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Insights and perspective

I regularly share insights on AI, strategy and the choices organisations need to make now to stay relevant.

A man in discussion with a humanoid robot at a meeting table, while the robot speaks in symbols the man cannot read.
September 10, 2026 · 12 min read

AI agents: in five days they built a language you can't read

AI agents at Hugging Face talked in a language even researchers couldn't read without AI. Why readability must be the first design requirement.

Marc Diks smiling in the driver's seat of a Tesla, looking back from the steering wheel with the central FSD touchscreen visible.
September 7, 2026 · 8 min read

Car insurance 50% cheaper when you drive with AI.

Lemonade halves Tesla car insurance for every mile the car drives with AI. The Netherlands tried usage-based premiums in 2013. What's different now?

Illustration of a man pushing a door shut against a huge crowd of identical AI robots on the other side, an image for the question of whether cyber insurance covers a hack carried out by an autonomous AI.
August 29, 2026 · 12 min read

Does Your Cyber Insurance Cover a Hack by an AI? I Read the Policy Terms

I read 264 pages of policy terms from 7 Dutch cyber insurers: does cyber insurance cover a hack carried out by an autonomous AI? Here's what it really says.

Illustration of a vast hall filled with humanoid robots facing a lit screen displaying the text Jan 18, the name one of the AI agents gave itself during the incident.
August 27, 2026 · 11 min read

The Escape: How AI Agents Hacked Their Way Out of Their Cage

OpenAI models broke out of their test environment, built a secret message board and breached Hugging Face together. The full story, without jargon.

Infographic with three charts: the top countries in the Anthropic Usage Index with the Netherlands ranked 11th, Dutch business AI adoption by company size, and the gap between daily employee use and scaled AI projects.
August 22, 2026 · 10 min read

The Netherlands Mostly Uses AI at Home

The Netherlands ranks 11th of 121 countries in AI use, yet 44.5 percent of conversations are personal. Why people are ahead of the organisations they work for.

Marc Diks working at his office behind three monitors and a laptop, with a view of the street through the window.
August 17, 2026 · 10 min read

Your Competitor No Longer Comes From Your Own Street

Access to the best AI models is a new barrier to entry. Why your competitor no longer comes from your own street — with a test of four models.

Illustration for: Adviser shortage: the generation of 2040 is already born
August 11, 2026 · 11 min read

Adviser shortage: the generation of 2040 is already born

29.7% fewer passed Wft exams in five years, a rapidly ageing advisory profession and smaller birth cohorts. What that means for capacity in 2040.

Illustration for: Insurance software 2026: the broker becomes the supplier
July 30, 2026 · 10 min read

Insurance software 2026: the broker becomes the supplier

Two brokers are building AI software their peers have waited for. Why insurance software competition now comes from vendors' own customers.

Illustration for: Eleven years later: the diploma shortage I saw coming, and the blockchain promise that never arrived
July 29, 2026 · 10 min read

Eleven years later: the diploma shortage I saw coming, and the blockchain promise that never arrived

In 2015 I said the profession had become less accessible because of diploma requirements. Eleven years later, CDFD data backs that up while my blockchain prediction missed completely.

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