Hiscox has managed to shorten its lead underwriting process for the London Market sabotage and terrorism book from three days to just three minutes through the incorporation of Generative Artificial Intelligence.
Hiscox achieved this through its partnership with Google Cloud to roll out generative AI in lead algorithmic underwriting for sabotage terrorism. Hiscox had previously identified this line of business as an ideal candidate for implementing generative AI due to the vast amounts of manual data extraction required.
Chris Loake, (pictured), Group Chief Information Officer at Hiscox, said that the technology had allowed underwriters to access the right information far quicker, to summarise email threads to determine next actions, and to consolidate information from brokers in various formats into structured quotes. “Where successful, AI allows our underwriters to focus more of their time on sales, engaging with clients, and using the AI insight to create even better products,” Loake said.
Loake also reflected on the advantages this technology has for customers: “More accurate pricing leads to more accurate quotes, where the client has the right level of cover for their needs. However, there are risks. Insurers need to satisfy customers that their AI capabilities are being used for good and are also providing benefits to the customer.”
Hiscox has seen a 50% productivity improvement in its engineering times as a result of implementing generative AI. However, Loake stressed that Hiscox has been extremely careful about placing AI directly in interactions with customers and that the tech is only used behind human interactions to dispel concerns of bias or unintended consequences.
Further, Loake also stated how the company was constantly trying to improve the ways its employees leveraged AI: “Generative AI benefits so far have been most pronounced with business users who are more bought in to using it and to keep refining the prompts that they use. This has shown us that the adoption and training programmes are key to leveraging the technology to the fullest extent.”
Finally, Loake looked to further implementations of generative AI across the company: “There are applications all across the insurance value chain, and we have already identified potential use cases in claims, underwriting, customer service, and many back-office functions.”
Source and Quotes: Insurance Post
