Inside Prudential’s AI strategy

Prudential is doubling down on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline internal processes, empower its workforce and enhance customer interactions, among other goals.

At the heart of its efforts is the Prudential AI Lab in Singapore, a collaborative initiative with Google Cloud that provides a platform for the company’s 15,000 employees to contribute ideas and experiment with AI applications. “The AI Lab is a vehicle for driving innovation,” said Tomasz Kurczyk, Prudential Singapore’s chief information technology officer and head of the lab. “We are tapping into the insights, knowledge and expertise from all our 24 markets across Asia and Africa.”

Doing so will allow Prudential to identify and scale successful AI applications across its entire network, benefiting even “fringe markets” that might lack the resources to develop these capabilities independently, he said.

The lab acts as a central point for consolidating ideas and providing the necessary data, platform capabilities and talent to translate ideas into tangible applications. “We are taking a cohort approach, selecting use cases with the highest potential for customer impact, differentiation and business benefits,” said Kurczyk.

Prudential’s AI strategy is focused on three key areas: healthcare; financial knowledge and advice; and improving customer experience. This spans a broad spectrum of use cases, from improving underwriting and claims processes to supporting financial representatives with training and customer communication.

The company is also testing the use of agentic AI where a pilot programme is underway to tap AI agents for concierge services, such as scheduling appointments. Beyond front-end applications, it’s looking to transform back-office functions, including actuarial science bound by stringent regulations and controls.

“Actuaries have been the original data scientists,” said Kurczyk. “But rather than automate the core actuarial work, which remains highly sensitive, AI can be used to streamline supporting processes, such as data discovery and analysis, enabling actuaries to work more efficiently. “It’s not necessarily automating – it’s about enabling.”

While some of Prudential’s AI use cases might appear similar to initiatives undertaken by other financial institutions, Kurczyk said the company is focused on delivering measurable value. To that end, he said the success of Prudential’s AI initiatives is determined by concrete metrics, such as improved net promoter scores for customer experience, efficiency gains and compliance posture.

Recognising that effectively working with AI is a critical skill for the future, the company is investing in upskilling initiatives.

These programmes, tailored to specific departmental needs, are focused on empowering employees to leverage AI tools for enhanced productivity, and to gain expertise in areas such as prompt engineering and domain-specific applications.

“We strongly believe that this is good for our employees,” said Kurczyk, noting that even small efficiency gains can free up time for employees to work on more value-added tasks.

A critical element of Prudential’s AI strategy is the responsible use of AI. “We have a well-established governance framework for managing AI solutions, adhering to FEAT [fairness, ethics, accountability and transparency] principles and applying technology risk management,” said Kurczyk, adding that the framework covers the entire AI lifecycle, from development and deployment to ongoing monitoring for model drift and deviations.

In addition, rigorous testing and parallel runs, particularly in areas such as claims processing, enable Prudential to ensure the accuracy of its AI models and respond to changing market conditions. “The parallel runs will span multiple months, and until we are very confident that we can meet the stringent benchmarks we’ve set for ourselves, the solution will not be deployed into production,” said Kurczyk.