Driving general insurance innovation through AI and big data
By Gaurav Chaudhri, Chief Technology Officer, Reliance General Insurance
The general insurance industry is undergoing a fundamental shift from being reactive and paper-driven to becoming predictive, intelligent, and hyper-personalised. At the heart of this transformation are two critical technologies: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data. Together, they are laying the foundation for a smarter, safer, and more initiative-taking future in insurance.
Ensure scalable adoption, a structured approach based on the 4 E’s Engage, Enable, Embed, and Evolve offers a strong strategic blueprint. It begins by engaging teams to foster a culture of data literacy and openness to innovation. The next step is enabling access to robust APIs, secure data platforms, and tools for experimentation. As capabilities mature, intelligence is embedded into core processes from underwriting to claims. Insurers must evolve continuously refining models, expanding data sources, and adapting to new business environments and technologies.
Today, AI and Big Data are revolutionising everything from customer onboarding to claims settlement. Underwriting, once a manual and time-consuming task, is now powered by dynamic models. These models use wide-ranging data sources demographics, transaction history, sensor inputs, and environmental factors to price premiums more precisely. One area showing strong promise is telematics, which captures real-time driving data to assess behaviour and risk. While implementation is still in progress across many insurers, its potential to create safer roads and customised motor policies is already well recognised.
Health underwriting is also benefiting from predictive analytics. By integrating electronic health records, lifestyle indicators, and claims data, insurers can forecast chronic risks more accurately and design preventive care strategies that benefit both the business and the policyholder. Meanwhile, conversational bots powered by AI are redefining customer engagement. These virtual assistants can manage everything from policy inquiries and renewals to claims updates delivering instant support at any hour. Intelligent Process Automation (IPA) adds another layer of efficiency by scanning and interpreting emails, extracting intent, and directing them to the right workflow. This not only reduces turnaround time but also frees up human agents for higher-value interactions.
Claims processing is one of the most resource-heavy areas in general insurance, but AI is making “zero-touch” claims a reality. Using image analytics, photos of vehicle or property damage are assessed in real time to determine repair costs, validate claims, or flag fraud. In many cases, entire claims especially low-risk or low-value ones can now be settled within minutes without manual intervention. AI-driven fraud detection models have become essential as fraud patterns grow more sophisticated. These systems analyse behavioural anomalies, location data, and historical records to detect suspicious claims. Over time, they self-improve through machine learning, increasing accuracy and response time with every flagged incident.
The real shift, however, is from compensation to prevention. Leveraging IoT expertise, insurers are tapping into data from smart homes, offices, and vehicles. Smoke detectors, leak sensors, and motion devices feed real-time alerts that allow insurers to engage proactively warning customers before damage occurs, rather than responding after the fact. Geospatial data and weather modelling further augment this initiative-taking stance. By analysing flood zones, wildfire patterns, or cyclone paths, insurers can dynamically assess exposure and take pre-emptive action, such as pausing high-risk underwriting temporarily or issuing safety alerts.
As AI and Big Data continue to evolve, so must the industry’s commitment to ethical innovation. Transparency, algorithmic fairness, and strong data governance are non-negotiable in building long-term customer trust. While technology will remain a growth catalyst, its true impact lies in its ability to serve people better.
The next generation of general insurance will be built on intelligence yes but also empathy. By combining innovative technologies like image analytics, IPA, IoT, and telematics with human insight, insurers can design systems that not only protect but also predict, prevent, and personalise. It is not just the future of insurance it is the future of protection itself.