This week on The Leadership in Insurance Podcast, I sat down with Dr Magda Ramada, Global InsurTech Innovation Leader at Willis Towers Watson (WTW). With over 20 years’ experience at WTW, for the past 12 years she has been solely focused on innovation, especially around digital transformation, advanced analytics, blockchain, emerging risks and Insurtech.

In this episode, we discuss actionable data insights and practical applications of AI in insurance, with Magda emphasising the unique potential of generative and agentic AI to transform operating models and software development.

Key Takeaways:

🔄 The AI Evolution We've moved beyond traditional prediction models. Generative AI and transformer architectures are offering unprecedented opportunities through zero-shot learning and text generation. However, Magda was refreshingly candid about the limitations—AI agents aren't yet ready to handle complex pricing and claims independently.

👥 Change Management is Everything Magda's insight really resonated: "If you don't manage change, then change doesn't happen." Her analogy of integrating AI like onboarding new interns is brilliant—it needs training, time, and patience. Employees must learn to accept machine errors as part of the process.

🤝 Human + AI, Not Human vs AI Despite automation advances, Magda emphasised that complex judgements and human empathy will always require people in the loop. The future isn't about replacement—it's about augmentation.

🛠️ Building AI-Ready Systems The focus should be on modularisation, API integration, and robust governance frameworks. Insurance carriers need to invest in testing AI tools tailored for specific tasks like data cleaning and claims processing.

📚 The Unlearning Challenge Perhaps the most striking point: we all need to unlearn and relearn, even those approaching retirement. This isn't just about work—AI will affect every area of our lives, and it's our personal responsibility to adapt.

I found this a thought-provoking conversation that balances optimism with pragmatism about AI's role in insurance now and in the future.

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