designed to protect communities, the challenges that come with rapid growth in high-risk areas, and what insurers and data scientists need to understand about the future of this growing threat.

Links Mentioned & Other Research:

• Molly’s Publication: Planning the Wildland-Urban Interface
• Could this Irvine neighborhood be the blueprint for a more fire-resistant L.A.?
• 2025 RPM Aligning Industries for Wildfire Resilience
• KCC Wildfire Losses Whitepaper
• Florida's wildfire season and weather: what's at play?