Kevin Perkins, technical lead and operations manager at Carpenters Group, considers the impact of artificial intelligence on insurance fraud
The power of artificial intelligence (AI) is – at times – frightening.
When I asked a well known AI platform to produce an article about the rise of AI and its impact on insurance fraud, the end result was scarily accurate.
A simple question produced a cogent, well thought out article, with appropriate references that highlighted real issues for the insurance industry to consider.
This exercise gave me a practical example of AI in action, to see for myself how powerful a tool it is and just how easy it would be to manipulate for more sinister purposes.
Easy money?
The platform I used to create my test article produced something that, with minor amendments, I could easily pass off as my own and which would have come across as entirely credible.
What struck me was how straightforward it had been to achieve my goal and how easy it must be for would-be fraudsters to manipulate the technology to facilitate spurious and bogus claims.
Furthermore, if someone with very little IT experience – like myself – could produce such a comprehensive document, what was a skilled operative capable of?
These questions show the scale of the challenge insurers and law enforcement agencies face when looking at AI in the realm of fraud detection and prevention.
Benefits and challenges
There is no doubt about it – AI is here to stay.
In the battle against fraud, AI has a remarkable potential to successfully detect and root out suspicious activity.
Its ability to learn patterns of behaviour from vast amounts of data means that more rudimentary fraud detection techniques, such as pouring over reams of documentation and searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack, are being rendered redundant.
However, while AI clearly brings numerous benefits, it also presents new challenges – it has opened new frontiers for would-be fraudsters to manipulate in the pursuit of ill-gotten gains.
Staying ahead of this curve is likely to be a significant, but not insurmountable, hurdle for those that fight fraud on a daily basis.
