It has been nearly two years since the launch of ChatGPT and other generative AI (gen AI) tools that revolutionized the way AI is perceived and consumed by industries, businesses, and other users. In that time, McKinsey experts estimate the capabilities unlocked by gen AI have helped accelerate levels of human performance by a decade, on average.No industry remains untouched by the impact of gen AI, but adoption levels vary…
The first three students to be supported by the Arm donation will begin their studies at the new research centre in the autumn of 2025. They will be followed by another three students each year for the following four years. Arm – the company building the future of computing with its global headquarters in Cambridge – is the first organisation to donate to the new CASCADE Research Centre, part of…
A growing body of research, including our own, has conclusively demonstrated that today’s managers find themselves squeezed between the strategic demands of senior leadership and the day-to-day needs of their teams. Perceptyx’s Center for Workforce Transformation special report, How to Build a Better Boss: What Leaders (and Their Teams) Need Now to Thrive, sheds new light on this pressure-cooker environment and reveals some surprising shifts in manager effectiveness and well-being.…
When federal agencies issue a research grant, they never know if their investment will reap rewards for society. This was almost certainly true in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research funded projects by James “Jay” McClelland, David Rumelhart, and Geoffrey Hinton to model human cognitive abilities.Yet that investment led to a cascade of research progress: a neural network model…
Frontiers New tactics can boost profitability and satisfaction with subscription services. Stanley Frederick W.T. Lim November 19, 2024 Reading Time: 8 min Topics Frontiers An MIT SMR initiative exploring how technology is reshaping the practice of management. More in this series Neil Webb/theispot.com Costco and Amazon subscription services were just the beginning. Consumers can now subscribe to a pickle-of-the-month club, monthly shipments of coloring books, bimonthly boxes of survival tools,…
By: Adam Rongo, Andrew Scroggins, and Christopher DeGroff Seyfarth Synopsis: On November 15, 2024, the EEOC released its Agency Financial Report (“AFR”) for Fiscal Year 2024. The AFR is intended to provide a description of the Agency’s financial management and offer high-level performance information. This year’s edition marks the sixth version of the publication, following the release of the inaugural AFR in FY 2019. In years past, the EEOC has…
Quick Hits Value of closeout conferences: Close-out conferences provide valuable insights into the basis for the violations and gravity cited, which are crucial for preparation and decision-making regarding future actions. Preparation and participation: Management may want to discuss observed conditions and issued citations, before and during the conference, and focus on listening, asking questions, and providing accurate facts to challenge allegations without antagonizing the inspector. Effective strategy: Focusing on well-supported…
“Manifest” was looked up almost 130,000 times on the Cambridge Dictionary website, making it one of the most-viewed words of 2024. The word jumped from use in the self-help community and on social media to being widely used across mainstream media and beyond, as celebrities such as singer Dua Lipa, Olympic sprinter Gabby Thomas and England striker Ollie Watkins spoke of manifesting their success in 2024. Mentions of it gained traction during the…
Much has been written on performance management. Why do so many employees still find it bureaucratic and unfair? On this episode of McKinsey Talks Talent, talent experts Bryan Hancock and Brooke Weddle speak with global editorial director Lucia Rahilly about new research on what drives performance: what motivates employees most, what matters less than you think, and the changes organizations need to make to ensure their feedback, ratings, and review processes are…
People from Belfast proved most able to detect someone faking their accent, while people from London, Essex and Bristol were least accurate.The study, published today in Evolutionary Human Sciences found that the ability of participants from Scotland, the north-east of England, Ireland and Northern Ireland to tell whether short recordings of their native accent were real or fake ranged from approximately 65% – 85%. By contrast, for Essex, London and…
For an industry focused on mitigating risk and providing protection, the world’s insurers are enduring a particularly volatile age. The macroeconomic picture is mixed, with inflation stubbornly high and interest rates uncertain. Consumer confidence remains shaky, even though the economic growth cycle appears to have bottomed out. Geopolitical instability remains a perceived threat to global growth, and trade patterns are shifting amid signs of protectionism. Yet McKinsey’s Global Insurance Report…
Gary Bates/Ikon Images The Research The authors’ survey data was gathered from 2015 to 2023 via a questionnaire to which approximately 1,400 executives, representing 500 companies across industries and global regions, responded. Not all respondents replied to all questions. The authors also conducted 500 individual interviews at 45 companies in the same time period. The ability to wield influence is essential to getting things done in today’s complex, often matrixed…
During the second Trump administration, we anticipate that the EEOC’s routine enforcement and litigation activities would continue, as would policy initiatives capable of garnering bipartisan support. Indeed, the vast majority of the EEOC's day-to-day enforcement and litigation activities are politically uncontroversial and enjoy strong bipartisan support. However, the EEOC is unlikely to move forward with policy initiatives or new litigation filings perceived as advancing Republican priorities, because the EEOC is…
