EP 08 - AI in Insurance: A Symbiosis of Mutual Growth
There has been a persistent narrative in recent years: that insurance is under threat. The idea is that technology will bypass traditional models, political pressure will destabilise established structures, and new players will replace incumbent companies.
In this Episode:
Francois Jacquemin explains how AI will reshape insurance through integration, not disruption. This episode explores the partnership between technology and insurers to close gaps and build client trust.
The reality is different. Insurance is not disappearing. It is evolving.
A Foundation That Enables Society.
Insurance is one of the most regulated and resilient sectors in the global economy. Its function is not abstract. It enables everyday life: the ability to drive without financial risk from an accident, to borrow for a home, to access healthcare without ruin, and to keep goods moving securely across borders. Even in countries with high coverage rates, there are still significant gaps in areas where protection does not extend to the real financial impact of life-changing events.
The Role of AI in Closing the Gaps.
AI offers a profound opportunity for the industry. It can make insurance more client-centric, adaptable, and responsive. It can reduce waste, such as overselling products to clients who already have them, and target solutions to the moments and needs that matter most. It can reach clients who are underinsured or not insured at all.
The potential impact of AI on insurance could be greater than in many other sectors. Insurance is built on data, probability, and the balancing of shared risk. AI strengthens all of these elements. It optimises risk assessment, accelerates service delivery, and allows for more tailored coverage without undermining the principles that make the system work.
Integration, Not Invasion.
The relationship between AI and insurance will not be defined by replacement. Large technology companies are unlikely to become insurers themselves in the near term. Instead, the future is one of integration, where AI providers, automation platforms, and other parts of the technology ecosystem embed themselves into the insurance value chain.
This integration strengthens the industry’s ability to serve clients while maintaining stability for shareholders and national economies. When an insurer fails, the consequences extend far beyond the company. Insurance is tied to social stability, and governments know it. That is why there is a long-standing symbiosis between states and insurers: governments provide the regulatory framework that ensures long-term stability, and insurers support the social safety net.
Trust at the Centre.
At its core, insurance is about trust. Clients pay into a system in the belief that, when needed, it will deliver. This is particularly visible in areas like health insurance, where the stakes are emotional as well as financial. AI can help strengthen that trust by ensuring the right coverage is in place, the correct information is available, and the client experience is seamless at the moments that matter most.
Insurance is here to stay. The challenge and the opportunity are to use AI to make it better, broader, and more trusted than it has ever been.
Timecode:
00:00 Introduction: The Resilience of the Insurance Industry
00:36 The Role of Insurance as an Enabler
01:38 Challenges and Limitations in Insurance Coverage
03:34 The Impact of Technology on Insurance
04:20 AI Revolutionizing the Insurance Sector
08:02 The Future of Insurance Companies
10:21 The Symbiotic Relationship Between State and Insurance
11:38 Conclusion: The Evolution and Growth of Insurance
Francois Links:
Apple Podcast
Transcript:
There's been a, uh, a fear in the insurance industry that it, uh, it would disappear because of new technology, because, uh, of political, uh, pressure or technological fear as I, as I mentioned, is, uh, I, I think the industry is, is there, is there, is there to stay? Is this is a, a long-term, long-term industry, highly regulated and, um, it's, it's an excellent compliment.To, to other industries. It, it, it's, it's an enabler. It's an enabler. It enables, uh, people to drive cars and, and, and not be worried that an accident could just change their life. It's the, uh, enabler that, uh, you can, uh, borrow money for a house. It's the enabler that you can, um, be not worried about your health.
The state. Social security, which is very strong in Western Europe, doesn't exist or limited somewhere else. Um, although it gives various level of, of, of certainty. But if you don't have health insurance, it's going to be difficult for you and your family financially. At some point you can, you can, health insurance provides safety for whole family in terms of being, you know, broken leg for kid or cancer or whatever happens.
