Paul Neville, director of digital, data and technology at The Pensions Regulator (TPR), is building strong IT foundations as part of a five-year strategy to help transform the organisation from a compliance-based to a risk-based regulator. He explains what that change will mean in practice over the next few years.
“As a regulator, we’ll obviously still have specific processes we expect people to follow, but we’ll be much more concerned about the outcome that we’re trying to achieve, and we’ll make decisions based on that demand,” he says.
“To make that shift, we need to understand our data. We need to have the right level of automation to explore information, measure outcomes, and deliver those outcomes with industry and other government bodies interested in pensions. We imagine a future world in which information flows between organisations.”
A historian by education, Neville entered the world of business as the internet boom gathered pace in the 1990s. Describing himself as a self-taught digital leader, he developed his skills in the commercial sector at blue-chip companies such as Sky and BT, and with startups and smaller businesses.
His transformation work in larger firms focused on delivering big technology-enabled change programmes, centred on boosting customer experiences. Mid-career, he decided to apply those skills for public benefit and worked as a consultant for two major charities, Marie Curie and Macmillan, helping those organisations to transform digitally.
Neville then turned to the public sector to apply his skills in another for-good area. He worked in digital leadership roles at the London Borough of Waltham Forest, UK Export Finance and Enfield Council, before joining TPR in October 2023. Neville reflects on this final move.
“It was the opportunity to take all of that experience and deliver on a national scale and impact everybody, because almost everyone has a pension, and the opportunity to make that process work for the citizens of this country, and make a difference for people in retirement, is a massive issue,” he says.
“Secondly, the chief executive, my boss, Nausicaa Delfas, was setting up an opportunity to change, not only TPR, but the pensions industry, so the role felt like a chance to be a central part of that journey, because not every CIO gets to sit on the board of an organisation.”
Transforming processes
Neville reflects on the transformation journey at TPR, saying it’s been an exciting ride: “Everyone on the executive board is aligned on the fact that digital, data and technology are the key enablers for helping us change as an organisation, and also helping the pensions industry transform.”
Late last year, Neville launched a digital, data and technology strategy, a set of missions over a five-year plan to renew TPR’s capabilities, embracing new ways of working, driving efficiency, automation and innovation. In March this year, he launched the data component of the strategy, which establishes a collaborative plan to drive adoption of new data technologies and standards.
“I am proud of that strategic work,” he says. “That effort includes strengthening our technology foundations, improving our capability in terms of automation, and making sure we have the skills in my team to develop the future. We’ve hired quite a lot of people and also consolidated similar skills across the organisation, and that’s enabled us to deliver more and save money on suppliers, because we’ve done a lot in-house.”
Neville says the projects his team has worked on include delivering artificial intelligence (AI) tools that help increase automation. They’ve also focused on improving cyber security and data governance to ensure safe and secure access to high-quality internal information.
The team also recently launched an innovation service to foster conversations with industry stakeholders. Neville says TPR is encouraging and enabling people and organisations to think differently about the services they deliver to their customers and the benefits they provide.
“That’s just a small selection of the things we’ve done so far,” he says. “We’ve got just under four years left of the plan. There’s a lot more we want to do, but we have built the confidence, both internally and externally, that we are a different TPR and we can deliver. That encourages everyone in our industry to think differently as well.”
Building foundations
Neville says the transformation work enabled through the strategy so far is focused on building the right technological foundations at TPR.
In addition to cyber security and data governance projects, his team has focused on service management initiatives that help TPR rationalise its application estate. The organisation has adopted an agile, product-based approach to deliver reusable capabilities for flexible services in key areas related to pensions governance within the organisation and externally.
TPR is also making progress on automation, including in case management. He inherited a situation where cases were often managed on spreadsheets or via one-off technology solutions. In short, nothing was joined up. Neville is using automation, via Microsoft Dynamics 365, to take a different approach.
