Newfront, the tech-driven insurance brokerage firm based in San Francisco joined Bloomberg Beta on Capitol Hill to provide further education on the benefits and risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Bloomberg Beta, the venture capital arm of Bloomberg media, Newfront Vice President of Engineering Lin Yuan, and seven additional industry representatives appeared before the Congressional Artificial Intelligence Caucus in late June.
“Artificial intelligence has impacted every business in unprecedented ways,” Yuan said. “The technology represents an inflection point for many industries and businesses.”
the Congressional AI Caucus seeks to inform policymakers of the technological, economic, and social impacts of the advances in AI while ensuring that rapid innovation and its benefits are available to Americans. During the hearing, Yuan presented Newfront’s AI-powered Benefits Assistant, which addresses the gap in knowledge many employees have about their company’s benefits. In a recent survey, 85% of respondents reported they do not understand the details of what their company offers.
Yuan demonstrated that the Newfront Benefits Assistant is able to accurately answer questions about FSA and HSA plans, coverage, and more while providing links to benefits manuals to find additional answers, saving human resources staff four weeks a year that would otherwise be spent manually answering questions via email.
The appearance on Capitol Hill coincides with Newfront’s release of its AI Principles, one of the first brokerages to introduce an ethical framework for the use of artificial intelligence in the insurance industry.
“It’s important that we advocate for the proper use and safety when it comes to this technology,” said Yuan, who joined Newfront in 2021 from Lyft. “As we launch AI-powered solutions at Newfront, these principles ensure accuracy and thoughtful, responsible implementation.”
The full set of principles includes several core values of the emerging AI ethics community, including favoring a human-in-the-loop approach and avoiding the reinforcement of unfair biases.
“All of our externally-facing AI products receive formal reviews to ensure that what we deliver is accountable to these principles,” said Newfront Head of Data Patrick Miller.
