Dustin is the founder and CEO of BriteCo, an innovative insurance technology company transforming the retail jewelry insurance experience.
I’m in an omni-channel business that sits in three core markets: Insurtech, retail jewelry and the insurance industry. As a company that started by developing proprietary innovations and leveraging high-tech solutions of all kinds across every aspect of our organization, when artificial intelligence (AI) became more commercially accessible this year, we quickly brought it in to examine and experiment.
In the past, AI solutions were not nearly as accessible for most organizations. Putting the technology into practice required highly experienced teams and large budgets. Solutions that had to be built from scratch.
Today, enterprise AI is much more efficient and its language aspect has evolved significantly. Modern AI, such as ChatGPT, is more capable and practical now. However, I’ve found that it’s far from perfect and still needs a great deal of human attention to work and do what we want it to do. However, AI is clearly a revolutionary technology.
My experimentation with ChatGPT and other AI innovations at my company has already shown benefits. We now have a better understanding of what the technology currently can and can’t do, what it requires and needs and how it might evolve. Experimenting with it now can give you a greater position to take advantage and prepare for what is likely to come.
AI In Insurtech/Insurance
An anticipated future for AI in insurance shows promise with predicting AI sensors in cars, homes and other devices that determine risk and adjust insurance costs in real time. While likely about a decade away, AI in insurtech and insurance has great potential across the whole life cycle.
As insurance is extraordinarily data-driven, AI is one of the best tools to help interpret data, gain insights, spot trends and identify problems. I see it to be an ideal fit for improving risk assessment, claims, underwriting and fraud detection where understanding things like trends and themes play a critical part. AI can rapidly identify and analyze these numbers, often in a matter of seconds. For complicated products, such as commercial insurance, it may be vastly better at managing and verifying comprehensive coverage.
AI applications for customer service and marketing are also areas of promise in insurtech and insurance. My company is experimenting now with ChatGPT to support our customer service. There is a wide range of ways to apply AI beyond chatbots and use data to improve customer support, marketing, sales and more. These applications aren’t just for insurtechs or insurance providers. I encourage agents and brokers to explore and experiment with this tool as well.
AI In Retail
Like the insurance industry, retail relies heavily on data. Retailers have explored and used the innovative aspects of AI in areas like the supply chain, forecasting, point of sale and customer service for the past decade.
But today’s more commercially accessible AI technology expands this potential, especially for small and mid-sized retailers who may not have had the resources or budget to adopt AI in the past.
Like with insurance, I see customer service as among the most organic places to implement and test out AI’s capabilities. However, retailers should make sure to consider other technology applications and keep a pulse on new solutions as AI continues to evolve. For example, a retail jeweler could use AI to determine what products to sell and when, how much and at what price. You can also use AI to create templates, streamline operations, improve processes and more.
In the future, AI is expected to apply in far larger and more innovative ways in the retail business. For example, AI-enabled in-store cameras may soon be able to monitor and analyze customer behavior, assess check-out transactions and identify vulnerabilities for theft or fraud. In retail supply chains, quality control, worker safety and optimization are just a few other ways AI is holding promise. Knowing what is coming can help you prepare your procedures and infrastructure for these developments.
Next Steps
AI today represents a very broad set of technologies, with a lot of moving parts. Every single industry is trying to figure out where and how it fits, and how useful it can be.
There is more clarity every day as the technology continues to evolve. For those who want to try AI in their business, you can start small and with a relatively low cost. But I would still recommend having a plan in place first. This plan needs to include oversight, how you will train staff on the technology and the resources you’ll need to allocate.
You have to be flexible so that you can course correct if the technology doesn’t perform well. For example, if an AI customer service application provides the wrong answer or starts to head in a direction it shouldn’t be going, you want to make sure your customers are immediately connected to a live customer service person. Don’t expect it to be “set and forget.” You’ll likely spend a few months training your AI solution to meet your needs, and you’ll have to continue to monitor and fine-tune.
To stay competitive, it’s essential for companies today to adopt new technologies. Those who are early adopters will be ready and prepared to take advantage when something huge pops in a new innovation.
So I encourage you to approach new innovations with curiosity and an open mind as well as realistic expectations that every solution may not be right for you. Start small with a minimal budget and carefully gauge and evaluate risks before expanding. But overall, don’t hesitate and let your excellent AI adventure begin.
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