Dive In: ‘Critical’ to address leadership trust gap over AI transformation

Insurance market leaders need to address the trust gap about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) transformation, Mark Lomas, head of culture, talent and communities at Lloyd’s, has said.

Speaking during the Dive In festival in a session entitled Inclusive Leadership in an Age of AI, Lomas said trust in leaders around the impact of AI transformation was the standout area where the market’s culture survey fell below financial sector benchmarks.

Lomas explained that this stemmed from concerns over how much employees could experiment with the technology, what guardrails would apply, whether data collected would be used correctly and ethically and how potential bias would be mitigated.

Despite organisations being “immature in understanding the governance around AI”, Lomas said that it was “critical” firms find a reason for employees to trust.

He noted there is “no doubt” that directors and leaders in any industry are discussing “efficiency, autonomy, transformation and ways of working” in an era of AI.

The issue is that it is not translating into public discourse as people are hearing “my job is at risk”, he explained.

Transparency gap

Fellow panellist, Julie Humphreys, head of diversity, inclusion and community engagement at Markel, told delegates that one of the gaps in trust derives from questions around leadership transparency, in which employees do not tend to believe what firms or the media report.

She noted that this trust has potentially been further undermined by the disparity between the trillions of dollars being spent on AI and the comparatively small amount being invested in AI governance.

She continued: “How can we expect our employees to trust our leaders if they’re not investing [in AI governance]?

“That’s one of the reasons that I feel so comfortable, and hopefully our leaders who need our help feel comfortable, because we are putting our money where our mouth is.”