As artificial intelligence moves from assistant to colleague and increasingly autonomous agent, the role of humans at work is changing. Routine tasks can increasingly be delegated to machines, but this raises a more fundamental question: what becomes uniquely valuable when intelligence is available on demand?

In this video excerpt from episode 234 of Scouting For Growth, Sabine VanderLinden sits down with Barbara Fernandez, Deputy Director of Disruptive Innovation at Mapfre to explore the changing relationship between humans and machines and what it means for the future of work and insurance. Barbara discusses why human reasoning, curiosity and critical thinking will become increasingly important as AI takes on more responsibility, and why organisations and individuals need to prepare for a world where machines can do more than simply assist us.

The conversation also explores what this shift means for the insurance customer. As insurance becomes increasingly predictive, contextual and always-on, Barbara argues that trust will become one of the industry’s most valuable assets, and that moving from paying for losses to preventing them could fundamentally change how insurance operates.

Sabine and Barbara discuss:

• How human-machine collaboration is changing the nature of work, with people increasingly moving away from repetitive tasks towards decision-making, creativity and systems thinking.
• Why humans need to develop stronger critical thinking and judgement as AI becomes more capable, rather than simply accepting machine-generated information and decisions.
• The challenge of preparing for an uncertain future of work, and why curiosity, adaptability and continuous learning will become essential capabilities.
• Why trust will become increasingly important in insurance as AI enables more predictive and contextual services, particularly as younger generations become less familiar with the value insurance provides.
• How moving towards predictive and preventative insurance could fundamentally change the industry’s operational model, from responding to losses after they happen to helping customers avoid them in the first place.

As AI increasingly becomes an external source of intelligence, the value of human expertise will not disappear, it will evolve. For insurance, this creates an opportunity to combine machine-enabled prediction with human judgement and trust, while moving towards a model that is increasingly focused on prevention rather than simply protection.

Listen to the full episode now on Apple, Spotify and Podbean.

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