Why insurance companies are betting big on AI-powered chatbots

The appeal of artificial intelligence across many industries is impossible to deny. But it may come as a surprise to hear that the insurance industry -- typically perceived by outsiders to be one of the more decidedly unsexy industries today -- outspends 12 other major industries when it comes to investing in AI. According to the Global Trends Study 2017, insurance invests an average of $124 million per company in this alluring technology. That's $54 million more than the average across all industries surveyed. Global insurance giant QBE, for one, invested earlier this year in a machine learning company called HyperScience -- and that's not even the first AI investment it's made.