Ashley Hirst Writing on community, artificial intelligence and insurance

Writing

Artificial intelligence
12 June 2026

Iteration eats planning for lunch

Anyone trying to get something done inside a company faces an implicit choice: how much to settle before they start.

Insurance & risk
11 May 2026

Why the Standard Life model could go European

Anyone watching the UK bulk annuity market has been turning over the Standard Life carve-out for the past few weeks (I know, this is a mass appeal article).

Artificial intelligence
5 May 2026

Actually getting value out of AI

Anyone using AI – specifically, LLMs – eventually has to deal with the same question.

Artificial intelligence
13 April 2026

Start worrying about your dependency on specific AI companies

Cursor's maker Anysphere announced a $2.3b Series D in November 2025 - $29.3b post-money valuation, past a billion in annualised revenue and accelerating. Bloomberg reported it topped $2b by February 2026.

Community · Note
12 November 2020

On Rabbi Sacks and the Jewish library

A mental image of the Jewish intellectual space — and what it meant to lose the person who stood by the open French window between Jewish and non-Jewish thought.