It gives, it gives a safety net. It gives a safety net for big ships, transport of, uh, lots of goods around the world. So it's, is, is an enabler throughout the world. The, the, the penetration of insurance is, um, is, is, or the penetration rate of, of insurance is, is, is not, not so high. There's some segment of the industry where is very high.It would take, health in France would be 95%. Um, it doesn't provide all the benefit. If I take that one, that example, uh, you're covered for a medical bill. You're covered for hospital. Uh, if you go to the hospital, um, operation treatment Benin or very, very severe treatment, but, um, AC in, accept accepting in a LI limited number of cases.
If you are being diagnosed stage, you know, four cancer with a very, very limited, uh, life expectancy, the family is in trouble. Although your treatment for the next three, four weeks will be two months, hopefully, or maybe longer, uh, is, is covered the real impact, the financial impact on the, on the family is, is almost not covered. You know, if you need to be sleeping on the ground floor or, you know, that's plenty of of things that need to happen in, in, in a change in financial, um, or financially expensive. Element that you need to buy to change and, and accommodate your life in a very short period of time. If you don't have the cash, sometimes it's very, very difficult for the people to accommodate that and the state will not help.
Just a simple example in one of the most penetrated market in the world that highlights that insurance. Has a long way to go before being able to cover a lot of things for a lot of people globally, conclusion insurance is, is there to stay highly regulated. So it means tech companies have not attacked that market and, and integrated that market yet. Or, you know, trying to invade it as a insurance company or insurance would, would would say, um. And I don't think that it will for, for a long, long period of time, at least not in the way that, uh, Amazon will not sell insurance. Tomorrow there will be an Amazon ification of insurance. There will be an enormous impact of tech on insurance.
It started long time ago. You know, insurance are investing so much money. In, in tech directly or indirectly, um, directly means that they, they, they invest a lot in, in AI today. I mean, AI is, is, is, is a game changer for everyone. Everybody knows it, but for, for insurance is going to be definitely a revolution.Could even be more revolution in, in insurance than, than in other market because it provides the ability to be much more client centric. The ability to be much more solving problems for client than the previous solutions that we had at the beginning. Insurance was simply, I have a product. People buy it and they're told to buy it.
But nowadays, and especially they, they, it, they don't want it. Client don't want to just to be buy what they're told. They just want to buy what they want, what they think they want. So the two element there. So we need to provide flexibility as insurance company and provide a solution that helps help the client that will enjoy a, uh, or who will enjoy a, a, a smooth, uh, lifecycle, um, relationship with his insurer.
Moment of truth. Um, and, and, and, and that would also be the right one. So overselling insurance or all the selling insurance are wrong, and certainly overselling is, is definitely wrong. And, and it happens, uh, by travel insurance. Sometimes you buy with your credit card and you still buy travel insurance on the, on the website of the, of the company.That's over selling insurance, have actually no responsibility in that. But it should, it should be say to the client that it doesn't need to be to pay twice, right? So it's a waste of money and, and I believe that AI will help, uh, in, in, in this will, will provide a, a better solution for clients, will also reach clients who are not client yet, who are not enough client, uh, to cover the right.
Problem for the right, uh, span and, and or moment in, in the, in the, in their life, the, um, the speed will increase. And so, uh, the insurance will be much more dedicated to a person which is contra predictive because insurance is basically the balancing of Evan. And, uh, they're not printing money. Insurance is not printing money. They just take. A lot of money for a lot of people and will take the money from some and pay to others who have need and vice versa. In, in the, in, in, in those, in those moment. Um, but AI will definitely optimize the, the risk optimize. The service will optimize the way, uh, insurance is perceived. So it's not at in the morning or during working hours, but at any time.
So the avail availability will be, will be at any time. So. Uh, going back to the invasion of tech companies, of insurance field, it's not going to be by the servicing companies, but the tech companies themselves. All those who are producing ai, uh, I mean all those, uh, model l and m and, and, and. Or RPAs providers or all that extremely creative ecosystem in of, of, of AI will, will provide, uh, service in the value chain of insurance companies.So it's not going to be an invasion, but like area and little pieces of, uh, AI will, will be, will be part of the insurance company. So it's more like a symbiosis. Rather than, uh, a, a, a high competition, which is much better for the client and much better for the shareholders and the stability of the system because if, if an insurance company, a big insurance company, uh, is in trouble, then the whole economy of the country is in, uh, in, in, in trouble.
