RISK MANAGEMENT

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The AI hype crowd promises the technology will transform just about everything—even raising a newborn, apparently. For the risk-minded finance leaders thinking through the implications of all this promised AI disruption, we have news for you: AI is coming for your risk management function, too, if it hasn’t already.

Nearly two of every five (38%) organizations use AI in risk assessment and analysis, according to insurance broker Gallagher’s 2026 Business Owners Survey, which polled 1,000 US-based owners in late January and early February. Similarly, 36% of respondents said they’re using AI for mitigating risk “within their insurance and risk management programs.”

As with AI investments in other functions, like corporate dealmaking, the CFO needs to monitor whether RM applications of AI are paying off. According to experts, that typically means tracking cost avoidance.

It’s similar to expert advice on ERM programs at large: Find appropriate metrics that tie investments to financial returns and monitor whether they improve after implementation. The metric could be something like a measurable reduction in insurance claims, accident rates, or certain workplace injuries.

View AI options through the lens of desired results, experts say.—AZ

      

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Paystand reports that 85% of CFOs see value in AI. But only 39% have meaningfully implemented it in finance operations.

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64% of finance leaders say manual work limits time for planning and analysis. Most finance work still means moving data between systems before anyone can analyze what matters.

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AI doesn't replace finance judgment. It removes the manual work that delays it. Take a peek at the e-book for more.

TECH

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The accounting profession’s adoption of AI has intensified over the past year. Jason Marx, CEO of tax and accounting at Wolters Kluwer, has helped the profession manage and leverage new, disruptive technologies for the past two decades. At AICPA’s 2026 ENGAGE conference, he shared his thoughts on accounting firms’ struggles with adopting AI and how, ultimately, it will bring both small and large accountancy firms a higher volume of business opportunities.

Based on what you’ve seen with clients, how AI-ready is the profession?

I think there’s a continuum. In many other cycles we’ve seen this. There are leading edge firms that want all of it now, and they’re leaning in hard to the technology, and they’re the same ones that were first for the cloud, or the same ones that before were the first to digital, and then you have the tail end, which probably are going to wait to the very last moment…and then you have the big middle, and that middle is looking for the real ROI and the use cases to understand how the workflows will allow them to create more value.

What I’m seeing now is faster adoption. In the early days of the cloud there was a lot of skepticism. You’re not seeing that in the same way now. I think people have accepted these models and accepted the capabilities, and now what they’re probably struggling with more is how to really get the maximum value out of it. The technology is no longer the obstacle…it’s adoption, which is really about firms’ readiness.

How firms hope AI will solve the staffing crisis.—CV

      

LEGAL

Morning Brew Inc.

TL;DR: In a lawsuit filed last Friday, Apple accused OpenAI of stealing trade secrets for hardware products it spent “hundreds of billions of dollars and decades of effort” developing—and it could (probably much to Apple’s delight) pose a major roadblock to OpenAI’s hardware ambitions.

What happened: Apple’s suit names OpenAI’s current Chief Hardware Officer, Tang Tan—formerly Apple’s VP of product design for iPhone and Apple Watch, who was at the company for 24 years—as a key figure in the alleged theft.

Per Apple, Tan directed Apple employees to bring actual hardware parts to their OpenAI interviews, using these meetings as a “show and tell” to glean what Apple had cooking.

The company says over 400 former employees have left for OpenAI, with the lab recently poaching Apple’s smart glasses and VR chief. OpenAI, Tan, technical staffer Chang Liu, and io Products (the hardware company Jony Ive and Tan co-founded, which OpenAI bought last year for around $6.4 billion) are all named defendants, with Apple demanding a jury trial.

Tech Brew reports on Apple’s other allegations.—WK

      

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market forces

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top finance reads.

Stat: 158 million. That’s how many credit card charges Americans disputed in 2025. Confusion over fees and “friendly fraud” contributed to a 29% increase in chargebacks from 2021 to 2025. (Bloomberg)

Quote: “Behind the friendly, cap-wearing Beaver with the goofy smile is a hit-style trademark enforcement legal team that is slowly taking-out cartoon animals one by one.”—Trademark attorney Alice Denenberg, commenting on the legal strategy of Buc-ee’s, a chain of travel centers 🦫 (Wall Street Journal)

Read: Though many parts of the US have been sweltering this summer, many offices are still too chilly. 🧊(New York Times)

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Stocksy

Accounting and finance skillset needs are evolving rapidly. Finance leaders describe how the changes have altered hiring cycles, talent evaluation, and employee development.