Lunit and Cathay Financial Innovation Lab present AI’s value in insurance underwriting process
A recent pilot project conducted by a South Korean medical AI company, Lunit, and one of the largest Taiwanese insurance companies, Cathay Life Insurance, reveals that AI can help the current underwriting process to be more accurate and efficient.
The insurance company, which reviews 30,000 chest x-ray images accepted annually as part of the requirements of new insurance contracts, deployed Lunit INSIGHT CXR to assess the impact of AI in the review process. Lunit INSIGHT CXR is an AI software which detects abnormal findings via chest x-ray images.
For the assessment, nearly 200 chest x-ray images were used as samples to verify the performance of AI. These cases were internally reviewed by Cathay Life’s doctors to validate the accuracy of the algorithm. The results showed its detection rate for positive cases (sensitivity) was 83% and for negative cases (specificity) was 92%, with an overall accuracy of 90%. According to the doctors who participated in the validation, the AI provided great value in reducing the time spent on the overall reading of chest x-rays.
“The introduction of AI and digital interpretation system can greatly reduce our working time. The entire process of interpretation－accessing the data, the reading, the writing of the report－usually takes several minutes, and we can save 90% of reading time with AI and the digital system.” – Senior VP of Underwriting Dept., Cathay Life Insurance, Tzu-Ling, Ke.
“We are delighted to hear that our AI can be of help in not only hospital settings, but to improve the services of insurance companies. People normally go to hospitals when they are sick, meaning there have been symptoms and the disease is already in progress. If we find more patients in earlier stages, without symptoms, the survival chance dramatically increases.” – CEO of Lunit, Brandon Suh,
The project was part of the “Cathay Financial Innovation Lab Program” launched by Cathay Financial Holdings last year, of which nine international startups were recruited to cooperate with Cathay Financial Holdings’ subsidiaries for a proof-of-concept of six innovative financial services. Cathay Life Insurance pointed out that it will actively evaluate the adoption of AI technology to assist diagnosis, which is expected to save the reading time and improve underwriting effectiveness through data-driven and innovative technologies.