“Everyone on the executive board is aligned on the fact that digital, data and technology are the key enablers for helping us change as an organisation, and also helping the pensions industry transform”
Paul Neville, The Pensions Regulator
“We’re delivering a single case management system,” he says. “We are working to make sure the process is streamlined, so we’re thinking about the business process first. By taking that approach, we can deliver in an agile and iterative way. Where we’ve already rolled that technology out, we’ve delivered productivity savings of around 60%.”
Neville expects the progress made through case management automation to be repeated in other areas. As automation takes hold in the organisation, he anticipates people will spend less time on paperwork and more time delivering better services.
Given the developments in the technology sector during the past few years, AI is playing a key role.
“We are deploying AI to specific use cases,” he says. “I’ve got a fantastic data science team, who are developing lots of very clever tools for us.”
Embracing AI
Neville says the next two years will be spent honing these technology initiatives and delivering tangible results.
Critical projects include implementing organisation-wide access to data via Dynamics 365 services and completing transformation projects in core areas, such as cyber security and data governance. It’s these foundations and the application of emerging technology that will help TPR transform from a compliance-based to a risk-based regulator.
Two years from now, Neville expects all foundational work, from case management to customer relationship management (CRM) systems, will be embedded within the organisation. On these foundations, employees will use AI-enabled tools to boost their working processes.
“That preparatory work will enable us in the future to create more customer-facing digital capabilities,” he says.
One example of where TPR is applying AI is analysing online news sites to scan for potential risks in pension schemes. Neville saw AI could provide a helping hand to what is currently a manually intensive process.
“That’s a great example, because many pension schemes don’t have the same name as the provider,” he says. “The technology does quite a lot of joining up behind the scenes to make that process work.”
Another example is using AI to analyse Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) statements, which organisations must submit to comply with legislation. Once again, generative technology – in the form of OpenAI and Microsoft Azure technology – is helping TPR staff summarise lengthy prose and create insights as a basis for intervention when required.
“Those are just two examples,” says Neville. “We’ve got other risk tools that we’re using. We are also rolling out Copilot internally, and we’re in the middle of our plan for that technology. We’re trialling GitHub Copilot for our developers, and they’re starting to write test scripts, which is fun. We’re still at the beginning of this work, as are lots of people, but these projects are a taster of what we want to achieve.”
Solving challenges
Neville says the result of this work will be that the future TPR will have an operating environment that differs greatly from its traditional, manually intensive processes. Today, the organisation maintains a digital portal, where people send, for example, pension scheme returns as part of a large, intensive data upload. Neville foresees a better approach.
We need to understand our data, and so does the industry. The firms need to provide better customer experiences for people, like you and me, who have pensions Paul Neville, The Pensions Regulator
“There won’t necessarily be a scheme return like you see today, because we will have the information we need, and organisations across the industry will be more digitally enabled, so they’re able to drive the kind of innovation and competition in the market that will benefit savers, people with pensions and employers that offer pensions,” he says.
This new level of digital interaction will make it easier for TPR and organisations in the pensions sector to tackle some of the thorny issues of the day. One of these issues is adequacy, or the extent to which people save enough money in pension schemes for their retirement.
“We need to understand our data, and so does the industry. The firms need to provide better customer experiences for people, like you and me, who have pensions. By driving a customer focus, we think the industry will perform better,” he says.
“We may even feel a bit like a fintech as an organisation, because we’ll be enabling innovation. Technology will produce the insights we need to work with the industry. So, we could be operating in a completely different world, which drives innovation and change for everyone.”
Neville continues to seek ways to push transformation forward. He recently helped launch the Pensions Data and Digital Working Group, which will help ensure TFP and the pension industry work together to embrace digital, data and technology and achieve the digitalisation and automation aims outlined in the five-year strategy.
“The working group has 15 members,” he says. “It represents a cross-section of people from different parts of industry, so trustees, actuaries, lawyers, but also people from more technical backgrounds as well. It’s about getting all kinds of people involved to help solve the problems and move to this new world.”
