EP 406 - Is AI a Game Changer or a Threat in Insurance? - Bernhard Kotanko and Julien Condamines

Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming one of the most influential forces inside modern enterprises, and insurance is no exception. Its potential to automate underwriting, accelerate claims, and deliver unprecedented predictive insight is immense.

While AI is starting to reshape insurance with speed and scale, it also exposes a hard paradox: the industry that prices uncertainty is hesitant to insure AI-driven uncertainty. In this episode of ATP, Bernhard Kotanko, Senior Partner at McKinsey and Asia-Pacific Insurance Practice Leader, and Julien Condamines, co-Founder & Chief Revenue Officer at Novo AI, argue that AI creates two intertwined risk fronts—enterprises deploying AI and insurers using it themselves.

Some of the topics that Bernhard and Julien discussed in detail include:

• Although insurers may be stepping back from covering AI liabilities today, the industry’s history proves it eventually develop frameworks for new and unprecedented threats.
• Insurance contracts will be forced to change as AI inserts new third parties into every process and liability becomes fragmented.
• Both reject the idea that AI should autonomously make underwriting or claims decisions. Humans should remain in the loop.
• Artificial intelligence enables massive underwriting productivity, but only with good data.
• Insurance remains an emotional business. AI may be able to process documents, detect patterns, and generate proposals, but only humans can reassure someone in crisis.