Beyond Chatbots: A Gen AI Solution for L&D Underwriting

Today, life & disability carriers have access to more data from more data sources than ever, but the processing of all that data has paradoxically decreased efficiency and limited underwriting capacity. The industry has wisely turned to gen AI to help it reap the rewards of the modern data abundance while minimizing the cost.

In our view, gen-AI-powered underwriting isn’t about conversing with chatbots, it’s about collaborating with a platform that understands exactly what you need and exactly how to get it. But how should a platform like that function? What would it even look like? We started the process of answering those questions by interviewing dozens of underwriters to understand their frustrations, goals, and how other tools have failed them in the past. This input has guided our approach to design built around simplicity, context, trust, and fun. 

Simplicity

Many L&D carriers rely on automated extraction tools and/or offshore teams for their data-processing needs. These result in long multi-page reports, which are typically just ordered lists of data. Underwriters are left to rifle through these tomes to pull out relevant info. Sixfold eliminates these overly manual tasks by injecting AI throughout the underwriting process.

We use cutting-edge AI to independently build a virtual model of carriers’ unique risk appetites, so the platform can understand what constitutes negative or positive risk signals for that carrier. The platform taps a different set of purpose-built AI models to process ingested data and gracefully surface precisely what information underwriters need — and nothing else.

How does this AI wonder translate into design? We’ve leaned hard into “inconspicuously helpful.” The best AI is one that doesn’t make a show of itself, but can be depended upon to solve problems when called into action. More old-school British butler, and less Robin Williams’ genie from Aladdin. From a design perspective, that means elevating minimalism and simplicity.

Underwriters never see the AI hard at work ingesting data from disparate sources (APS files, MIB reports, labs, etc.). And they shouldn’t have to. All they want to see are easily scannable bits of appetite-aligned information in a unified dashboard experience. Leave the sausage-making to us, enjoy your hotdog.

This effortless minimalism extends to every part of the platform. On the case list page, underwriters can peruse a list of applicants with clear visual cues signifying which cases are closely aligned with underwriting criteria and which aren’t. In a previous technological era, underwriters had to invest time in scrutinizing each and every applicant with limited ability to triage, leading to reduced productivity. With Sixfold, they can focus their efforts on the biggest impact.

Context

Traditional data processing & ingestion treats all information equally. Taking a daily multivitamin is, for example, given with the same “weight” as immunosuppressants taken after an organ transplant. “Flattened” data reports, no matter how thorough, require underwriter intermediation to pick out the relevant through lines. 

We can do better in 2024.

Sixfold taps a medley of nine AI models to identify relevant data points from disparate sources and “connect the dots” between them. It’s the difference between, say, mentioning an applicant has diabetes versus summarizing how it’s being managed, e.g., “applicant was diagnosed with diabetes in 2015, but it is being adequately managed through diet and insulin.”

We haven’t merely replaced one form of summarization with an AI-powered one. We use gen AI prudently and solely in service of accelerating decision-making. Our goal is to present underwriters with as little information as possible (or, rather, just the right information) so they can focus their energies on making informed decisions. 

Concise auto-generated explanations are placed front and center, but underwriters can always dive deeper into specific information as needed (e.g., the platform may let you know that recent cholesterol readings were acceptable, but you have the option to dive into the readings from the last few labs).

‍Trust

The best underwriters are detail-oriented, and they deserve tools that meet (or better yet, exceed) their standards of thoroughness. Underwriters using Sixfold should be confident that everything has been scrutinized as thoroughly as if they did it themselves—if not more!

We accomplish this by showing our work. Transparency is baked into the Sixfold UX. We provide sourcing of all surfaced risk factors and conclusions, right down to the source and page so underwriters know precisely where a conclusion came from, and why it was arrived at.

And a little bit of fun

We want engagements with our platform to feel like working with your favorite coworker. You know the one we’re talking about right? The one that gets things done, but throws in a little light-hearted banter and joking around to improve your day just a bit.

Going through medical records isn’t what most people consider enjoyable. So we injected some moments of surprise and delight that can bring the joy back to underwriting. Our platform includes small flourishes that we hope provide a little levity.

Throughout the site, we’ve included illustrations of friendly robots collaborating with humans and empowering the humans to do more. The overriding theme of this aesthetic? Clay. Why clay? It feels deeply human, handmade with little imperfections that add character. We believe that AI can liberate humans from rote work (which is better handled by machines anyway) so they can emphasize their uniquely human qualities. The machines aren’t going to take over our jobs – they’re going to free us to bring humanity back to the work we do.

Want to see the platform in action? Watch our on-demand product demo for a live walkthrough of Sixfold’s Life & Disability offerings.