How Japan's Tokio Marine uses AI to process insurance claims in 'minutes'

Until yesterday, most of Japan was under a state of emergency as the country dealt with the effects of the coronavirus on its aging population. Among the measures involved was a severe restriction on movement, which although not as strict as many of its neighbors, meant that performing tasks – such as meeting up with one's insurance adjustors to process policy claims – would not have been possible. It was around this time that Japanese insurer Tokio Marine, well known around Asia for handling property and other insurance products, decided to use an artificial intelligence (AI) solution to assess vehicular damage across its insurance operations – helping to speed up claims processing for its automobile policyholders. The AI tech was developed by Tractable who had been working with Tokio Marine since 2018 to improve appraisal operations which need complex visual assessments, and came up with the AI solution based on computer vision. The AI allows the insurance firm to make sense of the full extent of vehicle repair options based on the photos of car damage, and will then recommend repairs, paint, and blending processes, as well as the costs involved including labor hours.