The Ember Smart Mug 2 is niche, but it has a loyal following. Even though we think there are better mug warmers on the market, Ember is like Apple AirPods or Kleenex. People want what they want. Right now, for Mother’s Day, the Ember Smart Mug 2 is on sale for just under $100, a 30 percent discount and a match of the very best price we’ve tracked. You can save at Amazon, Best Buy, and the manufacturer’s website.
This smart mug is probably overkill. It has a smartphone app that notifies you when your coffee reaches the ideal temperature, and its onboard light also provides a visual indicator that your brew is ready. It intelligently adjusts power usage to keep your drink warm when you’re nearby, and turns off when you’re not around. The self-heating mug is on sale in a few variations—10 or 14 ounces, in blue, white, black, and purple.
The mug offers up to 80 minutes of powered heating time, or you can pop it on the included charging coaster to keep the battery going all day. And you don’t need the smartphone app unless you want to precisely dictate your coffee temperature—the mug defaults to 135 degrees Fahrenheit without your specific input.
Our main gripe is that this proprietary warming system is not dishwasher safe. You need to hand-wash each component, and ensure you do so carefully, because the items are not cheap to replace. But if Mom has been putzing around the house drinking perpetually microwaved coffee, perhaps an upgrade is in order. We have additional recommendations in our guide to the Best Coffee Warmers. You may also want to check our related stories on the Best Espresso Machines, Best Coffee Machines, and Best Pod Coffee Makers.
Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold has already revolutionized scientists’ understanding of proteins. Now, the ability of the platform to design safe and effective drugs is about to be put to the test.
Isomorphic Labs, the UK-based biotech spinoff of Google DeepMind, will soon begin human trials of drugs designed by its Nobel Prize–winning AI technology. “We’re gearing up to go into the clinic,” Isomorphic Labs president Max Jaderberg said on April 16 at WIRED Health in London. “It’s going to be a very exciting moment as we go into clinical trials and start seeing the efficacy of these molecules.”
Jaderberg did not elaborate on the timeline, but it’s later than the company had planned to initiate human studies. Last year, CEO Demis Hassabis said it would have AI-designed drugs in clinical trials by the end of 2025.
Isomorphic Labs was founded in 2021 as a spinoff from Alphabet’s AI research subsidiary, Google DeepMind. The company uses DeepMind’s AlphaFold, a groundbreaking AI platform that predicts protein structures, for drug discovery.
Built from 20 different amino acids, proteins are essential for all living organisms. Long strings of amino acids link together and fold up to make a protein’s three-dimensional structure, which dictates the protein’s function. Researchers had tried to predict protein structures since the 1970s, but this was a painstaking process given the astronomically high number of possible shapes a protein chain can take.
That changed in 2020, when DeepMind’s Hassabis and John Jumper presented stunning results from AlphaFold 2, which uses deep-learning techniques. A year later, the company released an open-source version of AlphaFold available to anyone.
In 2024, DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs released AlphaFold 3, which advanced scientists’ understanding of proteins even further. It moved beyond modeling proteins in isolation to predicting other important molecules, such as DNA and RNA, and their interactions with proteins.
“This is exactly what you need for drug discovery: You need to see how a small molecule is going to bind to a drug, how strongly, and also what else it might bind to,” Hassabis told WIRED at the time.
Since its release, the AlphaFold platform has been able to predict the structure of virtually all the 200 million proteins known to researchers and has been used by more than 2 million people from 190 countries. The breakthrough earned Hassabis and Jumper the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2024, with the Nobel committee noting that AlphaFold has enabled a number of scientific applications, including a better understanding of antibiotic resistance and the creation of images of enzymes that can decompose plastic.
Earlier this year, Isomorphic Labs announced an even more powerful tool, what it calls IsoDDE, its proprietary drug-design engine. In a technical paper, the company touts that the platform more than doubles the accuracy of AlphaFold 3.
The startup has formed partnerships with Eli Lilly and Novartis to work together on AI drug discovery and is also advancing its own “broad and exciting pipeline of new medicines” in oncology and immunology, Jaderberg said.
