Richard Susskind tells CII conference delegates: Build the AI systems that will replace old ways of working

In his keynote address at the CII’s Shaping the Future of Insurance conference, Richard said that in the short term, the main impact of AI on professional work will be in automation, but as we move into the next decade, it will be less about AI for professional providers, and more about individual citizens and organisations being empowered by AI:

“Strangely enough, I think for professionals, our biggest competitors in the future are not competitor businesses, but our current clients who are empowered with AI. This is deeply challenging, but it also throws up great new opportunities. I think the market will show no loyalty to our traditional ways of working.”

He went on to ask the audience: “Do you compete with these emerging systems, or do you begin to build them? … Someone has to build these systems, and I think that's the future of your industry … How could you use AI to give your clients the outcomes they want, but in a way that's less painful, less costly, less intrusive, more convenient. That's the challenge, and that's the challenge of genuine innovation.”

Over 400 delegates attended the professional body’s annual conference in London, where chief executive, Matthew Hill, gave a welcome address on the conference’s theme of Innovation and Impact. In his remarks, he encouraged the audience to embrace technology, ‘not as a threat, but as a tool’: “The future of insurance is not something that will happen to us, it's something we will shape together. Innovation is inevitable. Impact is our choice … Let's invest in our people, not just our platforms. Let's lead with integrity, not just intelligence, because in the end, the true measure of our success will not be how fast we adopt AI, but how wisely and profitably we use it”.

The CII Shaping the Future of Insurance conference will be available on demand from November 7. Sign up via this link.