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In effect, real-time data enhances the credibility and effectiveness of inspections rather than replacing them.As vessels become increasingly connected and software-driven, how is cyber risk being incorporated into class guides and risk assessments?Cyber risk has transitioned from an IT concern to a core element of maritime safety assurance.As ships integrate greater connectivity between operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT), the potential impact of cyber incidents extends well beyond data loss to include propulsion, navigation, and cargo operations. LR has responded by embedding cyber considerations directly into class rules, notations, and unified requirements, ensuring cyber resilience is treated as a safety issue rather than an optional add-on.Modern class guidance focuses on layered defence, network segmentation, intrusion detection, and, critically, operational recovery. LR experts consistently emphasise that no system can be made entirely secure; therefore, resilience depends on the ability to detect anomalies early, isolate affected systems, and recover safely. AI-based anomaly detection is increasingly used to identify deviations in network behaviour, although human oversight remains essential.Equally important is the human dimension. Many cyber incidents exploit procedural weaknesses rather than technical flaws. As a result, cyber risk assessments increasingly consider training, awareness, and operational discipline as integral components of resilience. Cyber assurance is now understood as a socio-technical challenge, blending technology, people, and process within a single risk framework. What is currently the biggest regulatory or safety barrier to largescale autonomous and remotely operated vessels?The principal barrier is not technology maturity, but assurance and regulatory alignment.Substantial progress has been made on autonomy, and the IMO%u2019s work on the Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) Code marks a significant milestone. However, the Code is intentionally goal-based and high-level, leaving open questions around how autonomy is demonstrated to be safe, predictable, and controllable in real-world operations.Key challenges include defining Operational Design Domains, setting clear operational envelopes, and ensuring effective human oversight during abnormal situations or emergencies. Regulators and flag States need confidence not only in what autonomous systems can do, but in what they cannot do %u2014 and how they fail safely.LR%u2019s response has been to focus on evidence-based assurance. Initiatives such as the Maritime Autonomy Assurance Testbed (MAAT) bring together simulation, live trials, and structured data collection to demonstrate compliance in a way regulators can trust. Until such frameworks are widely adopted and harmonised, large-scale commercial autonomy will remain constrained despite technological readiness. How is the role of the traditional surveyor changing as classification societies move toward digitalisation?What is rapidly evolving the traditional surveyor%u2019s role is digitalisation itself.As routine inspection tasks become increasingly supported by data, remote technologies, and automation, surveyors are spending less time gathering evidence and more time interpreting, validating, and contextualising it. This includes assessing data quality, interrogating AI outputs, reviewing digital evidence from remote inspections, and making informed judgements about risk and compliance. The skillset required is therefore broadening. Digital literacy, data interpretation, and systems thinking are becoming as important as traditional engineering expertise. At the same time, the human role becomes more critical, not less. AI can highlight anomalies, but only experienced professionals can understand their operational significance, weigh competing risks, and make accountable decisions. In this sense, digitalisation reinforces the surveyor's value as a trusted authority. By focusing human expertise where it adds the most value %u2014 complex judgement, novel technologies, and system-level assurance %u2014 classification societies strengthen their role as independent guardians of safety in an increasingly digital maritime industry.Substantial progress has been made on autonomy, and the IMO%u2019s work on the Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) Code marks a significant milestone.However, the Code is intentionally goal-based and high-level, leaving open questions around how autonomy is demonstrated to be safe, predictable,and controllable in real-world operations.Smart shipping202 NX