Artificial intelligence is expected to deliver major changes to the marine insurance sector, creating opportunities while also posing challenges, according to Rahul Khanna, Chair of IUMI’s Data and Digitalisation Forum.
Speaking at the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) annual conference in Singapore, Mr Khanna noted that the pace of change was accelerating, and that industry stakeholders should be mindful of how the changing landscape will impact their own operations.
“AI in our sector is moving extremely rapidly. Last year has seen as much meaningful improvement in AI application than we saw in the last five years combined. As an industry, we need to keep pace with this change, or we run the risk of being left behind. If we don’t get onboard with this new technology now, it might be too late. In five years’ time, our workspace is going to look very different,” Mr Khanna said.
“Basically, AI is a learning tool and it learns from us. It is essential that we train AI in the right way and in an ethical way that avoids bias — both conscious and unconscious. There is an IT revolution happening right now. We are seeing AI making significant inroads in our everyday life, making things easier, improving systems and processes, and freeing up time for us all.”
“As marine insurers, we need to keep an open mind and embrace AI into our world. However, we also need to recognise that we will be responsible for building the AI models and we must do this ethically and conscientiously.”
Fragmented and inconsistent documentation was highlighted as a continuing pain point across the maritime supply chain, with AI-driven systems now beginning to streamline how documents are created, sent, and stored.
