Artificial intelligence will revolutionise insurance as it streamlines processes from sales to claims, Suncorp CEO Steve Johnston told a regulatory conference today.

Mr Johnston says examples include rapidly consolidating information as a file moves through claims handling, while staff will still support customers on “a higher capability level”.

“It will revolutionise insurance. It will revolutionise it, and I think largely to the betterment of the consumer, as long as we do it properly,” he told the Australian Securities and Investments Commission annual forum in Melbourne.

Mr Johnston says technology also has sales implications, as marketing moves beyond “being at the top of the Google search”, with potential risks including bots drawing on paid-for awards and publicity that may not be “necessarily the best reflection” of quality.

“We've got this evolution, I think, of the way that not only people think about the reputation and the brand of an organisation. It’s about how they actually buy the product,” he told a session titled Consumer Trust in Dynamic Times.

Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says that post-covid, more disenfranchised people are struggling with cost-of-living issues and are angered by high corporate profits, and it is important to understand community distrust levels.

“Across essentially any large company that announces profits, profit triumphalism is a killer,” she said.

Consumer Policy Research Centre CEO and ARC Justice chair Erin Turner says transparency and speaking without “spin” is critical, but insurers are often unresponsive. She also says insurers should assist individual customers in understanding risks driving premiums.

“We know insurers have this data,” she said. “Right now, I’m seeing people in Shepparton – they are just getting a higher dollar on a bill and that doesn’t help them have trust that the sector’s got their back and will be with them when there’s the next flood.”

ASIC commissioner Alan Kirkland says complaints and enforcement processes are key for building trust.

“People need to have trust in their ability to make a complaint, and the value of making a complaint,” he said. “If they’re dissatisfied, they need to feel that firms and individuals in the sector are held to their obligations and there are consequences.”