What AI tools are insurance agents using?

September 8, 2024 3:31 PM

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Insurance agents are using artificial intelligence, but what tools specifically?

Lisa Gobber, Nationwide's P&C director of sales, spoke with Digital Insurance about how insurance agents are interacting with various AI technologies. Independent insurance agents appear ready to deploy artificial intelligence, according to a Nationwide survey.

"They're thinking about which of their carriers are investing in not only the technology but the knowledge management and training support. They naturally look to places like the vendor that they use for their agency management system or their customer relationship management system," Gobber said. "They're looking for something cohesive or complementary from a training pathway and an adoption perspective."

Digital Insurance reached out via email to insurance agents and agencies to figure out what AI tools they're using. The written responses have been lightly edited for clarity.

Vonda Copeland

Operations VP in a family/community-based agency in Kansas

DI: Are you using AI tools in your work as an insurance agent and if so, what tools?

VC: I was an early adopter of ChatGPT, as well as developing an internal staff AI bot. We use an AI tool for quoting, and were also an early adopter with the software. It is amazing how fast it is changing and how much better it is getting.

DI: Have you experienced challenges using AI in your work?

VC: So many! Early models were very clunky, and also tended to have inaccurate outcomes. They were also many times a lot harder to use than anticipated. Now, many of the systems we already use are starting to get AI components added, and it is easier to implement some of these because they are already integrated.

Early on, there were many hiccups and inaccuracies. We are still fighting some inaccuracies or "things that just don't seem to fit" today, but the systems get better every day.

DI: Have you noticed a difference in your day-to-day work since using AI tools?

VC: It depends on what tools I am using, but definitely ChatGPT has had a big impact on what I do daily and how. It is one of the first windows I open to start my day. Other processes are gradually starting to build AI into existing systems, which I think will be the real beauty, giving access to everyone, not just the brave.

DI: Anything else you would like to tell me?

VC: I think AI needs to be used with an ounce of caution. Not every AI system is worth exploring or taking the time to figure out. Early adaptations could be pretty time consuming, and use more advanced technical skills than might be immediately noted. It can be inaccurate, or misread the room, and you will have to deal with fall out of a mismatch in marketing, or whatever you are using the technology for. At the same time, it is evolving quickly, and starting to be part of our daily lives whether you are looking for it or not.

R. Dean Giem

President of Paradox Insurance Agency and Trusted Choice independent agent

DI: Are you using AI tools in your work as an insurance agent, and if so, what tools?

DG: Yes, we utilize a range of AI tools in our operations. These include simple tools like Grammarly for enhanced communication and ChatGPT for generating insightful content. We also employ more advanced systems, such as GAIL by Lula and products by Client Circle, which help us manage client interactions and streamline our processes.

DI: Have you experienced challenges using AI in your work?

DG: Absolutely. Integrating AI into our workflow has its challenges. One major hurdle is learning how to generate relevant prompts effectively. Additionally, figuring out how to leverage the information generated by these tools to capitalize on it can be complex. The Trusted Choice AI Marketing Toolkit has really been a helpful tool to mitigate these challenges.

Overall, the AI tools we have been using are relatively accurate and reliable, depending on the function. Of course, there are creatives like ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.. that may go off-path depending on the task. They have significantly improved our efficiency and the quality of our work. However, we constantly review the process to find any hallucinations or inaccurate and questionable information.

DI: Have you noticed a difference in your day-to-day work since using AI tools?

DG: Yes, there's been a noticeable improvement in our day-to-day operations. AI tools have helped us streamline repetitive tasks, enhance communication and provide more personalized service to our clients. This has allowed us to focus more on strategic activities and client engagement.

I believe AI can be helpful in almost any capacity in the future if we use it as a tool and not as a replacement for human judgment.

DI: Anything else you would like to tell me?

DG: AI has been around for a while and recently became mainstream by driving the cost of use down in the Large Language Models. This has allowed individuals and small businesses to begin accessing this technology in a more economical manner. As a result, it is not going away, and it will only get better from here. The technology is already moving so rapidly that I would much rather be working with it and learning more about the effective ways of use now than two years down the road and behind the curve chasing my peers or the market.

Rod Mayhill

President of Firefly, an agency network

Our agency is fairly tech-driven but we are also being cautious about many of the new capabilities of AI. Much of what we hear is about what it may do in the future.

So, right now it is used in a limited capacity to help us create marketing images and some ad copy. It hasn't fundamentally changed our agency yet…but we love the potential near-term applications for it.