If the arrival of the Summer House reunion special didn’t already tip you off, the US is entering disaster season. But, according to the Wall Street Journal, “many Americans face a near flip-of-the-coin chance” that they’ll get relief from home insurance carriers when weather damages their house.

Insurance, not assurance

In the outlet’s analysis, the five biggest home insurance groups—Allstate, Farmers Insurance, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, and United Services Automobile Association (USAA)—didn’t pay out on more than 44% of claims resolved last year. That’s up from 36% in 2015. Some of the reasons why include:

• New risk-assessment methods. Traditionally, insurers based underwriting on historical data—what has happened—but are increasingly using predictive models—what they believe will happen—to set premiums. The use of drone footage to calculate a home’s “risk score” is also driving up costs for some customers.
• Reinsurance costs. The term essentially refers to insurance for insurance companies, and those prices have increased, too.
• The rise of extreme weather. A report produced by the Treasury Department last year found that the number of weather and climate disasters causing more than $1 billion in damage increased 5x from 2018 through 2022.
• Covid-19. Yes, really. Experts say that pandemic-era supply chain snarls and insurance companies’ losses from them continue to be a hidden driver of price hikes.

But insurance companies want you to know…that people aren’t super good at filling out claim submissions. Several insurers said that the rise in claims filed by text or through an app has led to more submittals that aren’t up to snuff.

A USAA spokesperson said that the WSJ’s number-crunching did not account for “losses below a deductible, claims not pursued by customers, or claims later reopened and paid.” With those accounted for, he said, fewer than 6% of USAA claims were denied.

Zoom out: In a Pew Research Center survey of homeowners conducted in March, 42% of respondents said that home insurance premiums have increased by “a lot” over the past few years. Since homeowners insurance is required to secure a mortgage, the ramifications impact consumer spending, the housing market, and more.—HVL

US military is guiding commercial ships through Strait of Hormuz, per officials. Anonymous federal officials who spoke with the New York Times said that the US military has guided nearly 70 commercial ships through the strait in the last three weeks, though they would not identify what kind of ships were assisted. The sources said most vessels turned off their transponders to make “dark” passages, so that they would not have to get permission from Iran or pay a toll to make the crossing. While last week the US seemed close to making a deal that would reopen the strait, officials said yesterday that President Trump requested a revision to the framework his team negotiated.

Berkshire Hathaway to buy Taylor Morrison Home for $6.8b. The all-cash deal, which was jointly announced by the companies yesterday, would provide the homebuilder with a long-term investing horizon to support the yearslong nature of housing development, while adding a site-built-homes company to Berkshire’s portfolio. It has owned Clayton Homes, the US’ largest builder of manufactured homes, since 2003. Berkshire CEO Greg Abel said the two companies may combine operations over time, and that expanding access to homeownership is an objective of the acquisition.

Today is the Marilyn Monroe centennial. Born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926, the movie star would have been 100 years old today. From the 1950s and into the early ’60s, the actress known as Marilyn Monroe was one of Hollywood’s highest earners. Her films grossed the equivalent of $2.2 billion in today’s terms by the time of her death in 1962 at age 36. Expect tributes of all sorts to flood the internet today. In Los Angeles, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opened its “Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon” exhibit yesterday featuring scintillating memorabilia, including the pink dress she wore to sing “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” in the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.—HVL

AI training app Shift is giving away professional home cleanings to people who live in New York City…as long as they let the company record the process and use the data to train the next generation of autonomous robot housekeepers. Because, despite all of the hype around it, AI still needs more help cleaning our clocks.

Dirty work: If you’re worried your home is too messy, don’t. Shift calls them “challenging cleaning environments” and says they’re especially useful. Take that, mom.

Scrubbing data

According to Shift, since the first-person footage will be used to train up the next Rosie Jetson, it’s more than valuable enough to cover the cost of the cleaners, for a limited time. Shift also promises to blur out sensitive details to ensure customer privacy.

Shift work: The promotion all ties into the app’s primary function: paying people to wear cameras while they perform a range of everyday tasks. Ars Technica reported that Shift US General Manager Harry Kilberg said the platform has paid tens of thousands of people in 15 countries to record daily work and chores.

AI training isn’t new. Companies like Mercor and Handshake are already worth billions of dollars, but they’ve typically been geared more toward white-collar work. Shift, and other companies like Encord, Micro1, and DoorDash, are focusing on physical tasks.—BC

To whom May jobs concern: Can the US keep its job streak alive? After nearly a year of alternating between monthly job losses and gains, the labor market is officially on a run, after posting growth in both March and April. Most analysts expect to see additional, but modest, gains when the May data comes out on Friday. The Federal Reserve, and new Chair Kevin Warsh, will certainly be keeping tabs, with an interest rate decision coming up later this month.

Big tech flexes at Computex: It’s all about next-gen technology at the Computex expo in Taiwan this week. This year’s theme is “AI Together,” which is practically a Bat-Signal for Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who’s just one of several major players in Taipei for the event. Computex officially runs tomorrow through Friday (Taiwan time). Nvidia is expected to announce the first Windows PCs that use its chips as the main processor (Microsoft Surface and Dell).

Final(s) destination: Fans of championship matchups and different playing surfaces have a big week ahead of them. The Vegas Golden Knights and the Carolina Hurricanes take to the ice tomorrow night for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. On Wednesday, the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs hit the hardwood for Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Then, at the French Open Roland Garros, a new queen and king of the clay court will be named on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

But wait, there’s more:

• Ulta Beauty, Dollar General, Victoria’s Secret, and Palo Alto Networks will report earnings tomorrow.
• The 79th Annual Tony Awards are on Sunday.

Mondays are bad enough, so the Brew’s own Brendan Cosgrove scoured the internet for a positive news story to help you start the week off right.

There are several ways to get famous, like starring in movies, starting a business, or making delicious cookies while being named Amos. But New Zealand soccer player Tim Payne is one of the first to get famous for not being famous.

Last week, Argentine influencer Valen Scarsini announced that he wanted to find a player participating in the upcoming World Cup that people could root for, regardless of nationality. He opted for Payne, dubbing him the “least known” player in the upcoming tournament.

In a matter of days, Payne went from less than 5,000 Instagram followers to more than 3.5 million. Let’s hope he had push notifications turned off.—BC