Human in, on or out: The new AI insurance workforce

India's insurance industry, known for its youngest workforce, stands on the brink of a transformation driven by artificial intelligence. With a median age of 18-35, the country's 600 million citizens demand personalized products and tech-friendly interfaces. This, coupled with the pervasive nature of AI, is creating a rapidly evolving sector with new challenges for insurers and their workforce.

Manu Lavanya, COO of Axis Max Life Insurance, proposes a three-zone operating model: humans in the loop, human on the loop, and humans out of the loop. The former involves humans approving decisions, the latter exceptions, and the latter underwriting. This shift is altering organizational structures and role definitions, with business and AI increasingly intertwined.

A PwC report indicates that AI-native architecture, keeping humans in the loop, could be the next advantage for insurers. Lavanya suggests that AI learnability should be a core skill for all employees, not just AI specialists. Trust, a cornerstone of the insurance sector, could be both a potential break and an opportunity to strengthen it with explainable AI decisions.