ChatGPT and AI adoption in insurance  April 4th 2023

Four things insurers and brokers must know about ChatGPT

As the use of ChatGPT and other AI chatbots becomes more prevalent in the business world, insurers and brokers need to stress the importance of best practices and ask their clients how they plan to adopt these technologies safely. Speaking with Insurance Business, John Farley, the managing director of cyber practice at Gallagher, said it is imperative that policyholders be mindful of the following:

Setting generative AI usage policies Focusing on data hygiene Assessing the risk of data bias Managing access to generative AI “Organizations tend to adopt new or emerging technologies to promote goods and services, but then realize the cyber risk associated with them.” To stay ahead, brokers must acclimate their policies to the changing cyber insurance landscape in 2023 as new opportunities for cyber-attacks begin to take shape with these emerging technologies.

ChatGPT and AI adoption in insurance

The upstart ChatGPT heralded an advent of conversational-AI platforms that can passably converse with humans based on a wide range of inputs. In addition to ChatGPT, which is made by the Microsoft-backed nonprofit OpenAI, other big tech companies are getting into the game with competing projects from Google (Bard) and Facebook (LLaMA).

The rise of AI to kitchen-table prominence raises a question: Are insurance companies, which have been transforming digitally for years, ready to invest further in large language models and turn their precious customer relationships over to a chatbot?

The EV Transition Is Harder Than Anyone Thinks

Clueless policymakers, skeptical consumers, greedy automakers—and the tech isn’t ready either

VOLVO CARS CEO JIM ROWAN boldly proclaims that electric vehicles will reach price parity with internal-combustion-engine (ICE) vehicles by 2025. Not likely, counter Mercedes-Benz’s chief technology officer Markus Schäfer and Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo.

The International Energy Agencypredicts that EVs will make up more than 60 percent of vehicles sold globally by 2030. But given the sheer tonnage of lithium, cobalt, and other raw materials needed for EV batteries, that figure is overly optimistic, suggests the mineral market analysis company Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, unless nearly 300 new mines and supporting refineries open by then.

EV owners should be urged to charge at night to save not only money and the power grid but “ the world,” a news headline cries out. Not so fast, exclaim researchers at Stanford University, who state that charging EVs during the day is actually cheaper, better for the grid, and healthier for the environment.

And so goes the litany of contradictory statements about the transition to EVs

VIDEO: What’s your prediction for the future of the claims industry? - Insurance Journal TV at PLRB

Kelly at Claims Journal asks unsuspecting victims (jk—industry folk) what their predictions are regarding the future of the claims industry at the 2023 PLRB Conference in Orlando, FL.

The demand for solar water heaters is rising. Are claims next?

Policyholders already have several water heater characteristics to decide between — tank vs. tankless or gas vs. electric. Now an increased number of insureds are looking to solar as another fuel option for their water heating needs, and adjusters should know what to expect when handling these claims.

Numbers on the overall value of the global solar water heater market vary; however, analyses show that the global solar water heater market is getting hotter and has an expected multibillion-dollar growth by 2027. Insurance professionals shouldn’t be in the dark about how solar water heaters work and the different perils they are susceptible to as compared to their gas and electric counterparts.

Report: Corporate jury awards in Illinois are increasing at an alarming rate

(The Center Square) – A new report shows that Illinois is a top state for so-called “thermonuclear verdicts.”

Marathon Strategies found that juries in Illinois state and federal courts issued multi-million dollar verdicts against corporations that have totaled $3.3 billion since the Great Recession of 2009.

Several factors are driving the awards up, including Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act, said Marathon Strategies CEO Phil Singer. Cook, Madison and St. Clair counties have become a magnet for asbestos and “no-injury” lawsuits. Notably, October 2022 was the first time a biometrics privacy class action lawsuit, Rogers v. BNSF Railway Co., went to trial in the state for violating BIPA, resulting in a $228 million verdict to a class of more than 45,000 truckers.

There is a growing call for Illinois lawmakers to make changes to BIPA, after the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that each time someone’s biometric data is collected constitutes a separate violation of BIPA, prompting potentially large fines and civil action. Two bills that would update BIPA remain stuck in the committee.

Singer said local advertisements for legal services in Illinois increased by 13% from 2017-2021, and the number of ads produced increased by 28%.

“There is also a variety of trial tactics that have emerged where plaintiffs’ lawyers will make arguments that are designed to appeal to the emotional part of the brain in order to try to get juries to be more open to larger and more punitive damages,” Singer told The Center Square.

RLI Safety Solutions Combines Insurance and Commercial Transport Expertise

This week, RLI Insurance Company (Peoria, Ill.) launched a new business offering to provide comprehensive safety and compliance services for small and midsized commercial transportation fleet operators. RLI Safety Solutions’ offerings are available nationwide to small and midsized commercial transportation fleet operators insured by RLI or other carriers. RLI Safety Solutions consulting services include Department of Transportation compliance reviews, customized driver training programs, compliance and safety practices evaluations, telematics and camera strategy development and other customized safety programs.

In the words of Dan Meyer, President of RLI Transportation, “Our suite of safety solutions is designed for commercial transportation companies that want to proactively increase safety, improve compliance and better manage risk.”

Jamie Wilson, Director of Loss Control at RLI Safety Solutions seeks to expand customers’ understanding of what loss control has to offer, stressing his team’s specific expertise. “All of our team members are industry professionals, and combined we have over 100 years of safety, risk and compliance experience,” he says.

Property reinsurance rate hikes reach high double-digits

Most property rates rose in low to middle double-digit percentages as casualty markets were more orderly but still vexed by concern over “nuclear verdicts,” according to a report on April 1 reinsurance renewals issued Monday by Gallagher Re, the reinsurance business of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In the U.S, loss-free non catastrophe-exposed accounts saw rate increases of 20% to 40%, while loss hit accounts were up 60% to 100%. Catastrophe-exposed, loss-free accounts were up 30% to 50%, while catastrophe-exposed loss hit accounts rose 50% to 100%.

James Vickers, chairman international, reinsurance, at Gallagher Re, told Business Insurance that April 1 renewals were more orderly than those at Jan. 1 as expectations among counterparties were not as far apart as previously.