Quick Hits The New Jersey governor signed legislation that will require employers to provide the “hourly wage or salary, or a range of the hourly wage or salary” in postings for new jobs or transfer opportunities. The law will also require employers to make “reasonable efforts” to advertise promotion opportunities to all current employees “in the affected department or departments of the employer’s business.” The law is set to take…
Toyota City, Japan – Cars are going through some of the most rapid engineering shifts in their 100-year history, putting intense pressure on global automakers to innovate more quickly. That includes the Toyota Motor Corporation, which last year sold more than 10 million vehicles, more than any other automaker in the world. At its headquarters in Toyota City, an hour’s drive east of the industrial hub of Nagoya, the carmaker…
On 30 October 2024, chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her much-anticipated Budget to parliament. Prior to the announcement, the government had repeatedly spoken of a £22 billion “black hole” in the public finances and hinted at tax rises. As you saw in our recent Budget update, the chancellor revealed several changes that could affect your finances, including an overhaul of certain Inheritance Tax (IHT) rules. Consequently, you may need to rethink…
Appearing as ‘bumps’ in the data from high-energy experiments, these signals came to be known as short-lived ‘XYZ states.’ They defy the standard picture of particle behaviour and are a problem in contemporary physics, sparking several attempts to understand their mysterious nature.But theorists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Virginia, with colleagues from the University of Cambridge, suggest the experimental data could be explained…
Since the launch of ChatGPT at the latest, artificial intelligence has become part of everyday life for the general public. In a survey of computer users, 61% of respondents stated that they use the technology for their work (Deloitte 2023). In the first part of this blog series, we examined the impact of AI on different professional groups in Switzerland. We differentiated between four types of professional groups: those who…
In briefli]:su-m-0">Overpumping groundwater has caused land in parts of the San Joaquin Valley to sink by over one foot per year in many years since 2006.Rapid and uneven sinking has forced multimillion-dollar infrastructure repairs and exacerbated water supply issues for one of the world’s most agriculturally productive regions. California has enough surface water available to replenish key aquifers in the San Joaquin Valley to stop the sinking.A new study shows…
On November 5, 2024, Donald Trump was chosen to become the next president of the United States. An analysis of the activities of the first Trump administration (2017-2021) and his statements during this year’s election campaign allow us to outline the possible contours and dominant features of American policy towards China over the next four years. They, it seems, will not differ substantially from what we observed during his first…
19 November 2024By Luis de GuindosMeeting the EU’s climate neutrality targets calls for deep structural changes and significant private funding, requiring a healthy financial system. That’s why we’ve tested how resilient banks, investment funds and insurers are to stresses arising during the green transition. ECB Vice-President Luis de Guindos explains the findings.Achieving a carbon-neutral European Union by 2050 will require a resilient financial sector to provide the funding for the…
Research Highlight Generative AI tools promise to help leaders make better decisions. But they may also cause trouble by nudging leaders toward a control-based style, research shows. J. Mauricio Galli Geleilate and Beth K. Humberd November 18, 2024 Reading Time: 8 min As artificial intelligence technologies develop, managers are striving to reap the benefits. Today’s generative AI tools can aid managers in strategic decision-making and assist with problem-solving in a…
This article is an in-depth analysis of commercial property and casualty insurers, one of three sections in the Global Insurance Report 2025.In an industry that revolves around reducing uncertainty for customers, commercial property and casualty (P&C) insurers are themselves confronting macroeconomic uncertainty across multiple fronts. Inflation has remained stickier than expected in many economies, while uncertainty persists around interest rate cuts. Consumer confidence is shaky even though the economic growth…
On November 18, the Valdai Club hosted a presentation of an analytical Paper titled “Russia – Africa: Overcoming Difficulties”. Oleg Barabanov, the moderator of the discussion, noted that relations between Russia and Africa are currently on the rise. Russia works with African countries in many areas, including political dialogue, economic cooperation, and cultural and humanitarian ties. However, the process of strengthening relations has not always proceeded smoothly. It is often…
This article is an in-depth analysis of personal property and casualty insurers, one of three sections in the Global Insurance Report 2025.The personal lines property and casualty (P&C) industry writes about a quarter of the world’s insurance premiums. It protects people and their loved ones wherever they are, every day. Yet that means the disruption consumers have faced globally in recent years—from a global pandemic to rising costs, the increasing…
Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images At the annual TED Conference earlier this year, the room fell silent for the demonstration of a potentially groundbreaking technology: a “cone of silence” tool, currently in development, designed to block out all surrounding noise so conversation partners can hear only each other’s voices. While many of us in attendance were impressed by the simulated “quiet table” in a busy restaurant, I could only…
