SwitzerlandFinance and insurance2023 – ongoingHelvetia
Clara chatbot on GPT
Helvetia opened a public ChatGPT experiment in its Clara chatbot weeks after the API launch, then made it a standard GPT-4 service
Problem
The Swiss insurer wanted to learn quickly what large language models could do for customer questions on insurance, pensions and home ownership, while limiting the risk of wrong or unsupported advice.
Approach
Helvetia began internal tests when OpenAI released the ChatGPT API in early March 2023 and on 30 March opened a live experiment in its digital assistant Clara, answering from Helvetia Switzerland's own web content such as product pages and guides. Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts helped run and evaluate the test, and Helvetia stated that the bot did not replace advice from a specialist. After seven months it ended the pilot and moved Clara to a standard service on GPT-4, open without registration in German, French, Italian, English and other languages.
Results
Takeaway
Limiting the bot to the insurer's own published content and labelling it an experiment let Helvetia go live within weeks of the API release. The only figure published is chat volume; resolution rates and cost effects were not disclosed.
Categories
- Size
- Large enterprise
- Industry
- Finance and insurance
- Business function
- Customer service
- Innovation type
- Product and service innovation
- AI technology
- Generative AIConversational and voice AI
- Adoption
- Off-the-shelf tool or platform
- Evidence
- Company's own claim
Sources
Source summaries
Helvetia announces a live experiment using OpenAI's ChatGPT technology in Clara, which it calls a first among listed insurers. The bot answers questions on insurance, pensions and home ownership from Helvetia Switzerland's web content, with Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts assisting. Helvetia said the bot did not replace a specialist consultation and that next steps would depend on the first findings.
Coverager reported the launch of the experiment. Helvetia's chief technology officer said language models would become a key competence and that the company wanted to gain experience in a clearly defined test setting.
Finews reported that Helvetia ended its seven-month pilot and will run Clara as a standard service on GPT-4. It says Clara is expected to handle more than 150,000 messages in 2023, almost double the previous year, and has become the insurer's main self-service channel. Clara was available in German, French, Italian, English and other languages.
Full details are in the original sources.
