How Nationwide is Embracing the Revolution of Generative AI
Dr. Emily Tincher had a problem.
Her team was looking for ways to transform thousands of pages of highly technical veterinarian medical knowledge into digestible information that could help the common pet owner take better care of their dogs and cats.
The challenge was with so much potential content—it seemed an insurmountable task to even get a start. Demanding project timelines were also adding pressure.
Enter generative artificial intelligence.
With a few creative prompts, Emily and her team were able to ask the Generative AI tool to create first-draft summaries for seventy-one different health conditions.
With a few more prompts, the tool quickly created additional drafts of both short-form and longer-form descriptions of the health conditions—all drafted in laymen’s terms.
With the boost from generative AI, Emily and a team of other veterinarian experts at Nationwide Pet were able to review and update the newly packaged information for accuracy and enhancement.
The resulting subject matter was transformed into the secret sauce fueling the one-of-a-kind Nationwide Pet HealthZone®, a groundbreaking platform that uses Nationwide Pet claims data from millions of pets to provide personalized information about specific health risks.
In an effort that saved more than three hundred hours, the use of generative AI drastically accelerated the creation of 35,000 words of medicalized content, saving time and money.
“Without the option to use generative AI, we would have had to either compromise the quality of the content we were aiming for, or dramatically extend a critical deadline. It was a fantastic way to augment our resources,” said Dr. Jules Benson, Nationwide Vice President, Pet Health and Chief Veterinary Officer.
It’s one of several ways Nationwide is on the forefront of leveraging generative artificial intelligence to speed up work and provide better customer experience for partners and members.
A leg up on the competition
“For the better part of a decade, we’ve been investing in our technological and data analytics infrastructure to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning at scale to enable our business,” said Nationwide Chief Technology Officer Jim Fowler. “Our team has the advantage of that upfront investment allowing us to embrace the revolution that generative AI will bring to our industry.”
Fowler points to Nationwide’s unique life insurance underwriting capabilities that have been enabled by AI and machine learning for the past few years.
“The result of our Technology and business teams’ collaboration is more efficient quoting and illustration for Nationwide and our partners and a much easier and faster underwriting experience for customers,” says Holly Snyder, president of Nationwide’s life insurance business.
The new customer service superpower
The up-front investment in this foundational capability over the past decade by Nationwide is positioning the U.S-based financial services and insurance giant at the vanguard of experimentation with generative AI solutions.
While legal and regulatory guidelines on the use of generative AI for insurance are still to be figured out, it doesn't mean the nascent technology won't have an impact on the insurance and financial services industry.
"Generative AI has the potential to 'level up' the ability of human beings to deliver better content faster and provide superior customer experiences," says Fowler. “Humans plus machines will work together in a bionic model and power Nationwide and our industry for the next 100 years."
Springing from the years of experience already under its belt, Fowler says Nationwide is testing several experiments using new generative AI models.
“We’re digitizing the ordinary so we can humanize the extraordinary.”
The sky is the limit
Right now, the company is piloting several "proofs of concept" that have the potential to enhance customer service and sales associates' ability to deliver extraordinary customer care—with generative AI acting as a co-pilot.
For instance, one experiment is assessing the viability of using generative AI to function as a "bionic co-worker" for customer service representatives. In real time, the generative AI platform analyzes a customer call and supplies prompts and data to help the customer service rep resolve the issue quickly while enhancing the experience.
"Human interaction is critical in our business," says Amy Shore, Nationwide's Chief Customer Officer. "We're in a position to explore a vast number of customer and partner interaction scenarios in which generative AI can support the ordinary, freeing up our people to offer an extraordinary experience."
In another experiment, Nationwide is testing similar generative AI capabilities to coach sales representatives as they interact with partners.
"The sky is the limit," says Fowler. "There is endless potential to redefine insurance and financial services and Nationwide is at the leading edge of those changes. I'm excited for our team as we continue to invest in giving our people the tools and training that they need to embrace the revolutionary opportunities presented by generative AI."