“The exciting thing about the molecules that we’re designing is because we have so much more of an understanding about how these molecules work, we’ve engineered them to be very, very potent,” Jaderberg told the audience at WIRED Health. “You can take them at a much lower dose, and they’ll have lower side effects, off target effects.”
Last year, Isomorphic appointed a chief medical officer and announced it had raised $600 million in its first funding round to gear up for clinical trials. Meanwhile, the company has been building a clinical development team. Its mission is to “solve all disease.”
“It’s a crazy mission,” Jaderberg said. “But we really mean it. We say it with a straight face, because we believe this should be possible.”
Security leaders should be turning offensive AI cyber tools on their own systems before threat actors do, exploiting the innate defenders’ advantage to attain the high ground and increase their chances of withstanding a cyber attack.
So says Yinon Costica, co-founder of Google-owned Wiz, who, speaking at Google Cloud Next in Las Vegas, argued that defenders can win against attackers by using AI to exploit an advantage that may not appear obvious at first glance, that of context.
“The same AI model can obviously produce very different results based on the context that we feed into it,” said Costica. “Now, attackers hopefully have much less context about us while as defenders we do have a lot of context about our environments that we can share with the model.
“If, as defenders, we take the first movers’ advantage and we use the AI against ourselves, with the context we have, we actually stand a chance to win…. But we need to act fast,” he said.
“We need to start using AI against ourselves as much as possible, whether it’s to scan attack surfaces, scan code, scan anything, in order to be the first one to see the results and not to wait for the bad guys to do it before us.”
As speed becomes ever more of the essence in cyber security, Costica conceded that this would be a challenge for defenders – but noted that the tools to do this are rapidly becoming available. To try to help, Wiz unveiled three new AI agents at Google Cloud Next – red, green and blue – which are named for the human cyber teams they are designed to help.
“What agents allow us to do is really to get to the next level of acceleration [and] automation of security work,” said Costica.
The red agent is designed to assist red team penetration testing work by probing deep into its owners’ IT estate, identifying potential exposures, such as application programming interfaces (APIs), end-of-life edge networking kit or operational technology (OT) assets, and runs penetration tests on them. The green agent follows on by automating the triage process, something that can take ages for humans. Finally, the blue agent acts as a detective, doing the investigative work that can also be a lengthy process for human teams.
“These three agents together form a layer that is autonomous and automated. Its not revolutionary in that it aligns closely to how security teams have been working for many years, but now it allows each team to automate their workflows,” said Costica.
“It’s like living in the future in the eyes of security teams because it means that from the moment they find a risk, they can automate the process to find who owns it and deliver the code fix to complete and redeploy to production.”
A little over a month on from the closure of the $32bn acquisition of Wiz – Google’s largest purchase to date – the two organisations reaffirmed their commitment to providing a unified security platform, retaining Wiz’s brand, that will enhance the speed with which customers detect, prevent and respond to threats, especially emerging ones created using AI.
They duo also claim their combined capability will accelerate adoption of multicloud security and spur more confidence in innovation around cloud and AI. Wiz’s products are also to continue to be made available across other platforms, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud. It also announced support for Databricks and agent studios like AWS Agentcore, Microsoft Azure Copilot Studio, and Salesforce Agentforce, as well as Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform of course, and continues to support security ecosystems with integrations to the outer layer of the cloud, including Google Cloud Apigee, Cloudflare AI Security for Apps, and the Vercel platform.
Behind the scenes, Wiz has also updated how it integrates security detections from Wiz Defend with Google Security Operations and Mandiant Threat Defence to make life easier for human analysts.
And it announced new capabilities to secure the AI-native deployment cycle. These include scanning vibe coded applications for issues; AI-generated code scanning and vulnerability remediation; agent-based remediation allowing teams to automate remediation workflows; and an AI bill of materials (AI-BOM) to keep on top of the use of shadow AI for coding.
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