At the upcoming InsurTech Summit on May 05, the topic of Probir Dutt’s talk is: Balancing the value of intelligent automation (IA) with unintended consequences.
Dutt (pictured) goes by the job title of automation evangelist and leads automation efforts across IAG (Insurance Australia Group). The philosophical note in the talk title could be a result of his background as not just a tech expert but also a composer and screenwriter for films.
“I did my postgraduate thesis in AI back around the time I was first signed by a record label in the UK,” he said.
“I’ve always found that creativity was the key to driving technological innovation. I’m lucky enough to be allowed to bring my whole self to work and use my creativity to drive innovation,” added Dutt.
This year’s InsurTech Summit, a leading insurtech event, will explore 2022’s most exciting emerging technology. The summit will cover hot topics, including customer experience, regtech and IA.
Fittingly for an InsurTech Summit speaker, Dutt’s IAG job involves coming up with what he calls “the crazy ideas that drive innovation and break new ground, moving an industry forward.”
He said the insurance industry hasn’t changed that much since the Great Fire of London in 1666, about the time insurance was born. This human disruptor plans to shake things up.
“Believe me, I can have a lot of crazy ideas. Some of them create new ways of working with new technologies and some are just plain crazy!” he said.
Dutt is looking forward to meeting “like-minded people” at the Summit “who are pushing the boundaries of what we might become as an industry,” he said.
As an evangelist, Dutt is charged with spreading the word about automation and process optimisation.
“Basically, selling to your colleagues that there may well be a better and/or different way of achieving the goal while improving the way the outcome is met. Hopefully every head of innovation or technology will have a bit of evangelist in them!” he said.
Perhaps appropriately for an evangelist, Dutt’s aims have a whiff of the godlike. His LinkedIn page describes his “passion to combine arts and science to drive humanity forward”.
Dutt said this combination of arts and science can drive the insurance industry forward too.
“Combining the creativity of arts and the possibilities of science can drive insurance industry transformation from the old 1666 model when a customer pays and in the event something bad happens they get some money back, to a ‘predict and prevent’ model using advanced analytics to advise the customer on reducing their risk and predicting adverse events and enabling us, in some instances, to reduce the impact,” he explained.
He said the key to this type of advanced data analytics and applied AI is creativity.
However, his talk at the Summit will also sound a warning.
“Sometimes organisations set out with a goal in mind and in achieving that other areas are impacted that were perhaps not catered for in the initial ideation,” he said. “In applied AI it happens all the time, sometimes creating funny anecdotes and sometimes creating real ethical issues,” said Dutt.
Dutt, a UK native of mixed English/Indian ancestry, has tackled tough ethical and cultural issues through his production company Rok Starr Films.
In 2013, an article in The Indian Sun, a media outlet focused on Australia’s Indian diaspora, described him as “a crusader too, against the cultural bias that exists in the world of the Australian film and television industry.”
“I am trying to bridge Australia and India culturally, so I want to use Indian actors in lead roles. Local cinema audiences are still more comfortable seeing the stereotypical looking lead actors so it’s a harder sell,” he said.
Dutt joins other speakers at the Summit including Matt Paterson, nib’s group chief operations officer. Paterson is a speaker on the panel, Engaging customers in a digital environment.
Louise Portelli, founder and principal at Melita Consulting, is chairperson at the upcoming event and will be giving the opening speech. Portelli is a former Big Four partner and lectures at the University of Sydney in Change & Transformation, Leadership and Strategy.
The 2022 InsurTech Summit Australia will take place at the Amora Hotel Jamison Sydney on May 05. This one-day event will unite Australia’s top insurance companies for a day of networking opportunities, panel discussions, case studies and presentations on strategies to remain innovative and equipped for the future of insurance. You can register here.
