John Textor Isn't Done With English Football After Crystal Palace Stake Sale
Hello, it's David Hellier in London, reporting on US investor John Textor's plans for his next football bet. Also today, Europe's defense push is creating a big opportunity for private equity firms to spend.
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Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Insurance companies are embracing AI. But they aren't talking much about ROI
Hello and welcome to Eye on AI. In this edition…a mega seed round for ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati's new startup…the impact of AI on cognitive skills…and why the effects of AI automation may vary so much across is not considered the most cutting edge industry. But AI has been making slow, steady in-roads in the sector for years. Many companies have begun using computer vision applications that automatically assess damage—whether that is to cars following a collision or to the roofs of houses following a major storm—to help claims adjusters work more efficiently. Companies are also using machine learning algorithms to help detect fraud and build risk models for underwriting. And, of course, like many other industries, insurance companies are using AI to boost productivity in many support functions, from chatbots that can answer customer queries to AI that can help design marketing materials to AI coding assistants to help internal tech insurance companies are doing it best? That's what the London-based research and analytics firm Evident Insights set out to discover with a new index assessing major insurance firms' AI prowess. Evident has become known in recent years for its detailed benchmarking of banks' AI capabilities. But this is the first time the research firm has moved beyond banking to look at another its banking index, Evident's assessment is based almost entirely on quantitative metrics derived mostly from public sources of information—management statements in financial disclosures, press releases, company websites, social media accounts, patent filings, LinkedIn profiles, and news articles. In all, Evident looked at 76 individual metrics, organized into four 'pillars' that the research firm said it believes are critical to deploying AI successfully: talent (which counts for 45% of the overall ranking), innovation (30%), leadership (15%), and transparency of responsible AI activity (10%). It used these to rank the 30 largest North American and European insurers when judged by total premiums underwritten or total assets under insurers, Axa and Allianz emerged as clear leaders in Evident's assessment. They were the only two to rank in the top five across all four pillars and had a substantial lead over third-place insurer USAA. Alexandra Mousavizadeh, the cofounder and co-CEO of Evident, tells me that the result is surprising, in part because both Axa and Allianz are based in Europe, where large companies have generally been seen as lagging their North American peers in AI adoption. (And in Evident's banking index, all of the highest ranked firms are North American.) But Mousavizadeh says that she thinks Axa and Allianz have a common corporate cultural trait that may explain their AI dominance. 'My theory on this is that it's embedded in an engineering culture,' she says. 'Axa and Allianz have been doing this for a very long time and if you look at their histories, there has been much more of an engineering leadership and engineering mindset.'Mousavizadeh says that claims and underwriting automation are both big engineering challenges that require large teams of skilled developers and technology experts to make work at scale. 'You have got to have more engineers,' she says. 'For that last mile of getting a use case into production, you have to have AI product managers, and you have to have AI software engineering.'Companies that invest most heavily in human AI expertise are most likely to excel at using AI to run their businesses more efficiently, opening up an ever-widening gap between these companies and those that are AI laggards. (Of course, in Evident's methodology, it helps if management talks about what it's doing with AI and publicizes its AI governance policies too. USAA actually ranks first on Evident's talent pillar, but falls down to third place because it ranks near the bottom of the pack on both 'leadership'—which is mostly about management's statements about how the company is using AI—and 'transparency of responsible AI policies.') Still, as in many industries, there still seems to be a substantial gap in the insurance sector between AI hype and actual ROI. Of the 30 insurers Evident evaluated, only 12 had disclosed at least one AI use case with 'a tangible business outcome.' Just three insurers—Intact Financial, Zurich Insurance Group, and Aviva—had publicly disclosed a monetary return from their AI efforts. That's pretty most transparent of this group was Canada-based Intact Financial, a property and casualty insurer that said publicly in 2024 that it had invested $500 million in technology (that's all tech, not just AI) across its business, had deployed 500 AI models, and had seen $150 million dollars in benefit so far. One of its use cases was using AI models that transform speech-to-text and then language models on top of those transcripts to assess the quality of how its human customer service agents handled the up to 20,000 customer calls the company receives still a cost-savings example—a way of boosting the bottom line—and not one in which a company is using AI to grow its sales or move into new business areas. Evident found that insurers were primarily applying AI this way—attacking the industry's largest cost centers, namely claims processing, customer service, and underwriting. As the research firm notes: 'Revenue-generating AI is yet to appear on our outside-in assessment.'The story here isn't just about insurance—it's about every industry grappling with AI. Executives everywhere are still figuring out which AI investments will pay off, but the early winners share a common thread: they're not just buying AI tools, they're building AI teams. They're hiring engineers, experimenting relentlessly, measuring results—and then expanding the successful use cases everywhere they can. And benchmarking, like the kind Evident is doing, can play a vital role in both informing executives about what seems to be working—and pushing entire industries to adopt AI faster, as well as to being more transparent about how they're using AI and what policies they have in place around its responsible use. That's a lesson worth learning, whether you're insuring cars or building that, here's more AI news. And, before we get to the other sections, I want to flag this deep dive article from my colleagues Sharon Goldman and Allie Garfinkle into the background behind Meta's $14 billion investment into Scale AI and the hiring of Scale cofounder and CEO Alexandr Wang for a major new role at Meta. Their story is a must-read. Check it out here. Jeremy to know more about how to use AI to transform your business? Interested in what AI will mean for the fate of companies, and countries? Then join me at the Ritz-Carlton, Millenia in Singapore on July 22 and 23 for Fortune Brainstorm AI Singapore. This year's theme is The Age of Intelligence. We will be joined by leading executives from DBS Bank, Walmart, OpenAI, Arm, Qualcomm, Standard Chartered, Temasek, and our founding partner Accenture, plus many others, along with key government ministers from Singapore and the region, top academics, investors and analysts. We will dive deep into the latest on AI agents, examine the data center build out in Asia, examine how to create AI systems that produce business value, and talk about how to ensure AI is deployed responsibly and safely. You can apply to attend here and, as loyal Eye on AI readers, I'm able to offer complimentary tickets to the event. Just use the discount code BAI100JeremyK when you checkout. This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Gareth Southgate to receive knighthood at Windsor Castle
