AI no 'silver bullet' – Chubb CEO

Underwriting and claims could see biggest impact, Greenberg says

AI no 'silver bullet' – Chubb CEO

Insurance News

By Jen Frost

In a recent earnings call, Chubb chairman and CEO Evan Greenberg shared how the insurance company is looking to artificial intelligence (AI) and set out that, despite “breathless rhetoric”, the emerging technology will take time to have an impact.

Chubb has been using algorithmic AI for “five or six years”, Greenberg said, and is now investigating potential benefits of large language models. However, he told analysts and investors on the July 26 Q2 2023 earnings call that he expected the technology to take time to reap any rewards.

“The generalized and large language is going to be iterative, it will be over time,” Greenberg said. “If you think about insurance and the parameterization risk, or factor, around what we do, how many lines of business, the exposures, the geographies you cross, and so by its nature it’s going to be iterative and take longer than some of the breathless rhetoric that I hear, but we’re focused on that as part of what a modern insurance company is going to look like and is looking like.”

The insurance company will look to scale its use of the technology over the next two to three years, with potential use cases expected to be seen across underwriting and claims in terms of the technology’s “ability to either replace work that is done, or make it more accurate, or work alongside underwriters”, according to the CEO.

“It’s not a silver bullet, and we’re doing this on a global basis, some regions more in marketing, some more focused on portfolio underwriting,” Greenberg said. “But yet, whatever any one is doing spreads to the other, and it’s just where we start on one and end with another.”

Greenberg has previously told analysts that he does not expect AI to replace “highest skilled knowledge workers”.

Chubb announced its Q2 results on Tuesday, reporting net income of $1.79 billion for the quarter.

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