Insurance agents have weathered many waves of technological innovations over the past several decades. It seems like every five years, something new emerges that the industry claims will replace agents, only to be followed shortly by the realization that agents are here to stay. Why does this keep happening? Perhaps because it's 2023, and you can get an Amazon package faster than an insurance quote from most agencies. However, as an advocate for agents, I believe this is about to change for everyone's benefit with the current advancement in AI.
If you haven't been hearing about AI, I recommend this article, which breaks it down into simple terms. AI has been around for decades, but with increased venture funding and growing consumer popularity, thanks to companies like OpenAI and their ChatGPT product, more industries are exploring how AI might help them. In the insurance world, we're at a point where some think AI will replace insurance agents within the next ten years. However, I'm here to counter that notion and suggest that AI in insurance will be built for agents, with agents helping to pioneer a stronger wave of AI in the industry. Agents are on the front lines, working with customers and handling large amounts of data that AI needs to add value in the insurance space. Once the initial excitement about AI settles, I believe AI will be developed to support agents, not to disrupt them.
These tasks are ripe for AI assistance, not replacement. Imagine a world where AI aids but doesn't overtake human roles.
We interviewed our insurance agent customer base about their awareness and thoughts on AI, and many had already started leveraging existing solutions to automate daily workflows. One agent uses ChatGPT to generate follow-up emails with their customers, another tested uploading policy declaration pages to see if they could extract data from them, and we've even seen agents run data analysis on their databases through AI systems. If you’re an agent and haven’t experienced what AI can do in 2023, try asking any question in the chat box below or use the question I added of"What are the state minimum auto insurance limits in Wisconsin" to see how ChatGPT answers in a human-like way. I’ll forewarn you: even as an ex-software engineer, I was impressed. However, be aware that the information ChatGPT provides can be wildly inaccurate and should be fact-checked.
I’m writing this article because I’m building a community interested in AI in the Insurance Agency space. AI for Insurance Agents is my way of synthesizing all the new and upcoming AI advancements and how they apply to agents, whether they're helpful or not. I’d appreciate it if you subscribed to this blog and left comments when you feel compelled. Feel free to also message me on LinkedIn and let me know: is AI the next fax machine? Or is it truly revolutionary to the space?