Former England manager Gareth Southgate will be among those accepting honours on Wednesday as he receives a knighthood at Windsor Castle. The 54-year-old, who led the Three Lions to consecutive European Championship finals in 2020 and 2024 and the 2018 World Cup semi-finals, was recognised for his services to association football in the New Year Honours. He is the fourth England boss to be knighted, after Sir Walter Winterbottom, Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Robson. Sir Gareth resigned from the role after eight years in charge following England's 2-1 final defeat to Spain in July last year, before being succeeded by Thomas Tuchel. In a social media post following the announcement in December, he joked that he was unlikely to be called 'Sir' by his family. 'It has been the greatest honour to represent my country as both a player and a manager for some 20 years and to be part of the game I love for almost 40. I am incredibly thankful for the amazing people and teams who have supported me both on and off the field,' he said. 'A special thank you to my family for their constant love and encouragement, though I must admit they've made it clear that the titles I hold at home will remain unchanged.' Sir Gareth won 57 caps for England as a player between 1995 and 2004 and played at three major tournaments, including the 1998 World Cup. He also had a distinguished 16-year career at club level, operating mainly as a defender for Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough and making more than 600 appearances. Sir Gareth first joined the Football Association as head of elite development in February 2011 after being sacked as Middlesbrough manager, and went on to coach the under-21s side before his appointment as England manager, initially on a temporary basis, in September 2016. England reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup, when Sir Gareth turned the waistcoat into a must-have fashion accessory. The team then ended its 55-year wait for a men's final at Euro 2020, delayed 12 months by Covid, before being agonisingly beaten on penalties by Italy at Wembley. A late defeat to Spain three years later again saw the side just miss out on national silverware. Overall, Sir Gareth took charge of 102 matches and is the only manager of the England men's team to lead them to two major tournament finals. Giving an address at the University of London in March, he spoke about how the belief and resilience gained throughout his career in football had 'picked me up when I've been down, grounded me in success, and given me purpose amidst the noise of public life'. Sir Gareth was previously made an OBE for his services to football in the 2019 New Year Honours. British and Irish Lions wing Gerald Davies is also set to be knighted at the investiture ceremony for his services to rugby union and to voluntary and charitable service in Wales. Davies, 80, played for Wales for 12 years in the 1960s and 1970s and won three Grand Slams, and went on to serve as president of the Welsh Rugby Union between 2019 and 2023. Reacting to the honour, he told the PA news agency: 'I feel very emotional about it. I am surprised by it. Words are really quite inadequate to describe it. 'It comes out of the blue. I was dumbstruck in many ways, but you don't achieve these things on your own.'
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
GoNetZero™ and AlliedOffsets Partner to Help Businesses Navigate the Voluntary Carbon Market with Confidence
SINGAPORE and LONDON, June 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- GoNetZero™, a global decarbonisation enabler in clean energy procurement and carbon management, announces a new strategic alliance with AlliedOffsets, the world's leading carbon market intelligence provider, to help businesses navigate the voluntary carbon market (VCM) with greater transparency, insight, and confidence. This partnership brings together GoNetZero's curated portfolio of verified carbon credits with AlliedOffsets' analytics platform, which tracks over 34,000 carbon projects globally. By uniting market access with deep data insights, the collaboration aims to help organisations navigate evolving VCM dynamics and make smarter, data-driven decisions that drive meaningful climate impact. "As organisations face growing pressure to back their climate claims with credible action, transparency and data have become essential," said Soon Sze Meng, CEO of GoNetZero. "This partnership will bring together GoNetZero's portfolio of verified carbon credits with AlliedOffsets' market intelligence, helping our clients evaluate carbon offsetting projects with greater clarity and confidence. It's about empowering organisations to make informed choices and drive impact at scale." Through this collaboration, GoNetZero's clients will gain deeper insights into VCM fundamentals – including pricing trends, issuance pipelines, co-benefit preferences, and buyer activity, helping them make better-informed procurement decisions. These insights will also enable clients to benchmark their offsetting and removal strategies against industry peers, enhancing both rigour and credibility in their corporate sustainability efforts. "GoNetZero and AlliedOffsets offer an end-to-end solution for companies that are looking to deliver high-integrity climate impact," said Anton Root, Co-founder at AlliedOffsets. "We're proud to be working with a partner like GoNetZero that shares our vision for a transparent carbon market." This collaboration also supports wider ecosystem engagement by creating more opportunities for dialogue, knowledge sharing, and alignment across the carbon value chain. In the autumn of 2025, GoNetZero and AlliedOffsets will co-host an Industry Day to convene carbon market participants, facilitate dialogue, and accelerate progress. Additionally, the two companies will launch a joint content series designed to guide emissions-intensive sectors on: Sector-specific trends across energy and technology/ telecoms. How to align carbon offsetting strategies with broader ESG goals, regulatory developments, and stakeholder expectations. How to identify high-integrity credits aligned with tightening VCM standards. For more information, visit and Media contact: press@ / Commercial contact: connect@ / hello@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE GoNetZero™ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
