Insurtech Tractable heads home with computer vision for building damage

Not just car insurers that are using AI to assess damage anymore.

London’s Tractable is turning its focus to buildings insurance after starting to disrupt the car insurance market with its computer vision technology that can assess damage and repairs to streamline payouts.

With the launch of AI Property, anyone with a smartphone can now use the technology to assess the external condition of damaged property, simply by submitting photos to Tractable’s platform.

The insurtech is launching AI Property in North America, but says it believes the new service will have a huge impact especially in markets suffering from hurricanes, floods and other natural disasters.

Once photos are submitted to Tractable its AI can assess the amount of damage it sees and relay this to a homeowner’s insurer, a process that would previously take days or even months in a disaster zone for a human to come out and assess damage.

“Climate change is leading to more frequent and severe natural disasters. Hurricanes leave households without a proper home to live in,” said Tractable CEO and co-founder Alex Dalyac.

“By allowing homeowners to immediately self-assess their homes via AI-augmented damage appraisal, insurers can intervene faster and at greater scale, to help their customers at their time of greatest need.”

In fact, AI Property has already been trialled in the field, with Japanese insurer MS&AD Insurance using the technology during Japan’s 2021 typhoon season and was used in October to process real claims.

And outdoor damage is just the start, Tractable says it’s already working with MS&AD to expand its coverage to include indoor damage like water leakage and smoke.

“When a typhoon occurs, the devastation is such that assessing everyone’s homes quickly is not always immediately possible,” said Ikuo Kudayama, senior general manager of the Claims Division at Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, a subsidiary of MS&AD Insurance.

”With AI, we use tomorrow’s technology to help our policyholders today, ensuring we help them as much as possible at their greatest moment of need.”