An AI Road Map to the Future of Insurance

2018 saw unprecedented advances in the investment and deployment of artificial intelligence capabilities within the insurance industry, and 2019 promises to be no different. With the Insurance AI and Analytics USA Summit kicking off in Chicago, May 2-3, we spoke to some of our speakers to gauge their thoughts on the challenges that insurance carriers face in implementing AI. “AI is impacting insurance at an unprecedented pace,” says Bilal Parviz, vice president of product development at Arch Mortgage Insurance. Eugene Wen, Manulife VP of group advanced analytics, adds that, "With innovative new players entering the industry and the traditional players trying to catch up, the industry is going to experience further significant change.” William Dubyak, VP of analytics for product development and Innovation at USAA, says: “It’s impossible to open a magazine without seeing hype about analytics changing every aspect of your life." Although good progress has been made to date, there is a definite sense that we are only at the tip of the AI-iceberg. In the eyes of Chuck Gomez, Novarica VP of research consulting: “Each year, the topic of AI gets more interesting as emerging technology evolves and adoption rates go up, indicating that more can be accomplished with progress. While the subject of analytics has been around insurers for a while…there’s still a lot to learn about analytics centered around underwriting, claims and customer service.” See also: Future of Insurance Looks Very Different   Insurance AI and Analytics USA will address distinct applications of AI, and Thomas Sheffield, SVP, specialty claims, at QBE, who will speak on the claims track, says: “From a claims perspective, our next 10 or 20 years will be defined by how well we embrace technology, artificial intelligence and the nearly boundless opportunities that arise from those advancements.” Still, in conducting our research for the Insurance AI and Analytics USA agenda, it was striking how many carriers cited difficulties in actually embedding the technology they recognize as so integral to their future success.