"There is a responsibility to use these tools in ways that strengthen trust and do not dilute the human judgement and ethical standards that uphold our profession."
- Dr Matthew Connell - CII
The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has warned that a 'critical artificial intelligence (AI) fluency gap' could undermine responsible AI adoption across insurance and personal finance if firms move faster than their people’s ability to understand and govern the technology.
In June, the CII brought together representatives from Chartered firms, technology, academia and other professional bodies to explore and define what good AI governance should look like across insurance and personal finance sectors.
In the report summarising the discussion, Responsible AI: from policy to practice, the CII says that boards, risk functions and customer-facing professionals require practical training that goes beyond basic tool use and supports critical thinking, professional scepticism and the confidence to question automated outputs.
The report argues that the fluency gap is central to whether firms can adopt AI with professional judgement and public trust, instead of being driven by a fear of being left behind or a narrow focus on efficiency.
The report also outlines what the responsible adoption of AI looks like, highlighting the importance of behaviours such as defining the problem AI is being used to solve before selecting or deploying the technology, and ensuring any tool is appropriate for the customer, as well as for the business objective and risk involved.
In addition, the report warned against firms just relying on a 'human in the loop' as a safeguard in itself against AI, unless that human is well-informed and accountable.
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"AI has the potential to improve how insurance and personal finance firms serve customers, but only if it is adopted with purpose, transparency and professional accountability at its core," Dr Matthew Connell, director of policy and public affairs at the CII, said.
"There is a responsibility to use these tools in ways that strengthen trust and do not dilute the human judgement and ethical standards that uphold our profession."