That leads me to where insurance company or what insurance company will be successful in the future. The, um. The, the, the legislation, the regulatory framework of insurance is an asset and a liability. Why an asset? Because it creates a long-term stability for insurers and which, which is required and, uh, a liability because it's limits the possibility of, uh, innovation. So it's something which, when you sp you, you've asked me the question about five to 10 years. It, it's, it's like five years in insurance term for big groups is tomorrow. Let's be honest. Even with AI and, and the in, in, in, maybe in five years, in, in, you know, a a SI or a GI, what matters is in insurance is the trust and states, wherever in the world, you know, the, the, the, whether the, the, the, the western, uh, world, uh, countries or any country in the world, they all are protective.
Every nation is protective by their insurance system because this is how they make the economy survive. And this is about the people. Insurance is about trust. What do you do in insurance? You just pay money to somebody you don't know and you hope that that's somebody you don't know will be there when you're in trouble and that you will get money from for it. That's trust, that's emotion. And there are element in, in insurance that are extremely emotional. That, and others that are less emotional. I mean, car insurance, of course people love their cars and so on. Some, some, some don't care. It can also be, it, it, it's, it's emotional health insurance is super emotional because when you're in trouble.
Your health is in danger, or the health of somebody you love is in danger. It's bloody emotional, and at this moment, the trust need to be fulfilled. So all the states around the world, they try to protect their insurance because the trust is super important. The trust of their population is super important. There's also a symbi, a symbi symbiosis between state and insurance companies. They rely on each other. The insurance company rely on the state for the protection, the long-term stability and the state rely on insurance companies for social stability. A state can can only work when the population is pretty happy.
If the population is not very happy. Hmm. You know, the revolutions or unrest, and we don't, the state don't like that because, you know, it creates a problem in the system. So there's a reason why they would work together. Western world Social Security are failing. Too expensive. I shouldn't say they're failing.They're not failing, you know, but they're in trouble. And the, the, the, the insurance companies support social security. They support the pension plan. Pension is too expensive. Okay, let's find a plan. Let's find a way with insurance companies where they can be there for 30, 40, 50 years and they will receive a bit of money every month so that the person is in, is in, goes into pension, and then money is being paid out from the insurance company.
You know, trust, stability, and the state is, of course, is very strong vested interest that, uh, that, that, that, that it remains so. What it means for the global insurance system is that there will be growth of insurance companies that we don't know of today, and they, they probably are already existing, but are growing and in countries with extremely, um, high population growth.Those companies will naturally grow. They will organically grow, and there will be at some point new groups that will arrive, uh, come up. Big financial group will buy insurance company, create stability, create symbiosis. We've seen, uh, in, in, in the US there's some, some mass pharmacy, pharmacy network, and, uh, insurance companies are belonging to the same group, you know, financing and producing.
That creates synergies and added value for the client because, you know, more money goes into developments of some certain drugs. Those drugs are being sold by, you know, by the same company. So the cycle is there. Of course client can be afraid that it's not controlled, but it's highly regulated environment.And on the other hand, it creates, uh, value for the client because there's a focus, the pharmaceutical company is being requested by the pharmacy network to develop a drug that fits the needs and there's enough money to develop it. So less fear of a risk for, for the pharmaceutical company. So that's the positive part.
Of course, a lot of risk and so on control need to be put in place, but. Conclusion, and that's, that's one segment of only of insurance. Conclusion, AI will dramatically change. It will allow for a much better, uh, access to data and risk management, which will allow for also a much better approach to, uh, to a client tailoring or some form of tailoring, better, adapting the solutions for the client. So penetration of insurance will be better. Clients and people will be better off, and it's something which will grow across, uh, all the countries around the world.