Each day we ask our readers a question at the top of the Daily Dispatch. Here are some of our favorite recent replies:
Do you think your role could be automated by advanced Artificial Intelligence? Why or why not?
Could my agency role be replaced by AI? When thinking about this technology and its capabilities in the immediate future, I don’t think it’s plausible that it could entirely replace me, nor anyone else within an agency. What it could do—and something the insurance industry could greatly benefit from—is augment many of the functions that agency support staff (such as myself) do in a given day.
For example, issuing a certificate of insurance. This is probably one of the most time-intensive, and often redundant functions within an agency. Many agencies are trying to streamline their processing departments by removing some of the burden of pumping out 100s of these documents each day by giving client’s access to their certificates via a Client Portal Service.
Portal administrators are able to set parameters for what kind of details can be placed on the certificate by an insured, freeze certificate issuance if policies have cancelled, etc. Doing this has already laid the groundwork for allowing AI to actually take over the process of issuing certificates—give the software the parameters to work within, and let it do its thing. The technology to do this already exists, someone just needs to invest the money into making a reliable program work.
AI could also be used to help claims departments lighten their work loads. An insured could email or start a chat dialogue about a claim they need to file and AI could be set-up to collect all the relevant info, submit the claim to the carrier, and notify the appropriate personnel within the agency of a claim.
I think that the benefits of AI far outweigh the negatives. In the end, insurance is still about human relationships and clients want to know that there are real people that they can count on behind the scenes. Because of this, I think that people in our industry should embrace AI as a way to cut out much of drudgery that is inherent in the back-offices of insurance professionals around the world. Doing this would free us up to do what we do best, build relationships and serve our clients.
No, my job cannot be automated at this time because my responses are all personalized and the situations vary too much. AI would have to improve tremendously for that.
I believe that there will be a time when my position as an account manager and insurance agent will become automated by AI as people become more knowledgeable about insurance and their financial needs. We are seeing the beginning of this type of transition now with the event of online quoting by individuals directly to company websites. Programs will be developed in the future for individuals, small businesses and larger complex risks to input their exposures into the insurance company’s computer system which will be programed with underwriting questions that would allow for the company’s underwriting criteria to price the risk according to the exposure/losses/frequency/severities of the type of risk and to meet the needs of both the insurance company and the insured.
No, the role of first-party medical adjuster has empathetic necessities that could not be emulated by AI, the transactional task could so the feasibility of a mutualistic relationship could be feasible in the future.
While AI may be able to gather information from insureds and provide coverage solutions
on the basis of an extensive knowledge base, the question really is twofold. First will
insureds be willing to accept the “robo” AI interface and second will a skilled human be
better able to to extract the required information from the insured. I believe the answer to
both of these issues is to have AI assistance to the human to pose the proper questions
and to show the insured the need for the solution. I believe that would be true for all the
jobs of insurance even when the transaction is not directly with an insured.
About Antonio Canas
Tony started in insurance in 2009 and immediately became a designation addict and shortly thereafter a proud insurance nerd. He has worked in claims, underwriting, finance and sales management, at 4 carriers, 6 cities and 5 states. Tony is passionate about insurance, technology and especially helping the insurance industry figure out how to retain and engage the younger generation of insurance professionals. Tony is a co-founder of InsNerds.com and a passionate speaker.
Tony started in insurance in 2009 and immediately became a designation addict and shortly thereafter a proud insurance nerd. He has worked in claims, underwriting, finance and sales management, at 4 carriers, 6 cities and 5 states. Tony is passionate about insurance, technology and especially helping the insurance industry figure out how to retain and engage the younger generation of insurance professionals. Tony is a co-founder of InsNerds.com and a passionate speaker.
