The Future of Insurance Automation: An Augmented Human Workforce

Thanks to recent advancements in large language models (LLMs), an augmented human workforce is within reach. LLM agents are paving the way for the future of insurance automation. Insurance companies, employees, and customers all stand to reap the benefits.

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The Large Language Model Breakthrough

OpenAI released ChatGPT in November 2022. According to MIT Technology Review, the app achieved mainstream popularity almost overnight, reaching 100 million users by January. Although the technology behind LLMs had been in development for decades, the sudden popularity of ChatGPT catapulted advancements in the field. In a short time, Microsoft signed a deal to incorporate OpenAI’s tech into its search engine and Google fast-tracked its own LLM.

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The implications for business are revolutionary. According to Deloitte, LLMs (defined as artificial intelligence models that can understand, process, and generate humanlike natural language) have the potential to improve internal business processes and support employees with their daily tasks. For example, LLMs are adept at summarizing documents, drafting responses, and generating meeting agendas. Employees can leverage these applications to automate repetitive tasks. LLMs can also retrieve information, support decision-making by providing insights, and improve data consistency.  

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Businesses in a wide range of industries have taken note. According to Gizmodo, early adopters of ChatGPT include Duolingo, Slack, and Coca-Cola. 

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LLM Agents Will Transform Insurance Processes

LLM agents can support insurance professionals by automating tasks that would be time consuming for humans. Imagine you have a long document and need to pull specific items from it quickly and then write an email summarizing the information. You can simply send the document to your AI assistant and ask for a summary, calling out any specific details that should be highlighted. Then, you can ask the LLM to draft your summary email. For insurance professionals who deal with large amounts of paperwork, this is nothing short of miraculous. 

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Policyholders can engage with customer-facing LLM agents to get information about their policies or to provide a First Notice of Loss (FNOL). This could tremendously improve the policyholder experience by supporting a faster processes, increasing policyholder education, and even eliminating language barriers. With these tools, customers can ask questions or report claims in their own language and receive responses at any time – day or night. 

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Overcoming the Limitations of LLM Agents

Although LLM agents have impressive capabilities, they also have limitations.
For example, LLM agents:

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• Only know the information they’ve been trained to know. 

• Occasionally “hallucinate” (make up information).

• Are prone to biased outputs.

• May pose data security risks.

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Insurance leaders may be worried about these limitations – and understandably so. For example, if an LLM agent hallucinates facts that an insurer then uses in underwriting, inaccurate pricing may result. Plus, biases in LLMs can transfer to claims and underwriting decisions. Lastly, data breaches are a serious risk for an industry that uses so much sensitive information.

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However, these limitations are not insurmountable. By choosing a secure AI system that is trained on quality data and connected to core systems, insurers can leverage the many advantages of AI.  

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Many Insurers Are Already Onboard

For some insurers, the future of insurance automation is already here. According to Insurance Business, insurance companies are starting to use ChatGPT and explore its applications. Zurich is experimenting with how it can help with things like modeling, claims, and data mining, whereas Helvetia is using its customer service applications. 

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In 2020, McKinsey & Company looked at insurance companies in the U.S. and Europe and found that 10% to 55% of insurance functions could be automated over the next decade. Given the advancements that have occurred in the years since, it looks like this prediction may be playing out. 

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Embracing the Future of Insurance Automation

The insurance industry is particularly well suited to AI-enabled automation due to its focus on data. As insurance companies seek new ways to lower operating costs, improve underwriting profitability, and support superior policyholder engagement, LLM agents represent an incredible opportunity. Some insurers are already embracing insurance automation; those that don’t may be left in the dust.

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Are you ready to embrace the future of insurance automation? Liberate offers the AI-driven insurance automations you need to deliver superior policyholder experiences and efficient internal workflows at a lower operating cost. Learn more. 

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