Where is the industry today? - a view from the C-suite (387)
InsTech - insurance & innovation with Matthew Grant & Robin Merttens
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Show Notes
In this episode, Robin Merttens is joined by Dr Thomas Kuhnt (HDI Global SE), Ed Ackerman (Qover) and Vincent De Ponthaud (AXA) for a rare C-suite perspective on Agentic AI — what it is, how it's being deployed and why senior leaders are walking a tightrope between bold innovation and operational risk.
Agentic AI promises transformative value, but for decision-makers at the top, it also brings real uncertainty. What do you build vs. buy? How do you prove ROI? And how do you prevent over-trusting agents that are inherently probabilistic?
In this conversation, Thomas, Ed and Vincent share:
- Why Agentic AI is different from past tech trends and why this one feels real
- The cultural and leadership challenge of balancing excitement with governance
- How AXA and HDI are enabling safe experimentation at scale across complex organisations
- How Qover is building 20+ AI agents to automate claims micro-tasks — and when they build vs. buy
- What customers really think about AI agents and why nearly none opt out
- The risks of shadow AI and why IT needs to move faster than ever
- Why “human in the loop” is flawed and how user trust in AI could become a blind spot
- What’s missing: industry standards, agent evaluation tools and new roles like “agent managers”
- The case for cautious iteration, deep collaboration and constant re-evaluation
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