DoorDash launches Zesty, an AI-powered social app that helps users find local restaurants through conversational chatbot recommendations in San Francisco Bay Area and New York.

Events in recent years have made us all too familiar with the havoc that natural disasters can wreak, and the increasing frequency and intensity with which they are occurring. Despite record levels of losses, conventional methods of risk modeling continue to paint at best an incomplete picture of these threats. While AI alone may not be able to thwart these disasters, it can help us become more prepared for them, and ultimately that will lead to better outcomes. As a Senior Data Scientist - Computer Vision and MLOps, you are comfortable and excited to work closely with the Data Science and Machine Learning team to build the best AI tech possible. You will scale the development of top-tier models by using diverse data sources to provide strong insights and maximize the impact of our company efforts.

Events in recent years have made us all too familiar with the havoc that natural disasters can wreak, and the increasing frequency and intensity with which they are occurring. Despite record levels of losses, conventional methods of risk modeling continue to paint at best an incomplete picture of these threats. While AI alone may not be able to thwart these disasters, it can help us become more prepared for them, and ultimately that will lead to better outcomes. As a Senior Data Scientist - Climate Risk Modeling, you are comfortable and excited to work closely with the engineering team to build the best AI tech possible. You will develop top tier models from unique and diverse data sources to provide strong insights and maximize the impact of our company efforts.

"We are building this company because we are enjoying the process and because we want to have an impact on this industry," Toth said. "We are not building this company for a quick sale." The company employs just under 60 people and is hiring aggressively, with expectations that a good 25% of its workforce will be new within the next few months. Plans also call for using the money to build up the brand. "We will be investing heavily into sales and marketing [and] hiring additional salespeople," Toth said, with potential marketing areas including thought leadership, content and channel partnerships.

Standing on the outskirts of Oakland, California, Attila Toth takes in the nearby forested hills. The CEO looks out on what locals call "The Town" and, in the distance, San Francisco, or "The City." Close by, Toth sees tangles of redwood, eucalyptus and oak trees – and the wildfire risk they pose. This "wildland-urban interface" isn't far from the site of the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire, which flared up suddenly in a heavily residential area. Over four days, 3,000 thousand homes were destroyed in one of the city's wealthiest neighborhoods, causing an estimated $1.5 billion in damages ($3.2 billion in today's dollars).

A startup is using machine learning and better data to more accurately assess wildfire risk for insurers. Why it matters: Wildfires are one of the fastest-growing risks to properties, but insurers have struggled to accurately price policies -- and some have abandoned the field altogether, leaving property owners unprotected. Driving the news: The month-old Dixie Fire is now the single biggest fire in California's recorded history, and it has already destroyed more than 1,000 buildings, including nearly all of the small community of Greenville. How it works: Zesty.ai has developed a model called Z-FIRE that uses aerial imagery, data from connected devices, climate studies and machine learning to provide more accurate wildfire risk assessments. What to watch: This week, Zesty.ai entered into a partnership with the California FAIR Plan Association -- the state's insurer of last resort -- to use Z-FIRE for wildfire risk assessment.

We recently had the opportunity to catch up with Attila Toth, CEO, zesty.ai, the Silver Winner of the 2019 Zurich Innovation World Championship, to discuss how Artificial Intelligence is impacting the Property & Casualty Insurance market across personal and commercial lines. Click the link to have a listen. You can also read the full transcript of the conversation below. With me today is Attila Toth, CEO of zesty.ai Today we have an interesting show planned for you where we're going to talk about the global insurance industry as it undergoes a digital transformation. As insurance companies find themselves trying to make sense of all these new technologies – artificial intelligence, natural language processing, machine learning, computer vision, – understanding the business case for each can be extremely confusing and daunting. With insurance companies being held to higher customer expectations, the time is now to embrace new technologies to leapfrog the competition. Being status quo is no longer an option. Technology is driving diversity across many industries – insurance included – as it reshapes the value chain. Age-old processes are being disrupted, while new market entrants and changing business models are bringing new threats, as well as opportunities for those who act on them. Some of the questions we'll cover today include: What is the value that AI is delivering to the insurance industry, and how are insurance providers reacting to these seismic changes?

Who's involved: German re/insurer Talanx and US-headquartered automation software provider, WorkFusion. What's happening: Talanx and WorkFusion have agreed a strategic partnership. In an initial step, the software from WorkFusion is being used for automated checking and processing in the claims division at Talanx's subsidiary HDI. The software will initially be used for invoices dealing with glass breakage and motor insurance. Significance of development: Talanx has described the new software as "automation 4.0" because the artificial intelligence platform can take end-to-end decisions, known as Intelligent Process Automation.

Zesty.ai was selected as the Silver Award winner by Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) in the first ever Zurich Innovation World Championship for its work leveraging artificial intelligence to revolutionize risk underwriting and customer experience for Property and Casualty insurance. Zurich is a leading multi-line insurer with about 53,000 employees and presence in more than 210 countries. Zurich is the parent company of Zurich North America and Farmers Insurance. Zesty.ai has developed an AI-based solution that can provide insurers with detailed and accurate property insights to improve underwriting, pricing and post-event response. Using satellite and drone imagery, information collected by aircraft, weather data and other structured data sources, zesty.ai

Zesty.ai, a San Francisco Bay Area-based artificial intelligence startup, recently announced the closing of its Series A funding exercise of $13 million. Blamar, a private investment fund located in Luxembourg, led the funding exercise. Plug & Play Ventures among other existing investors also took part in the exercise, which showed their continued support for the company. The financing round acknowledges the position of Zesty.ai as an innovative leader in the ongoing massive digital transformation, particularly in the global insurance industry. The artificial intelligence (AI) startup has created advanced computer vision technology by using aerial imagery and satellite coupled with structured data sources to assist in capturing numerous data points not only on buildings but also their surroundings without having to set foot on such premises.