AI won’t take your insurance job. Here’s what it’ll do instead

Artificial intelligence (AI) will undoubtedly change the property and casualty insurance industry, but not in the ways you might assume. 

No, it’s not going to take your job. But it will make it easier, Sinead Bovell, futurist and founder of WAYE told attendees at the RIMS Canada Conference in Ottawa.

According to Bovell, AI can do two things for the industry: improve risk modelling and streamline administrative tasks. 

“The most important thing to recognize about AI, especially as it relates to risk management, is that it improves the value of decision-making,” Bovell said during her keynote.  

“Maybe you have a statistical regression model that allows you to evaluate a few hundred or even a few thousand data points about a company, a person, a situation,” she said. “AI systems can analyze hundreds of thousands of data points, and point out insights that humans don’t even know to look for.” 

This can help the P&C industry generate an accurate prediction of the level of risk that a client or current policyholder may present.  

Of course, there are limits to this technology. “What AI can’t do is make a judgment call,” Bovell said.  

Humans will need to step in to make the final decision on the data AI produces.  

Pairing AI’s forecast prediction abilities with human intelligence makes for well-rounded decision making on the level of risk a policy, client or business decision may hold.  

For example, if a policyholder went on vacation, but their property is located in an area experiencing an uptick in thefts, the AI could create a set of predictions for how likely the homeowner is to get robbed.

“Maybe the AI gives the [broker] a number that says there’s a 1% chance if [the owner] leaves that this house is going to be broken into, and based on that, it will raise his insurance premiums $100 each month,” Bovell said.  

The broker could proactively reach out to the homeowner and ask them to take further measures to deter break-ins. 

Insurance companies will also be able to leverage AI to accelerate tedious tasks. This will free employees to work on more thoughtful projects. 

Companies can train their AI on proprietary company data or need-to-know materials and use the output to create training materials for new hires and get them on the ground with clients quicker.  

AI can also be useful for note taking, Bovell said. “Maybe when you’ve attended a meeting your AI comes with you digitally and you’re both listening for insights.”  

Then, you can refer to your AI to compare notes and combine them to optimize your personal takeaways.

This can be a transformative tool for the workplace, especially for lower-tier or new employees, who may benefit from detailed data and notes.  

AI also can help you write that email you’ve been procrastinating on, or perhaps help distill the points you want to convey.  

“It can do things like [suggesting] ‘Before you send that petty email to your manager, maybe try rewording in this way,’” Bovell said.  

Real-time language translation is another tool AI can provide for multi-national companies, or those with international teammates.  

“Speaking different languages would [become] irrelevant, which is [helpful for] companies that want to expand their hiring pool.” Bovell said. “You may literally have a teammate that speaks a different language from you across the world, but it’s irrelevant, and you have an amazing chemistry because of these real-time devices.” 

Feature image by iStock.com/zhuweiyi49