Let's be honest for a second. The conversation around AI in our industry can feel a little… overwhelming. It’s a mix of excitement about the future and a healthy dose of, "What does this actually mean for my job?"
We hear about game-changing technology, but we also see the hesitation. And it turns out, the biggest roadblock might not be the technology itself, but our own ideas about it.
I was talking with Brian Carey, who’s the VP of Insurance Solutions Engineering at Equisoft, and he put it perfectly. He said that getting people to actually embrace AI is half the battle, and it all starts with clearing up some major misunderstandings. His team’s journey is a fantastic playbook for any of us trying to figure this out.
Getting Your Hands Dirty: Why Seeing is Believing with AI
So how do you get a whole organization to move past the scary headlines and start using a new tool? You don't just send out a memo. According to Carey, you have to let people play with it.
Equisoft recently partnered with Anthropic's Claude (you’ve probably heard of it, alongside tools like ChatGPT and Gemini). Instead of just talking about what AI could do, they launched a pilot program. The goal was simple: put the tool directly into people's hands.
Carey explained that they focused on a few initial use cases to show, not just tell, how AI could make daily workflows better. It’s one thing to hear that AI can help you write emails faster. It’s another thing entirely to feed it a few bullet points and watch it draft a perfect client follow-up in seconds.
Once people saw it in action for themselves, things started to click. "The only way to make that connection," Carey said, "is to just get your hands on it." It’s like learning to ride a bike. You can read all the books you want, but until you actually get on and start pedaling, it’s all just theory.
How AI Quietly Became Everyone's Go-To Assistant
What started as a pilot program quickly snowballed. Carey says AI has now become an "indispensable" part of their global operations. And we’re not just talking about the tech teams.
This is the part that really caught my attention. It’s the project managers, the business analysts, the marketing team, the finance department, even the legal team. Everyone is finding ways to use it.
Why? The biggest reason, hands down, is time.
Think about all the repetitive, time-sucking tasks that fill up our days. Drafting reports, summarizing long documents, organizing data. Carey mentioned that the feedback from their internal surveys has been "overwhelmingly positive," with time savings being the number one benefit.
When AI takes those repetitive tasks off your plate, it doesn't replace you. It frees you up to focus on the strategic, creative, and complex parts of your job—the stuff that actually requires a human brain. The list of opportunities, he says, is growing every single day.
Let's Clear the Air: What We're All Getting Wrong About AI
Okay, so getting people to try it is key. But there’s still that hurdle of misconceptions to get over first. This is where a little education goes a long way.
Carey pointed out one of the most common myths he runs into: "People think that the act of prompting the model is training the model."
Let’s break that down. When you ask Claude or ChatGPT a question, you’re not reprogramming it or feeding your company’s private data into its core brain for the whole world to see. Think of it more like asking a brilliant but amnesiac librarian for information. They use their vast knowledge to answer your question, but they immediately forget the specifics of your conversation.
Understanding little distinctions like that is huge. It’s the difference between feeling like you’re using a risky, unknown technology and feeling like you’re using a secure, powerful assistant.
To tackle this, Equisoft has put a "fair amount" of effort into education. They even had the team from Anthropic come in and provide training to their staff. The goal was to build up basic prompting skills and, more importantly, to address those fears and misconceptions head-on.
Okay, But How Does This Actually Help an Insurance Carrier?
This is all great for a software company, but what about a carrier? You’ve got legacy systems, complex regulations, and agents on the ground who are already swamped.
Carey gets it. He acknowledged that many insurance companies are still pretty hesitant, especially when it comes to rolling out customer-facing AI. The technology is there, but the trust isn't quite there yet.
His advice? Show the value internally first. Prove that it works and that it’s safe before you ever put it in front of a customer.
He gave a great example: NIGO (Not in Good Order) processing. We all know how much time and effort gets wasted on applications that are incomplete or filled out incorrectly. Imagine if AI could help flag those issues instantly, improving workflows that have always been slow and prone to errors.
If you can show a tangible win like that—if you can prove that AI saves time, reduces errors, and makes an internal process smoother—it becomes much easier to get buy-in for using it in other areas.
Ultimately, the possibilities are all there. Carey says customer interest is growing and they’re seeing a lot more activity. Now, it’s up to the carriers to get this technology in front of their agents. But not just as a shiny new toy. They need to show them exactly what problems it solves and how, specifically, it's going to make their lives easier.
When you frame it that way, it’s not so scary anymore. It’s just a better tool to help us all do our jobs.
