Japan: Tokio Marine becomes first major insurer to use AI to analyse auto damage

The AI solution, created by the London-based Tractable, uses computer vision to look at photos of car damage, making sense of it as a human would, in near-real time. Tokio Marine will use the AI to understand the full range of repair decisions available to it, including recommended repair, paint, and blend operations, as well as the labour hours require, the Japanese insurer says in a statement. Using AI in this way can increase the speed of remotely reviewing claims from days to minutes, removing inefficiencies from the process, helping insurers and repairers to agree on repairs more quickly, getting customers back on the road faster. Tokio Marine has worked with Tractable since 2018, with the ambition of improving appraisal operations that require complex visual assessments with a solution based on computer vision. After successful trials of the AI, Tokio Marine will now use Tractable's technology at one of its claim service centres from this month, with the potential to deploy it across the country. Tokio Marine group deputy general manager Hidenori Kobayashi said: "In Japan, after an accident it can take 2-3 weeks to determine the amount that should be paid.