(Yicai Global) July 11 -- Artificial intelligence-generated content will become a "new level of insurance industry infrastructure" to improve customer satisfaction and operating efficiency, according to the chief technology officer of China's first online-only insurance company.

AI has been a key factor in advancing insurance technologies, and AIGC is a significant outcome of the AI 2.0 era, which can further enhance the entire value chain of insurers, Jiang Jiyun, CTO of ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance, told Yicai Global in an exclusive interview during the 2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference held last week. The Shanghai-based firm was formed in 2013 by technology giants Ant Group, Tencent Holdings, and Ping An Insurance.

By integrating scenarios and data, AIGC can help personalize and manage risks in the insurance industry to provide more effective, smart, and user-friendly services to customers while controlling insurers' operating costs, Jiang said.

ZhongAn unveiled its first AIGC portfolio during the conference to showcase how AI can improve business in nearly 80 property and life insurance scenarios involving product design, innovation, customer service, and marketing channels.

ZhongAn's self-developed AIGC middle-office product can produce creative marketing texts based on keywords related to current festivals and social trends to save human labor while enhancing the market fit.

In addition, AI customer service is a clever way to improve customer satisfaction. "Customers did not notice they were talking to robots," Jiang said.

Limited Scenarios

AIGC could be implemented relatively easily in the insurance industry for product design and innovation, marketing, customer service, smart office, as well as research and development in the short term, per Jiang. However, applying AIGC to underwriting and claims might take longer due to the complexity of the process, the CTO added.

Still, AIGC will not completely replace human labor, per Jiang. Instead, it will help people to become managers rather than implementers, and focus their time and energy on more complex tasks.

AIGC’s generalization capability should low the threshold for financial institutions to experiment with new content, which is especially beneficial for small and medium-sized insurers, according to Jiang.

AIGC should help narrow the disparity of AI capabilities between SMEs and big insurers, thus creating opportunities for small firms to surpass their rivals, the CTO concluded.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine