Scouting for Growth
00:33:05 · Sabine VanderLinden, Bastiaan de Goei
[00:33:05] S1: What should they do in the next ninety days, step by step, Bastiaan? [00:33:10] S2: I personally believe hugely in personal experimentation. That's in my nature, probably also why I ended up at a technology company. But I think that at the end of the day, everyone has that inner child that likes to test things out and play to something. And in particular, when it comes to persistent agent technology like OpenAI's DOTS, the ability to test this out for yourself and see if it helps you in your daily workflow is very, very present. Dots are available in any pro license of ChatGPT and can immediately start being a benefit to you, helping you managing your calendar, helping managing your inbox. I was... For the first time this year, I got to, a zero email... Unread email inbox and zero, follow-up Slack messages, with the help of my dog. That's it. And, I think that if you're able to see this in your personal life, it becomes easier to see how this could apply to larger workflows inside of an organization. So it's earning trust step by step. If you can prove value in small steps, you earn the trust in order to prove value in larger processes. And so like as an insurance executive, what I would do is test this out for myself. Subsequently, as a professional, I should be able to see how that type of technology then applies to my claims processes, my underwriting processes, and you can start experimenting there as well. [00:34:43] S1: So let's talk to those leaders still. Is there anything you would deliberately tell them not to do?
00:34:43 · Sabine VanderLinden, Bastiaan de Goei
[00:34:43] S1: So let's talk to those leaders still. Is there anything you would deliberately tell them not to do? [00:34:48] S2: I would deliberately not do large scale, transformations that take eighteen months. It's not worth it. You can, achieve a lot, by starting small, and the cumulative effect of that over time is... Will fast... Far surpass like a large eighteen month project whereby after eighteen months your... Whatever you've used will be so far out of date already that it has not actually been worth doing in the first place. [00:35:24] S1: So I have three short questions, quick things for you to answer. So one, tell us one prediction of what needs to change within an insurance company before we are back in twelve month time here next year. [00:35:39] S2: I think that the attitude towards our regulated nature needs to change a little bit. And so I've heard a lot of people talk about that they are unable to move fast because they are regulated and industry that is of a sensitive nature. And that is true. It is a regulated and sensitive nature and you need to be careful. At the same time, OpenAI is probably the most targeted company on the planet when it comes to adversarial characters. And we have been able to design our organization in a way that is secure and still allows people to innovate with their dots. If the most targeted organization on the planet can do it, then definitely an insurance company should be able to do so too. So trust your people, allow them to experiment and let them drive you towards greater efficiencies.
00:35:39 · Bastiaan de Goei, Sabine VanderLinden
[00:35:39] S2: I think that the attitude towards our regulated nature needs to change a little bit. And so I've heard a lot of people talk about that they are unable to move fast because they are regulated and industry that is of a sensitive nature. And that is true. It is a regulated and sensitive nature and you need to be careful. At the same time, OpenAI is probably the most targeted company on the planet when it comes to adversarial characters. And we have been able to design our organization in a way that is secure and still allows people to innovate with their dots. If the most targeted organization on the planet can do it, then definitely an insurance company should be able to do so too. So trust your people, allow them to experiment and let them drive you towards greater efficiencies. [00:36:34] S1: Now I would like you to give us one belief about AI in our industry that you think is confidently absolutely wrong? I know you have already touched upon regulation, but is there anything else we need to think about?
00:36:34 · Sabine VanderLinden, Bastiaan de Goei
[00:36:34] S1: Now I would like you to give us one belief about AI in our industry that you think is confidently absolutely wrong? I know you have already touched upon regulation, but is there anything else we need to think about? [00:36:50] S2: I think that some people wrongly believe that AI takes away their ability to, you know, take decisions or their autonomy. And I think that is absolutely wrong. I I myself see it myself as a huge optimist. I see AI in the way that I engage with agents and I'm able to use the absolute latest of technology available. And I see it actually only as expanding my capacity, my capability, even my creativity. Because frequently I use my thought as a way to iterate on ideas very, very, very rapidly and test out multiple versions of like an idea or concept. And so I think that it has given me more autonomy than ever to build and generate new ideas, manifest dreams into reality. So yeah, the idea that AI takes away autonomy, it feels wrong to me. [00:37:51] S1: And so my last question for you is, is there one sentence you would like to give the chief underwriting officer, a chief claim officer going, you know, to the next board meeting? What do you think they should write down if they want to achieve success in their next conversation?
00:37:51 · Sabine VanderLinden, Bastiaan de Goei
[00:37:51] S1: And so my last question for you is, is there one sentence you would like to give the chief underwriting officer, a chief claim officer going, you know, to the next board meeting? What do you think they should write down if they want to achieve success in their next conversation? [00:38:07] S2: Believe in your people. I think that is the one thing that I would encourage. Insurance companies have unbelievable professionals working in their businesses. People with decades of experience in claims adjusting, in underwriting, in managing large portfolios of risk. Your best people will be expanded and have more capacity with AI technology. And so I've seen people of 70 years old that I've worked closely with in order to get them fully equipped with codecs and all of that. And they were... It's because the technology is all via natural language prompts. They were able to start using it for their particular workflows and actually use it in ways that I had not even figured or thought of. And I think that that's wonderful. And so empowering folks, that is that is what it is. Like the, the core idea and the mission, is really rooted in like... The core mission of OpenAI is to act to the benefit of humanity. I would actually even expand on that, and that is that it empowers people to do their best work. And that's what I'd love to end on. Are you technical? I'm an economist, so not technical by training, but I have had a lifelong fascination with technology and I like to tinker. That is more my nature, but I'm not a trained engineer.
00:38:07 · Bastiaan de Goei, Sabine VanderLinden
[00:38:07] S2: Believe in your people. I think that is the one thing that I would encourage. Insurance companies have unbelievable professionals working in their businesses. People with decades of experience in claims adjusting, in underwriting, in managing large portfolios of risk. Your best people will be expanded and have more capacity with AI technology. And so I've seen people of 70 years old that I've worked closely with in order to get them fully equipped with codecs and all of that. And they were... It's because the technology is all via natural language prompts. They were able to start using it for their particular workflows and actually use it in ways that I had not even figured or thought of. And I think that that's wonderful. And so empowering folks, that is that is what it is. Like the, the core idea and the mission, is really rooted in like... The core mission of OpenAI is to act to the benefit of humanity. I would actually even expand on that, and that is that it empowers people to do their best work. And that's what I'd love to end on. Are you technical? I'm an economist, so not technical by training, but I have had a lifelong fascination with technology and I like to tinker. That is more my nature, but I'm not a trained engineer. [00:39:33] S1: So do you think technical skill will be still be relevant in the future or what is the role of the technical person just based on your last example?