AI for insurance brokers and advisers: explain, don’t advise

How can insurance brokers and financial advisers use AI?

Insurance brokers and financial advisers can use an AI employee to explain their products and process in plain words, from their own guides. It answers at any hour, asks a few first questions and passes every enquiry to an adviser. It never recommends a product or quotes a personal premium: that stays with the advisers.

Take Fairmead Brokers, a fictional broker with four advisers. At renewal time, its phones ring all day with the same questions about cover, fees and paperwork. Its AI employee answers those on the website and takes messages on busy lines, so advisers spend their time on advice.

• It explains what your products cover, how they work and what you charge.
• It asks your first questions, such as what kind of cover and by when.
• It never recommends a product or says whether a claim is covered.
• It doesn’t look up policies, claims or applications.
• Every conversation is saved, so you can check what it said.

Where is the line between explaining and advising?

Explaining means giving facts that are true for everyone. Advising means telling one person what suits them. Your AI employee should only ever do the first.

Regulators draw the line in similar places. In the UK, the FCA links advice to whether a product suits a person’s own needs and circumstances. In the US, FINRA tells its member firms they are responsible for their communications, whether a person or AI wrote them.

So test the line with real questions before launch. Here is how your AI employee should sort them:

• “What does your landlord cover include?” Explain, from the policy summary.
• “What’s your broker fee, and when do I pay it?” Explain, from the fee sheet.
• “How does a fixed-rate mortgage work?” Explain, from your guide.
• “Which policy should I choose?” Pass to an adviser.
• “Should I fix for two years or five?” Pass to an adviser.
• “Am I covered for this burst pipe?” Share the claims steps, then pass to the claims team.

What should you give it, and what should you keep out?

Give it the plain-language material you already hand to clients. If a client could read it in your office, your AI employee can use it.

Keep out anything that changes daily or belongs to one client. That means rate tables, live premiums, client files and internal notes. For today’s rates, tell it to take details for an adviser.

• Product summaries: one per product, with what is and isn’t covered.
• Your fees: what you charge, when it’s paid and what it covers.
• How it works: how to apply, renew or claim, and how long each step takes.
• Document checklists, such as photo ID, payslips or the old policy.
• Claims numbers and opening hours, so urgent callers know where to go.
• A list of advice-only topics it must always pass to a person.

Which jobs can it take on first?

Start with one channel. Add the next once the answers are right.

• Website questions: a chat bubble on your product pages explains what each product covers, day and night.
• First questions: home, car or business? When is the renewal? The answers arrive with each enquiry.
• Busy lines: on Starter, it answers incoming calls on your own Twilio number. It takes messages, guided by a call prompt you write.
• Paperwork: it tells clients which documents to bring, so first meetings start well.
• Guides people can question: turn a first-time buyer guide into a presentation. People can stop it, ask questions and take a short quiz.
• Video meetings: it joins a Zoom or Teams call to walk a couple through the steps, while your adviser leads.

How do you set it up, step by step?

Give it a week: one afternoon to build, then a few days of testing with whoever signs off what your firm tells clients.

• Step 1: Hire an AI employee from the Lead qualifier template, or describe the job yourself.
• Step 2: Add your product summaries, fee sheet, process guides and document checklists.
• Step 3: Write the line into its instructions: “Explain our products from our guides only. Never recommend a product or say whether something is covered. If asked, offer an adviser.”
• Step 4: Add a lead form for name, email, phone and one question, such as the type of cover. Never ask for account or card numbers.
• Step 5: Test it with twenty real questions, including five that ask for advice. Have the person who signs off client letters read the transcripts.
• Step 6: Publish the chat bubble on your product pages. Once the answers are right, connect your phone line on Starter.
• Step 7: Put the same no-advice line in the call prompt, the instructions your phone line follows. Calls don’t use its documents.
• Step 8: Read new enquiries in Insights each morning, and fix any weak answer in the documents.

What should you watch?

Most of the risk sits in a few places. Watch these closely in the first month.

If you’re a US insurer, check whether your state has adopted the NAIC’s model bulletin on AI, from December 2023. It sets out how regulators expect insurers to govern their use of AI. This guide isn’t regulatory advice, so check with your regulatory adviser before launch.

• No advice. It explains products, and your advisers recommend.
• No decisions. It doesn’t start cover, approve a loan or decide a claim.
• No look-ups. There’s no built-in link to your policy, claims or lending systems.
• Only your figures. It quotes your broker fee, not a personal premium or today’s rate.
• Sensitive details stay out. Tell it never to ask for account numbers, card numbers or passwords.
• Be open. Say it’s an AI employee in its greeting and when it joins a call.

Questions brokers and advisers ask about AI

Try it with your own guides

Start free, add one product guide and your fee sheet, then ask it which policy you should buy. It should explain the product and offer you an adviser.