Almost half of insurance workers not comfortable using AI for high risk activities

Nearly half of insurance workers are not comfortable using artificial intelligence (AI) for “higher risk activities”.

That was according to payroll and human resources software firm Zellis, which said that 41% of staff were less comfortable in using it to inform underwriting decisions, while 38% felt the same way when it came to customer queries.

It also revealed one in 10 employees across the insurance and baking industries were very negative about the growth of AI, while 22% felt the adoption of AI will create difficulties and challenges.

And nearly a quarter (23%) were not confident they had the necessary skills to work with new technologies.  

For the study, a total of 500 financial services employees in insurance and banking across the UK and Ireland were surveyed.

“By leveraging critical insights to better understand employees’ needs, wants and concerns, financial services providers will be much better positioned to tackle issues of employee motivation and confidence – and crucially, build technology skills where they are most needed,” Rebecca Mullins, director of HCM Solutions at Zellis, said. 

Confidence?

However, the firm’s findings also noted that most employees were set to embrace new technologies as adoption increases across the banking and insurance industries. 

More than half (56%) felt confident they had the necessary skills to work with more AI tools, while 62% said that learning to use new technologies was increasing their motivation at work.

In turn, the research noted that information sharing had been accelerated by AI, which could allow more insurers to move to a “predict and prevent” model.

This means that insurers can see the potential for a claim and take preventative action, as well as offer support.

”AI is creating opportunities for banks and building societies to enhance customer experiences through personalisation, while insurance companies are leveraging AI to gather and assess data more quickly for use in decision making and underwriting,” Mullins said.