Almost Nowhere

Recorded live at the 2025 CAS Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas, this episode of Almost Nowhere explores how Japan’s insurance industry manages some of the most concentrated catastrophe risk in the world.
Hosts Alicia Burke and Max Martinelli are joined by Suguru Fujita, Yohei Konishi, Takuro Oyama, and Kenta Ito for a conversation on earthquakes, typhoons, reinsurance structures, catastrophe modeling, public-private partnerships, and the cultural mindset behind resilience in Japan.
The discussion dives into how Japanese insurers approach pricing, regulation, AI, claims response, and long-term catastrophe management — and what U.S. actuaries and insurers can learn from a system built around collaboration, preparedness, and recovery.

Climate risk is changing faster than actuarial practice.
In this episode of Almost Nowhere, Jim Weiss challenges how actuaries think about responsibility when models, data, and assumptions start to break down. From overlooked casualty impacts to the limits of today’s frameworks, this conversation pushes beyond the usual climate narrative.
Plus, what AI means for all of it — and why the real risk might not be what you think.
Filmed at the 2026 CAS RPM Seminar in Chicago.

AI is rapidly reshaping how actuaries are trained, hired, and evaluated. In this episode, Alicia Burke and Max Martinelli talk with Charles Johnson—actuary, educator, and founder—about what’s changing across the talent pipeline.
From AI-assisted learning to AI-influenced interviews, the gap between high-performing candidates and those relying too heavily on tools is widening. The conversation explores hiring challenges, why traditional interviews fall short, and how hands-on work is becoming the clearest signal of real ability.
As the profession evolves, one question stands out: who will adapt—and who will fall behind?

In this episode of Almost Nowhere, we dig into the CAS AI Primer and the problem it was built to solve: a growing divide between actuaries actively experimenting with AI and those keeping their distance.
Our guests, part of the CAS AI working group, explain why that gap exists—and why it matters. While some practitioners are already building, testing, and validating AI-driven workflows, others are holding back due to uncertainty, risk, and lack of a clear starting point.
Access the Primer: https://www.casact.org/publications-research/research/ai-tools-and-resources

Josh Pyle, Head of Corporate Actuarial, Reinsurance Strategy & ERM at Root Insurance, joins Max Martinelli, Alicia Burke, and surprise co-host Sergey Filimonov for a deep dive into generative AI agents. From governance and regulation to experimentation and business alignment, we unpack where actuaries should be exploring—and where they should proceed with caution. Whether you’re prototyping your first agent or weighing build-vs-buy, this episode brings real-world perspective to a fast-moving space.