Three regions are building AI for three different reasons. The US pushes frontier models towards AGI, China embeds applied AI into manufacturing and logistics, and Europe builds trust through risk based regulation. A global insurer has to operate inside the three at once.

Ericson Chan, Group Chief Information and Digital Officer at Zurich Insurance Group, makes the case that a multinational needs one AI strategy and variations on implementation.

Ericson argues that regulators in Europe, the US and China start from different places but converge on safety, transparency and accountability, which Zurich codifies as STAR. The harder divergence is cultural, and an insightful metaphor is customers raised on Astro Boy and Doraemon see technology as a helper, while Western science fiction offers Terminator and Skynet. He contends that AI owned by the technology function fails, because the operating business must own process redesign, adoption and realise value. Productivity gains, in his view, become a bar competitors will cross, so the larger opportunity lies in redesigning the value chain end to end and preventing risk before it happens.

• STAR: Security, Transparency, Accountability and Reliability as Zurich's non-negotiable principles across jurisdictions

• 75 to 80 percent of Zurich's workforce actively using AI tools, up from a quarter two years earlier

• A global AI strategy as a constitution backed by a playbook, with local teams owning implementation and value

• Zurich's AI360 strategy: AI for Everyone, AI at the Core and AI for the Future

• Small language models based on decades of Zurich's own knowledge as a source of competitive advantage

This is Part One of a two-part conversation. Listen for the regional picture before Part Two turns to adoption and implementation in detail next week.

Chapters

00:00 The Importance of Transparency in Leadership

03:16 Global Perspectives on AI Development

07:53 AI as a Threat and Opportunity

08:39 Challenges and Opportunities in Scaling AI

12:39 Cultural Influences on AI Adoption

14:44 The Need for a Unified AI Strategy

17:56 Coordination in Decentralised Implementation

19:23 Leadership Priorities in AI Adoption

23:57 Transforming Business with AI

26:52 Zurich's AI Strategy: AI 360