Sometimes I don’t need to hear the words being uttered to understand the feelings simmering beneath the surface. It can be the tone in the person’s voice or a downcast glance when the topic is broached.
“Will I still have a job after my company implements it?”
“The things they say it’ll do is half of my role.”
“It’s only a matter of time before we’re all out of work. What will I do then?”
There is a pervasive, gnawing fear surrounding the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) across all industries, not just in insurance. It seems like with each passing day, another tech company reports more layoffs “due to AI” or an amazing new feature on the digital assistant for a task a human used to do. It’s not just coming from your newsfeed.
For employees, it’s in their faces in the workplace: they hear about AI on their company’s weekly email blasts; in the break room from someone who just got back from an industry conference; or in their LinkedIn feed. The prospect of AI in the office becomes inescapable. All of this has created a daunting air of inevitability and, in many respects, helplessness.
At its core, AI is a tool, just like a screwdriver, a flashlight, or a laptop. It’s time we push past this paralysis of uncertainty and learn how to use and implement this new tool to our advantage. The first step is to recognize and then move beyond the fear. I’m not telling anyone not to be afraid or concerned for that matter, especially in this environment. Instead, I’m imploring you to be courageous which requires acknowledging fear and moving past it regardless.
Next, we need to address the general lack of knowledge and awareness on the topic. Not knowing is one thing; not knowing and refusing to ask the question is not acceptable. It is no longer justifiable for us as working professionals to be willfully ignorant of such an impactful (and disruptive) technology.
I get the fear, really, I do, because it’s well-founded. If we do nothing to learn more about this technology, we only increase the odds that we’ll be relegated to the scrape heap of obsolescence. This may not happen today or next week, but the future looms large.
You know more about AI than you may think, thanks to its role in your personal life. Smartphones, the Internet of Things, social media, the list goes on. Use this as a stepping stone to learn more about how AI will fit into your professional life.
- If you’re a claims professional, find out how your organization is looking to implement AI into everyday processes. Is it being used to analyze historical loss data to better understand claim activity and trends in different geographies across various product lines?
If yes, find the department responsible for its development and ask what the goals are for roll out, and if you could be considered a candidate for testing it on your team. If not, ask your manager why not? - If you’re in underwriting, find out how AI is being used to evaluate prospective risks. If you’re in management and your company has been silent on AI, be the one to pick up the baton and spearhead an effort to learn more so you and your company aren’t left behind.
The more you learn and understand, the better you can anticipate whether your role is an early candidate for AI or, instead, whether you have an opportunity for growth, learning, and development as a professional. I expect organizations will increasingly value those talented individuals with a working knowledge of AI, including its strategic implementation in multiple facets of an organization.
Perhaps Franklin D. Roosevelt is still right nearly a century later when he said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” It’s time that we move past the fear and get out there, for your benefit, and for the benefit of our industry as a whole.
By Matt Nickens, Partner, Coleman Search Group
