InsurTalk: State of generative AI with Danilo Raponi, Group Head of Innovation and Emanuele Colonnella, Innovation Activation Manager at Generali
When we asked ChatGPT to write me an intro for this interview it suggested the following: “Over the past few years, generative AI has emerged as a powerful tool for businesses to automate various tasks and gain a competitive edge. In the insurance industry, generative AI is being used to streamline operations, reduce costs, and enhance customer experience. From underwriting to claims processing, generative AI is transforming the insurance landscape.”
It is indeed a fine example of self-promotion, but does it truly reflect reality?
My guests are Danilo Raponi, Group Head of Innovation and Emanuele Colonnella, Innovation Activation Manager at Generali and we are discussing the state of generative AI in Insurance, but not only.
Ewa Banaś: IT Insights InsurTalk interviews with insurance leaders about what matters to the industry. Hi, I’m Ewa Banaś, and I’d like to welcome you to another episode… today we’re recording here at Wallace Brothers at the very heart of the City of London.
When I asked ChatGPT how it would generate the introduction to this talk, this is what it gave me: “Over the past few years, generative AI has emerged as a powerful tool for businesses to automate tasks and gain a competitive edge… from underwriting to claims processing, generative AI is transforming the insurance landscape.”
Well, it is a fine piece of self-promotion, but does it really reflect the situation and where we actually are today? My guests are Danilo Raponi, Group Chief of Innovation at Generali, as well as Emanuele Colonnella, Innovation Activation Manager, also at Generali.
Great to have you here, gentlemen. Before we move on to the AI agenda, I heard that both of you had a common stage in your career path connected to pizza. Could you share your story and how you landed in the insurance industry?
Danilo Raponi: My pizza experience is a bit unusual; it goes back to when I was 18 and spent a few months in the US working summer jobs. I went to an Italian pizzeria asking for work, and the guy said, “I’m looking for a new pizza maker.”
When I told him I’d never made a pizza in my life, he replied, “It doesn’t matter, you’re Italian, come on!” He taught me how to make pizza, and I worked there for a while; I never worked as a pizza maker in Italy, only in the USA.
Emanuele Colonnella: I’ve been doing all sorts of jobs during my studies to support myself, including being a pizza maker and a professional photographer. I had my own startup in interaction design, had an existential crisis, and ended up in insurance.
Most of my career has been at the intersection of business and technology, and I eventually started on the innovation side to push the boundaries of what is possible.
Ewa Banaś: It is important to be a visionary in your job. Danilo, how did you end up in insurance?
Danilo Raponi: Also accidentally. I was studying at the University of Cambridge for my PhD in History – nothing to do with insurance. I saw colleagues who were studying philosophy or Byzantine studies ending up in finance, so I decided to give it a go. A friend’s brother suggested reinsurance was a great place to be. I started at Swiss Re, moved to Munich Re, did some consulting, and transitioned from traditional business development to innovation-based roles, eventually ending up at Generali in 2020.
Ewa Banaś: Emanuele, how do you structure yourself to stay on top of the game and take advantage of big tech?
Emanuele Colonnella: Generali is a decentralized company with many business units spread across different regions. You need to strike a balance between running operations and dedicated exploration; theory says 10% to 20% of your time should be dedicated to exploration.
Innovators go out into the world, find “little gems,” and bring them back to the organization. We’ve built an “innovation machine” or platform with tools, training, and methodologies to help the organization be bolder.
We also provide funding for great ideas and take on higher-stakes exploration ourselves before bringing those learnings back to the company.
Ewa Banaś: Danilo, many people are scared that AI will replace humans at their jobs. I heard a statement that it is not AI that will replace people, but those who use AI will replace those who don’t.
How does Generali approach reskilling?
Danilo Raponi: Humans are generally intelligent and creative, and they will always outsmart machines. Every technological improvement, like the Industrial Revolution, brings fear of job loss, but humans find ways to complement the technology.
We want to leverage AI to allow humans to work on things that actually use the intelligence and creativity machines don’t have. Insurance is a conservative industry, so we provide training to instill a culture of risk-taking and experimentation in a safe environment.
We are active in bringing generative AI into the company to let people experiment without fear.
Ewa Banaś: How do you foresee AI capabilities in the coming years?
Danilo Raponi: Quantitative data management is already becoming a commodity. The real excitement is in the language and creative capabilities of generative AI. These machines will get better at emulating human behaviors and solving complex problems by breaking them down into small chunks.
We are aiming for General AI – something that can do everything. The trajectory feels exponential now.
Ewa Banaś: Recently, a petition was signed stating that powerful AI should only be developed once we are confident the effects are positive. Italy also temporarily banned ChatGPT. What is your take on this approach?
Danilo Raponi: There is a consensus that powerful models should be better tested for biases before being available to the public. Because they rely on historical human production, they can sometimes be racist or biased.
There’s also “machine aggressiveness” that could have been corrected. The Italian regulator stepped in because they felt user data was being collected without consent, violating EU laws.
It’s a challenge because exponential technologies move faster than individual understanding or regulation. It’s scary because the machine is not just replacing arms, but potentially brains and creativity.
Ewa Banaś: Is the data provided by these AI models safe and reliable?
Emanuele Colonnella: There is an issue where answers might not be correct. These models are optimized for language that sounds like a human being, not for giving the right answer. Regarding data used to train models, it’s a massive unanswered question.
Regulations like GDPR were created before this technology existed. We need to discuss how data is transformed and whether it is truly anonymous. There are also copyright issues – just because data is publicly available doesn’t mean you have the right to use it to train models.
Ewa Banaś: Gentlemen, thank you for your insights. Thank you to our audience for listening to another episode of IT Insights InsurTalk.