GIRO 2025: Key Takeaways

This year's GIRO conference focused on actuarial research and developments for general insurance, with AI being prominent in most discussions. We also discussed new ways of modelling and pricing, improving the use of data across the board and the impact of climate change. There were also talks on reserving and capital modelling - increasingly important topics for actuaries.

It was definitely fuller than past years, reflecting the push from the organisers as well as the growth in the P&C industry and interest in new technology. There were over 130 expert speakers over the 3 days, so a lot of content and new things to learn.

For more details on what happened, read on.

My key takeaways from the conference:

AI is now included in every discussion, but not yet fully trusted for actuarial work

• AI has definitely moved on. In the past, AI was for the future. Today, it is treated like any other actuarial tool, and is widely used.
• However, it is not yet fully trusted. AI makes mistakes, and actuaries can't afford that, given the size of the businesses they work with.
• So what changed this year from previous years?
  • There was more talk about how AI was being used, implemented and tested. Lots of vendors are now offering AI solutions.
  • Actuaries are increasingly expected to define the controls and assumptions that make AI usable for their insurers who are highly regulated entities.
  • AI is being positioned as decision support, not decision replacement. More accuracy is needed before it can be fully trusted.
  • The insurers want pricing and reserve analytics to be updated quickly, and see AI as the solution. Despite pressure from their bosses, actuaries are not quite ready for this.
  • However, actuaries are definitely preparing for a future where AI is ubiquitous, and they know the key is the underlying data, so they are already collecting it.

Pricing is becoming more sophisticated with new technology

• The pricing techniques continue to develop as technology improves and data storage and processing costs reduce.
• Teams are bringing in more claims and external data to the process
• Automation is being used to shorten the data processing cycle, and sophisticated modelling of losses is becoming more common.
• I predict we will see significant advances in the use of data in P&C pricing (surprisingly little historic claims data is used compared to motor and home insurance pricing teams).

‍Climate risk

• The industry is moving toward stress-tested, parameter-transparent climate modelling that can be plugged directly into capital and pricing.
• One should treat climate effects as live assumptions that need monitoring.

My thoughts on GIRO

GIRO 2025 made one message loud and clear: General insurers need actuaries, and while AI is being implemented, it is not replacing them anytime soon. AI is a great tool for actuaries, and despite the dystopian views on job losses, offers enormous opportunities to actuaries to use and develop these tools.

The use of new, modern technology platforms for all kinds of insurance tasks is going to become more ubiquitous. This is because the costs for the technology continues to fall, and the sophistication they bring is critical. In addition, the data they store and produce are critical for future use in AI.

That’s exactly the space Optalitix serves, helping clients move from one-off modelling to scalable, governed actuarial workflows that turn uncertainty into better decisions, faster.

For more information as to how we can help you, please drop me an email.