AI is an integral part of that second benefit in particular, and it's helping the insurance giant tap data to solve core business problems. In this interview, Huntsman offers insight into Prudential's broad initiative to transform underwriting, including how it translates digital strategy into business outcomes enabled by data science. How has the data science team participated in Prudential's digital transformation journey? Huntsman: Because underwriting is such a big part of our business, it was the first place the company looked at digitizing processes. Historically, between the life insurance application, medical exams, and statements from the customer's doctor, the underwriting process could be lengthy and painful.

MetLife processes over 260,000 life insurance applications a year. Underwriting of these applications is labor intensive. Automation is difficult because the applications include many free-form text fields. MetLife's intelligent text analyzer (MITA) uses the information-extraction technique of natural language processing to structure the extensive textual fields on a life insurance application. Knowledge engineering, with the help of underwriters as domain experts, was performed to elicit significant concepts for both medical and occupational textual fields.

MetLife processes over 260,000 life insurance applications a year. Underwriting of these applications is labor intensive. Automation is difficult because the applications include many free-form text fields. The application contains questions that can be answered by structured data fields (yes-no or pick lists) as well as questions that require free-form textual answers. Currently, MetLife's Individual Business Personal Insurance unit employs over 120 underwriters and processes in excess of 260,000 life insurance applications a year.

MetLife processes over 260,000 life insurance applications a year. MetLife's intelligent text analyzer (MITA) uses the information-extraction technique of natural language processing to structure the extensive textual fields on a life insurance application. MITA is currently processing 20,000 life insurance applications a month. Eighty-nine percent of the textual fields processed by MITA exceed the established confidence-level threshold and are potentially available for further analysis by domain-specific analyzers.