Government funds AI project to detect insurance fraud

The UK government is backing the development of software that will help to detect fraudulent claimants, as part of a £13m investment to support collaborative industry and academic research projects. 

The project will combine AI with voice recognition technology to detect and interpret emotion and linguistics to identify the telltale signs of fraud. It is being developed by tech firms Intelligent Voice and Strenuus, in partnership with the University of East London.

Business secretary Greg Clark said that AI and data were transforming industries across the world and that the UK should be at the forefront of this change. 

“We want to ensure businesses and consumers benefit from the application of AI – from providing quicker access to legal advice for customers, to tackling fraudulent insurance claims, these projects illustrate our modern industrial strategy in action,” he said.

The use of voice recognition software in the fight against fraud is already used in the banking sector to identify issues such as caller ID spoofing, voice distortion and social engineering. It is also a form of biometric authentication to improve security. 

However, a recent survey by information security company Pindrop, said that only 10% of UK consumers expressed high levels of confidence that voice biometric authentication was a secure approach. Matt Peachey, Pindrop’s vice president and international general manager, said: “The solution must analyse voice, as well as the audio and network characteristics of the call itself.”