80% of underwriters worry AI will reshape roles

More than 70% of underwriters believe that artificial intelligence (AI) will reduce the number of underwriters in the insurance industry in the next 12 months. What is more, 82% are concerned that technology will negatively impact the scope of their role.

That is according to ‘Intelligent Insurer’s Big Underwriting Survey 2023’sponsred by Send and conducted ahead of Underwriting Innovation USA 2023, a conference that will take place in Chicago in November 2023.

The survey assessed the concerns and priorities of underwriters and revealed some startling facts. In addition to being concerned by the impact of AI, 84% respondents also noted that they are concerned about winning the war for talent – perhaps an important finding in the context of 71% also saying the insurtech bubble has definitely not burst.

Outside technology, it was clear that inflation and other economic pressures are a big concern for the underwriting community. That came top of a selection of the biggest challenges respondents selected with 38% choosing it. It was following by balancing automation with the human touch, the war for talent and building a data-driven future.

In a different question, some 92% of respondents agreed that macroeconomic trends/inflation have put increased pressure on underwriters in the past 12 months.

Andy Moss, co-founder and CEO of Send, said: “In today’s fast-changing risk landscape, commercial underwriters are under immense pressure to make the right decisions, quickly. With data coming from various sources, it needs to be shaped into a format that makes sense.

“Yet systems are brittle; workflows are slow and manual accessing and managing a smarter submission process is one of the top priorities for underwriters in 2023. The challenge of embracing new in an era of legacy technology is still proving to be tough for many.

“What if there was a better way? Imagine a world where underwriting is different: smarter, quicker, and clearer. A world where best-in-class underwriting is a given, and your teams can spend their time writing better business while artificial intelligence (AI) does the repetitive heavy lifting. This means that the rewarding work becomes a reality, and the boring work moves to the background.”

For more information on the report, visit: https://pages.services/intelligentinsurer.com/ii-events-underwriting-usa-2023-infographic-lp1-internal

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