The Imagine Cup is the premier global technology competition for student founders using AI to push the boundaries of innovation. The 2025 season has been off to a great start -- live events introduced the competition, various AI technologies, and Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub as part of the Student Innovator Series (you can tune in on demand!). Competitors also had the option of completing a Lean Canvas as an…
To many economists and policymakers, cash is a problem: cash transactions are harder to tax, it can be used by criminals, and those who keep their savings in it miss out on interest. Such concerns have driven recent arguments for demonetization, including a 2016 effort in India to remove some large-denomination banknotes from circulation. But for the consumers who use it, cash offers significant benefits: it is widely accepted, offers…
Professor Michael Wooldridge. Photo credit: Paul Wilkinson Photography. The University of Oxford has announced the establishment of the Ashall Professorship of the Foundations of Artificial Intelligence, following a donation from Michael and Hilary Ashall. The generous donation, matched by the University’s Endowment Challenge Fund, creates a significant investment that will fund the position in perpetuity.Professor Michael Wooldridge (Department of Computer Science), a leading researcher in artificial intelligence (AI), has been…
A male Eastern Bluebird perched on top of a mossy branch and set against a light blue background. Biodiversity refers to the full variety of life on Earth, from bacteria and plants to animals and entire ecosystems, such as mangrove forests or coral reefs. A wide range of flourishing flora and fauna species indicates an ecosystem’s overall health. Because biodiversity is critical to a number of industries—from pharmaceuticals to agriculture—there’s…
The Oxford/42 New Writing Prize is looking for talented new voices in storytelling, and is open to aspiring novelists, playwrights, and screenwriters. The judges are interested in experimental writing as well as work that would appeal to a broad audience.The competition is open to anyone over the age of 18 living, working or studying in the UK and Ireland at the closing date for submissions. The winner will receive £1500…
An immune-cell therapy shrank children’s brain tumors, restored neurologic function and – for one participant in a Stanford Medicine clinical trial – erased all detectable traces of a brain cancer typically considered incurable.The trial, among the first successes against solid tumors for engineered immune cells known as CAR-T cells, offers hope for children with a group of deadly brain and spinal cord tumors, including a cancer called diffuse intrinsic pontine…
Diverse research findings by INSEAD faculty this month include a new strategy that could help improve tax collection and a way of improving the safety and reliability of AI in healthcare. Other research looks at how taking part in standard-setting organisations (SSOs) can help technology companies get better at forecasting.Another study examines why IPOs featuring at least one female director might have been underpriced. Finally, new research explores how CEOs might be…
Wheelan was recently named faculty director of Tuck’s Center for Business, Government, and Society whose mission is to “empower business leaders to navigate immediate stakeholder interests and the broader, deeply intertwined interests of both governments and society to help build a more sustainable global economy and contribute to the common good.” With a background that spans academia, journalism, and public policy, Wheelan brings a unique perspective to his role at…
Hush Naidoo Jade Photography, Unsplash Seyfarth Synopsis: The IRS recently published two notices which describe the tax treatment of amounts paid for condoms and expand the list of preventive care benefits permitted to be provided by a high deductible health plan (HDHP) without payment of a deductible. Notice 2024-71 – This notice provides that amounts paid for condoms will be treated as an expense for medical care under section 213(d) of…
Cutting back on animal protein in our diets can save on resources and greenhouse gas emissions. But convincing meat-loving consumers to switch up their menu is a challenge. Looking at this problem from a mechanical engineering angle, Stanford engineers are pioneering a new approach to food texture testing that could pave the way for faux filets that fool even committed carnivores. In a new paper in Science of Food, the…
As a PhD student studying finance at Columbia University, Naz Koont learned how the personal relationships bankers develop with their clients build trust and help sell products. At the same time, walking around her Morningside Heights neighborhood and throughout Manhattan, she noticed most of the bank branches she passed were empty. She wondered: Where were the customers and signs of these pivotal in-person relationships?Meanwhile, Koont watched classmates, friends, and other…
The basement beneath the Packard Electrical Engineering Building, once a hallway with researchers working behind closed doors, is now a bustling hub for collaboration. After many years of planning, fundraising, and development, the all-new Stanford Robotics Center officially opened its doors with a reception Nov. 1.The new facility is a bright, open, and vibrant space with a number of research bays arranged side-by-side. In one corner, a dancer pirouettes as…
By: Paul Galligan On November 4, 2024, Mayor Adams signed Intro 0991-2024, also known as the Safe Hotels Act. The Act will become effective 180 days after November 4th. Initially proposed at the NYC Assembly in July 2024, the Safe Hotels Act created a lot of controversy with several hotel associations opposed to it, particularly because of the requirement that hotels in NYC directly employ hotel employees in “core” parts…
Deborah Cullingford, who worked as a bailiff in Leeds for over 10 years, brought a claim against the Ministry of Justice for disability discrimination and harassment after being prohibited from bringing her dog, Bella, to work. Cullingford adopted Bella in 2020, finding companionship in her during the Covid pandemic. She told the tribunal that Bella had been the reason she “did not end her life when she felt depressed and…