While artificial intelligence bots remain a futuristic concept for others, major insurer AXA has three of them working alongside its human staff.
The AI bots take on what the firm described as “repetitive” admin work, affording employees time to focus on tasks that are more analytical in nature. Harry, who came to life in June 2018, assists the customer property claims team while Bert and Lenny came onboard the commercial property and liability units, respectively, at the end of last year.
“The arrival of Harry, Lenny, and Bert has been welcomed by employees and their deployment has not resulted in job losses,” stated AXA.
“The main task of the three bots is to read customer correspondence and pair it with the requisite claims records – a task that usually takes our human staff around four minutes but Harry, for instance, can carry it out in less than 42 seconds.”
Estimated to save more than 18,000 man hours annually, the bots are expected to pick up more admin tasks throughout the year as they continue to develop. Meanwhile a fourth bot, named Como, will soon be joining the workforce to help the commercial motor team.
“We are delighted to welcome Harry, Bert, and Lenny to our admin teams and are pleased that their hard work is freeing up our human workforce to tackle more interesting, analytical tasks,” said Waseem Malik, executive managing director of claims at AXA UK.
“The bots have been warmly received by their new colleagues and we are already looking at new tasks for them to take on, as well as other areas of the business where we might employ similar AI.”
