Human + Machine: The Future role of the Insurance Professional
The insurance industry is changing at an unforeseen pace. You can apply any cliché you want but AI, including Generative AI (GenAI) and Agentic AI, are here and they are having a profound impact on the industry.
Recent Celent reports reinforce our view of the impact of AI on insurance:
AI Culture and Staffing in Insurers
The Dawn of Agentic AI: Insurance Edition - Part 2
Shedding Light on Agentic AI in Insurance
3rd Annual GenAI-oneers in P&C Insurance
3rd Annual GenAI-oneers in Life Insurance
Generative AI Waves in Insurance
Navigating the Future: Preparing for Responsible AI
And that’s just in 2025 for our insurance practice. There are numerous Model Insurer and Model Bank reports. There are reports on vendors. There are reports from all our practices. You get the idea. AI is here and it is important. But we can’t forget that other amazing innovation that drives every insurer in the world.
People.
The first report in that list covers this topic through surveys of insurers. I blogged on the topic and the report recently. This blog dives a little deeper into the topic. As a person that has run large insurer call centers and back-offices, it is simple to see where savings can be made. And when the word savings gets thrown around, do you know what other resource is impacted?
People.
Right now, many of those people in your company are nervous. But should they really be? I would argue that if your goal is simply reduction in staff, you’re missing the benefit of AI. It frees the people up to use their skills, knowledge, and personality to the role. AI is their partner. And yes, I said personality. Let’s dive into why people are still important.
Empathy and Trust – many interactions with insurers are at points of crisis in the people’s lives. Whether it is an auto accident, an event with their home or, at its worse, the loss of a loved one, these events are stressful. Anyone that has interacted with an AI-bot driven telephone system understands that empathy plays no role in the technology. That’s people. Even trust is an area where a solid relationship with your customer has an impact. Let’s look at agents. Many have choices as to where to place their business. They bring their client’s business to your firm because of the relationships they have built. Many of those relationships have lasted years, if not decades. They’re not just friendly with each other over the phone, they are friends, even if they’ve never met in person. People like to work with people.
I can even give the perfect example. My colleagues just published a report that shows that some claimants are so delighted by their claims experience that they are willing to pay more to stay with their insurance carrier. That includes 25% of claimants for normal claims and 39% for cat claims. One of the things that make the biggest difference is the communication – being communicated with regularly, being given advice on what to do at the time of first notice of loss. A surprising number of claimants believe that there was fraud in their case (by other parties of course) – and those who got better communications were less likely to believe there was fraud – and more likely to be willing to pay more. Check out the report: Behind the Wheel of Trust: How Auto Claims Shape Customer Loyalty.
Complex judgment – Insurance is complicated. It isn’t always easy define an AI process. This is particularly true of an edge case, such as a complex commercial case, or a life insurance prospect with a very complex medical situation. Think of it as the nuance and awareness of context that AI cannot yet handle. Will it eventually? Maybe. I look to a self-driving car as an example. Tesla in particular has promised full self-driving for years. It cost a lot of money, and many consumers expected it to be useable by now. But edge cases are tough. Is that small object that just came into a street a soccer ball, a baby, or a dog? Maybe a tumbleweed if you’re in the southwest US. Let’s say it figures out it is a baby. What sacrifice is made? The baby or the people in the car? That’s a decision for, you guessed it, people.
Accountability – If an insurance regulator comes to your office to discuss information that your firm has promised to a customer, do you think they’ll accept that the AI hallucinated as an excuse? I’m pretty confident we all know the answer on that one. It is people that are held responsible. It is why Celent sees few insurers opening up AI to the outside world, like consumers or agents. Most are pointed inside, for example to the call center, where the people that get the information can still make judgment calls and confirm its validity.
So, what do you tell your people?
Everything that is above. You also involve them in the rollout. Position the benefits of having the mundane tasks off their plate. Get them excited, not scared. I could dive into areas where AI is going to have an impact but that’s in a wide range of our reports so I will leave that for another day. But I do want to talk about how those magical people can better prepare themselves for an AI-enabled world.
Skills for the Human + Machine Era
Insurance professionals that have a desire to learn, grow, and succeed do need to put in some effort. Here are a few suggestions:
AI and overall digital literacy – Start with learning some of the tools and how you will interact with them. There are many online tutorials, many for free, where you can learn about the technology. Try it out too. Just Google free AI tools and try ChatGPT, Claude, and more. The latest beta of software for the Amazon Echo, meaning Alexa, is a fully interactive chatbot. I know because it is running throughout our house. I did have to tell it to be more pithy. Out of the box it is really gregarious. I admit I was surprised when it agreed and indeed became more pithy.
Understand the ethics – Again there is solid reading online about the ethics of AI. It is a worthy read and an area for focus and mindful thought for everyone. This should include those developing the AI and those using it. People.
Adaptability – Are you stuck in a rut and overwhelmed by all this? You’re likely not alone. Talk to your supervisor. Ask for classes. Find other co-workers that feel the same way. Together you are stronger and can improve your literacy together. Have those tough ethics conversations over lunch. Those that make themselves adaptable will succesd at a different level.
This is a great topic, and I could go on for pages and pages. Hopefully this shorter version is food for thought. If you need more, you can always ask Alexa.
Tom Scales tscales@celent.com
