What industry-specific challenges have you encountered in scaling AI?
Natasha Davydova, AXA: Insurance companies have been around for hundreds of years. Legacy systems are a real issue, and there’ s vulnerability when you’ re integrating new technologies. You have to be strategic about where you apply AI.
What’ s crucial is selecting use cases that deliver genuine value. When customers get married, they might take out life insurance, but then that policy might just sit there for 30 years. So you need to think carefully about where AI adds real value versus where you’ re just automating for the sake of it.
Personalised products can increase customer retention by 5-10 %, and for large insurance companies, that’ s substantial value. When you align AI with strategy and measure against clear business outcomes, you can demonstrate real ROI.
Vishaal Gupta, Pearson: In education, when we introduce AI tutoring tools that students are accessing at 11pm, we’ re not just providing a service but changing how learning happens.
The assessment question is critical. In an age where AI can help write essays or complete assignments, how do we validate that students have actually learned? It’ s about fundamentally rethinking how we measure learning and competency in an AI-enabled world.
170 January 2026