innovation

Soni was featured in two sessions at the recent Insurtech Insights USA conference.

Key takeaways:

• New York Life pairs AI innovation with trust.
• AI helps agents focus more on customers.
• Data, governance and training enable responsible AI.

New York Life Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer Deepa Soni recently discussed how the company is using artificial intelligence to support agents, advisors and employees while maintaining a focus on trust, responsible adoption and human-centered client experiences.

Soni spoke at Insurtech Insights USA about New York Life’s approach to artificial intelligence, responsible innovation and the future of insurance. Across two sessions, Soni discussed both the broader opportunity to reimagine insurance through AI and the practical work required to equip employees, agents and advisors to use the technology effectively.

How New York Life’s history and data can support AI innovation

On the panel, “Beyond the Hype: What Will Actually Define the Next Era of Insurance,” Soni joined technology leaders from John Hancock Financial, MassMutual and Prudential Financial to discuss how established insurers can compete and lead as AI reshapes the industry.

Soni pointed to New York Life’s mutual structure, financial strength and long-term commitments as important advantages in this period of change. Decades of serving policy owners have given the company extensive institutional knowledge and a depth of data that can help inform more relevant, timely and personalized support for clients.

“Long history gives us that long data,” Soni said. “Long data that we can convert into intelligence, and enterprise intelligence that can help our customers.”

Soni also noted AI is changing more than individual tools or processes. “AI is changing the operating model of the company,” she said. “It’s changing the operating system of the company.”

Meeting that moment, she added, will require insurers to make focused choices about where AI can materially change the business, supported by strong data, governance and cybersecurity foundations. For New York Life, the opportunity is to combine the scale, trust and knowledge built over generations with the speed and intelligence of emerging technology.

“The future is really where the human guidance, the trust, and the financial stability of the company is married up with the tech, data and AI power,” Soni said.

Watch Soni on the panel titled “Beyond the Hype: What Will Actually Define the Next Era of Insurance” in its entirety.

How New York Life is using AI to empower agents, advisors and employees

In a fireside chat titled “From Enablement to Reinvention: New York Life’s AI Strategy to Empower, Elevate and Reimagine,” Soni discussed how New York Life is moving toward broader enterprise transformation.

New York Life has provided employees, agents and advisors with access to multiple AI tools, but Soni emphasized that access alone is not enough.

“We think of this as a cultural and a people transformation,” Soni said. “We have to equip our employees with the right training and the right mindset and the right confidence to be able to use these tools reliably every day.”

As an example, Soni highlighted AI’s potential to reduce administrative work and give agents and advisors more time to focus on clients.

“It’s really a human amplifier,” she said. “It’s giving our agents and advisors more time to be thinking about the customer, talking more with the customer, versus spending weeks collecting data to have a conversation.”

Ultimately, Soni said meaningful progress will not be reflected in the technology itself, but in the outcomes AI helps insurers deliver.

“I hope we’re not just talking about AI in 18 to 24 months,” she said. “We’re really talking about how much easier insurance is for our customers, how personal it is and how much better it is from today.”