The democratization of the use of artificial intelligence is an open debate that has been covering the technological world for years in a fog that is becoming more and more dense. With the appearance in 2022 of the operator Chat GPT, which has already positioned itself as the most downloaded platform in the world, Generative Artificial Intelligence is in the eye of the hurricane and insurers are already beginning to analyze the risks and opportunities of these new systems. technological.
This is one of the challenges facing the sector and which was analyzed at ITC Europe Dia, the largest European event for ‘insurtech’ (the sector that converges insurance companies and new technologies), in a conference that invited reflection on the role of user protection against technological disruptions and the future of the sector.
In a report presented by Mapfre on ‘Responsible Artificial Intelligence’ (RAI), the insurance company identifies the different impacts that Artificial Intelligence is causing in the market. “This is a new topic and there is a lot of noise around it, but it is necessary to work together to advance its discovery,” said Bárbara Fernández, head of disruptive innovation at Mapfre Open Innovation, noting that, according to the report, it is expected that the Generative AI will be $121 million in size by 2027.
The report also distinguishes three types of risks to which AI is exposed: operational, ethical and regulatory, challenges that are proposed to be addressed through legislation that encompasses the integration of responsibility in methodologies and operation through tools that help identify errors in current models. In addition, Fernández stressed the need to start creating AI-automated systems that do not require human intervention, but warning that companies must have “a strong responsibility” to use this technology in a safe, sustainable and user-focused way.
In the panel made up of Bárbara Fernández, Luis Aranda (OECD) and Adriano Koshiyama (Holístic AI), the specialists predicted that the future of the sector seems to focus its efforts on newly created companies, which are already beginning to apply some technological innovation systems . “It is much more likely that the disruption will come from the startup side, because it is faster, more agile and does not have all the legacy that large companies have behind it,” says Carlos Cendra, manager of startup relations at Mapfre.
And it is that, in fact, Spain has financed more than 40 ‘insurtech’ startups and has invested more than 156 million dollars since 2020.
Mapfre’s Director of Transformation, Mónica García, also shared some thoughts on the role of disruption in the insurance sector. “None of this has killed or replaced the sector as we know it,” she stated, pointing out some functional elements in which this type of technology works: first level, lowering prices and differentiating itself; second, increasing financial profitability and exploring new business models; and finally, the one that “is being carried out as we speak”, promoting sustainable growth and fostering social transformation.
García ended by concluding that “we must place disruptive innovation as a central purpose” and added that it is necessary to “accept risks as the new normal”. For this, learning and prudence must be the two great allies of this stage, which will maintain the focus on the confluence of initiatives related to technology, but also with the use that is given to these technologies.
So, what is the current situation and the future that specialists predict for the ‘insurtech’ sector? According to the report presented on the last day of the event by Dealroom.co, Mundi Ventures, Mapfre, NN Group and Geraldi, the first half of 2023 has already closed with an investment in technology applied to insurance of 2,400 million dollars, a 45 % below your investment in this same period a year ago.
These figures place it below other sectors, such as health or fintech, despite representing a massive opportunity of 7 trillion euros, well above other sectors such as mobility. Even so, as Bárbara Fernandez predicts, although “the insurance area continues to lack financing”, it has just begun to gain a place in the market and “that places it only at the beginning of the curve”.
