Last week, I attended the Risk Management and Insurance MBA Advisory Board meeting. It was an amazing opportunity to sit in the same room with experienced, brilliant professionals. The discussion was so beneficial for me.
Our first discussion topic was Rethinking Risk in the Age of AI, which Hayden Robinson and I facilitated. During the discussion, we talked about how AI is like a double-edged sword—it is a powerful tool but also full of uncertainties. GenAI’s ability to work with unstructured data is fascinating; however, it still has challenges like preprocessing, accuracy and more complex training. And because of these factors and more, AI creates extra work for the people who review outputs. It shows that efficiency isn’t always the shortcut that people assume.
The next discussion topic was supply chain risks. We talked about whether certain risks are insurable, how moral hazard can be managed through proper risk management and how strong relationships can improve risk mitigation.
And the last student-led discussion was about social inflation/nuclear verdicts. When asked which factor has the greatest impact on the industry, the board members agreed that third-party litigation financing has the greatest impact.
Autonomous cars also came up, especially how they unintentionally increase the moral hazard and compliance questions of the liability. In addition, we talked about anchoring and psychological effects, including how the claim management’s early action impacts long-term costs.
Prof. Ben Collier gave a research presentation on climate risks and CAT modeling. One of the takeaways was that natural disasters are increasing but the impact of climate change is still unclear. Also, insurers rely heavily on various CAT models to evaluate severe climate risks, and the models need to evolve as the environment changes.
After the meeting, a networking reception gave us a chance to talk personally with board members. Hearing different perspectives and experiences helped me to understand how people face risks in the industry.
Attending the board meeting each year has been a great value for me. It gave me a better picture of where industry is heading, and I had a chance to learn directly from the people who shape the industry. As I am getting closer to graduation, the meeting left me energized and with a deeper understanding of the industry that I will be joining.
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