Latest news with #client
New York Times
7 days ago
- Health
- New York Times
What I Learned When I Went Back to My Old Therapist
Two weeks before my father died last June, I wrote to my old psychotherapist, L.P. We'd exchanged a few brief emails, but we hadn't spoken in 15 years. I hoped she would be willing to see me. L.P., who asked that I use her initials to maintain her privacy, was surprised to hear from me and suggested we meet a few times to see how it felt. Maybe she was simply treating me like a new client, but I wondered if I was being put on probation. I kept thinking about the self-absorbed 20-something who used to visit her office. I could appreciate why she might proceed with caution. I rode the subway to our first appointment, full of questions: What was she like now? Would we still work well together? What if we didn't? L.P. greeted me in the reception area, and her smile quelled my anxieties. We took in the sight of each other: At 53, my hair was speckled with gray, my face a little drawn. L.P., who's almost 20 years older than me, was impeccably dressed in summer layers, her warm brown eyes alert behind tortoiseshell glasses. I was certain she had her portrait aging in the attic.
ABC News
23-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
HESTA members remain locked out of accounts as consumer group calls for more transparency
Daniella Paidi received a distressed call from a client who realised he was at risk of losing his home deposit after being unable to access his superannuation. Her client — a man from regional Victoria — is a member of HESTA, which has been mostly offline since April in a planned seven-week outage. Property lawyer Ms Paidi said her client was just days away from losing his deposit of $28,200 after missing his property settlement date. "Because of this upgrade he's been caught out, and he's now having to deal with the emotional and financial burden," she told ABC News. HESTA's seven-week outage, to change administration provider, left more than 1 million Australians unable to access their retirement funds, except for in exceptional circumstances. Ms Paidi said her client was aware of the outage but didn't realise the extent of what it meant for him and his ability to access his funds. She said it wasn't until she stepped in to support that he did realise. "We reached out to HESTA and we couldn't get on to anybody, we didn't receive a timely response or any kind of clear communication," she told The Business. "There was the opportunity to leave an online inquiry and to make a complaint, and we used both avenues really just to get somebody to speak to." Ms Paidi said someone in her network was able to put her in contact with HESTA, and 80 per cent of funds were deposited into her clients account on May 14. Earlier this week, the remaining 20 per cent landed in his account and his property was settled on Tuesday. A spokesperson for HESTA told ABC News: "Our contact centre and member engagement teams are actively supporting members with their queries. "While there are temporary disruptions to some services, it's important to note that members can still receive urgent and critical payments, and switch investments during the limited services period." But Ms Paidi said too much damage has already been done. "The focus for HESTA going forward, [has to be] really looking at this situation and thinking okay we are entrusted with acting in the best interests of these clients, of our people. "I think the question should be: 'Have we acted in the best interest of our clients here, and how can we do things better in the future?'" Decades-long HESTA member Annette Mumford said she was also caught out by the freeze. "I find it very distressing and I'm just gobsmacked that they have not even notified their customers." However, the superannuation fund said it did inform its members back in February via email, its website, and in some cases, a letter in the mail. Despite this, dozens of HESTA members have continued to tell the ABC they didn't find out about the outage until our report in April. Ms Mumford said she's transitioning to retirement and the situation left her stressed. "I was so distressed thinking 'oh my gosh', because there's no time for planning because it had already closed down without me knowing in advance." She said she called HESTA and put in a formal complaint. Despite alerting customers earlier in the year, Super Consumers Australia chief executive Xavier O'Halloran argued HESTA should have gone above and beyond with its communication. "They should be making the effort to call people and let them know that they are going to be subject to this period of time where they won't be able to access their money, and what they can do to mitigate against any harm that might cause." The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is the independent statutory authority that governs most superannuation funds, including the approval of planned outages. A spokesperson for APRA told ABC News the regulator doesn't comment on entity specific matters and also wouldn't comment on questions more broadly. Consumer advocates condemned the industry regulator for not being open with members about the process for approving an almost two-month outage by one of Australia's major super funds. Mr O'Halloran said transparency from the regulator around these kinds of approvals is "really important". APRA regulates 1,790 financial institutions and according to its website, is "concerned with maintaining the safety and soundness of financial institutions, so that the community can have confidence that they will meet their financial commitments under all reasonable circumstances". Mr O'Halloran said APRA's refusal to comment makes it hard to know what the approval processes look like. He said in comparison, situations involving the Australian Securities Investment Commission (ASIC), make processes and the reasons for approving those processes available to the public. In 2020, ASIC told the public it was granting "relief to industry to provide affordable and timely financial advice during the COVID-19 pandemic". "From my perspective, [ASIC is] far more transparent, makes the case for why relief was needed and placed some conditions on its use to minimise consumer harm," Mr O'Halloran told the ABC. He thinks APRA should do the same. Whitley Bejah, a personal finance researcher at Griffith University, isn't in favour of a blanket need for transparency from APRA around outages, but says the HESTA outage is an exceptional case. "If it's a small outage, I would say [no transparency is needed from APRA], but due to the large time frame associated with the HESTA outage, I would think having something small on [APRA's] website could be useful for Australians who did not receive the trustee's correspondence," she said. But ultimately, she said the responsibility lies with the super fund. "I think APRA has enough to worry about … it's up to the trustee to inform the members well ahead of time so that people can plan ahead." Despite alerting customers at the end of February, Ms Bejah argued more notice was necessary from HESTA, particularly from those relying on their super as part of the First Home Super Saver Scheme. "I'm not convinced HESTA gave enough time for members to prepare for the planned outage."
