TechTalk: Uptick in chief artificial intelligence officers joining insurance c-suites

There has been an increase in the creation of chief artificial intelligence officer (CAIOs) positions in insurance.

Following on the heels of Christian Westermann being appointed as insurer Zurich’s group head of artificial intelligence (AI) in March 2022, the first known CAIO can be traced back to July 2023, where Darien Acosta was appointed into this specific role at New York-based insurtech CoverWhale.

In the UK, meanwhile, Insurtech 50 firm Instanda hired Andy Pardoe as interim CAIO in August 2024 and Davies appointed Paul O’Brien as its first group chief AI officer in September 2024.

According to LinkedIn’s Future of work report: AI at work – published in November 2023 – the financial services sector, including insurance, sits as one of the top three sectors with the greatest demand for AI skills and literacy across seven countries, including the UK.

The professional social media platform therefore noted that since December 2022, 13% more firms have created “head of AI” positions.

Boston-based software firm Gradient AI predicted that the global AI market will hit $80bn (£60.2bn) by 2032, while August 2023 research from technology company FIS found that 63% of insurance executives are already choosing to invest in AI.

This trajectory suggests that demand for CAIOs is on the up.

The CAIO role includes the management of a firm’s AI strategy, as well as having oversight and responsibility for AI implementation and governance within the company.

But why has there been an increase in AI specific job roles alongside existing senior technology positions, such as chief technology officer?

Initially, generative AI came to fruition during the 1960s through the use of chatbots, but it wasn’t until the birth of ChatGPT in November 2022 that a noticeable surge in this technology was seen.

Many insurance firms since then have tried to apply generative AI to their claims and underwriting processes – but with any emerging technology comes risk.

Zurich’s Westermann believes the growth of the CAIO role can be linked to the expansion of generative AI – Zurich has 15 use cases in production related to this specific technology, for example.

In addition, John Milliken, chief executive at Defaqto, explained that AI “doesn’t fit squarely in technology [roles] because data is involved”. 

He told Insurance Times: “We will start to see more CAIOs because [AI] isn’t currently somebody’s direct responsibility. It’s not an area of expertise that people have elsewhere on the board.

”Risk and compliance teams in financial services particularly don’t understand [AI].”

Evolution of the c-suite

So, how is the CAIO role working alongside established c-suite positions, such as chief technology officers (CTOs), chief information officers (CIOs) or chief innovation officers?

The CAIO is currently seen as a “subset of the CTO function”, according to Matthew Geyman, managing director at IT provider Intersys.

He explained: “There’s so many elements that the CTO should be looking at. The CAIO is going to try to walk the tightrope of potential opportunity and gigantic information security risks, whereas the CTO is looking more broadly.

”If the CTO is looking at the technology side, the CAIO is looking more at opportunity. I don’t see a great difference between them.”

Erez Barak, chief technology officer at AI driven firm Earnix – who has responsibility for the company’s AI agenda – compared the evolution of the CAIO to the prior rise of chief data officers (CDO).

Around 46% of insurance firms have a CDO, according to a study of 2,500 publicly listed firms by Strategy&, published in January 2022.

Barak noted that whether firms hire a CAIO or incorporate responsibility for AI into the CTO role would be “company dependent”. Geyman agreed, noting that CAIO positions are “so nascent” – he therefore feels that the longevity of these roles are unclear at present.

For Manjit Rana, UK executive vice-president at Clearspeed, chief innovation officer roles – which focus on developing and overseeing a firm’s innovation strategy – are becoming “gradually less prevalent” as CAIO positions increase.

He explained: “Previously, we saw chief innovation officer roles created to simply check a box without a broad mandate for true, measurable impact. Innovation and AI must permeate all levels of the organisation, rather than being limited to the executive bench.”

Rana added that as “innovation models are evolving into broader support functions, in order for AI to be utilised effectively across organisations, these teams will need to be structured in a centre of excellence support model.”

The centre of excellence is an expert group within an organisation that provides leadership, training, research and support around a specific area, such as technology.

Actioning AI

For those taking on the implementation of AI within insurance firms, there is plenty on the to-do list.

Instanda’s Pardoe wants to be a point of contact for staff that want to learn about or contribute to how AI is being used internally.

To support this ambition, he has established an internal community practice group and AI champions, as well as held discussions with external clients and partners around their AI requirements and requests.

Pardoe added: “From here, we can look to create a long-term strategy, which involves looking at the potential of AI use cases across our areas of focus, [including] productivity, user experience and integration to products.”

Westermann, meanwhile, reports to Zurich’s group chief information and digital officer, Ericson Chan. The insurer currently has 200 AI use cases in production – including a claims-related ChatGPT project.

“I could feel that Chan wanted to be closer to [AI]. And it was the importance of the topic size and demand which justified [the creation] of [my] role,” Westermann said.

Davies’ O’Brien noted that his role provides a “holistic view of activity” around AI and ensures that the specialist professional services and technology firm is ”delivering AI in a way that is aligned with a central strategy and in a cohesive way across the business”.