Biba 2025: Major AI barrier for smaller brokers is ‘not knowing where to start’

Smaller brokers struggle to find a starting point when it comes to using artificial intelligence (AI).

That was according to Peter Hunter, head of research and development at software company Open GI, who spoke yesterday (14 May 2025) at the Biba Conference in a seminar titled AI in broking – What’s the size of the prize, and who’s doing what?

Hunter explained that 60% of brokers are not using AI and that a major barrier to entry for smaller, single-office firms is simply “not knowing where to start”.

That lack of expertise is partly responsible for a growing divide between large and small brokers, with 46% of national brokers having implemented some form of AI initiative, while only 10% of single-office brokers report as having done so.

Other common barriers to entry include “concerns around data security, difficulty measuring return on investment (ROI), lack of skills, concerns about integration with existing systems and prohibitive costs”.

AI benefits

Despite these barriers, chief product officer at Open GI, Ben Legg, explained the potential breadth of AI applications across individual, consumer and industry-wide tasks.

Legg explained that on an individual level, AI can assist with “productivity and task automation, clear and concise summaries of information and dynamic scripting and intent analysis”.

On a consumer level, Legg said AI could assist with “personalised customer interaction, multichannel strategy and streamlining processing”.

And at an industry level, AI could assist with “optimised underwriting, enhanced fraud protection and improved compliance and regulatory management”.

Hunter added: “We are currently in a world of narrow AI. The future is general AI, capable of human tasks and human intelligence.”