Entrepreneur
20-05-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
We're Falling for AI's Charm — But Who Pays When It Goes Wrong?
Automated AI Agents are changing business, but who is responsible when they mess up? Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. There's a wave of automation sweeping across everything we do. AI agents are being handed the keys to our inboxes, our calendars, our customer service, our social media and even our bank accounts. They're crafting our emails, running our marketing campaigns, handling client interactions and, in many cases, doing a scarily good job of it. But here's the question nobody wants to ask out loud: What happens when AI messes up? Like, really messes up. Not just a spelling mistake or a wrong calendar booking. I mean gross negligence. I mean something that costs a client their livelihood, a business its credibility, or heaven forbid, a mistake that leads to someone getting seriously hurt, or worse. We are now on the brink of a silent revolution. One where our roles, voices, choices and responsibilities are being handed off to algorithms. And the rate at which this is happening is staggering. AI doesn't sleep, doesn't ask for bonuses and doesn't come with HR complaints. It's seductive to the bottom line. But seduction without caution is a cliff in disguise. As the saying goes: "Look before you leap, because the ground isn't always where it used to be." We can't just automate our way out of responsibility The problem isn't AI. It's blind trust. It's assigning responsibility to something that can't be held responsible. If an AI drafts an email that breaches a contract, who pays for it? If an AI trades on your behalf and loses your life savings, who's liable? If an AI filters your hiring candidates with biased logic, who gets sued? And in a not-so-distant future, if an AI manages a healthcare protocol or transport system and someone dies, is it a bug, or is it manslaughter? Right now, the chain of accountability is vague at best. We've created a power structure without a power of attorney. AI agents don't sign NDAs. They don't face jail time. There are no AI ombudsmen or ethics courts. And no one seems to be building that infrastructure fast enough. Related: I Trusted AI With Confidential Info — And It Came Back to Haunt Me Yes, we must embrace with a helmet on Let's be clear, I love AI. I use it daily. It's reshaping business, creating new levels of efficiency, and unlocking capabilities we only dreamed of a few years ago. But delegation without oversight is not innovation, it's abdication. We shouldn't be giving AI agents full access to accounts, social platforms or sensitive data unless there are AI-level managers, AI compliance officers, AI C-suites and yes, maybe even AI nannies and police in place. Let's say we create a smart, autonomous AI to handle our finances. Who's vetting its decision-making matrix? What framework is in place to audit its logic or override bad calls? The more we hand over, the more essential it becomes to have equally intelligent systems keeping everything in check. The solution isn't to stop innovation. It's to build responsibility into the architecture. Just like every powerful tool before it, electricity, cars, planes and the need structure, laws, and culture to support safe and fair use. Related: Deepfake Fraud Is Becoming a Business Risk You Can't Ignore. Here's the Surprising Solution That Puts You Ahead of Threats. Don't wait for disaster to ask the right questions History has shown us time and time again that humanity tends to react after a catastrophe. But with AI, we might not get that luxury. So before we plug in the next-gen agent and give it control of our payroll, our CRM, or our lives, we have to ask: Who's monitoring the AI? Who's accountable when it breaks? What rights do we have when it fails? Because until we can confidently answer those questions, the smartest move any entrepreneur can make is to keep a hand on the wheel. The future is coming fast, I implore you to embrace it. Just make sure it doesn't run you over on autopilot.
