Topline
AI-powered insurance unicorn Lemonade attempted damage control Wednesday and deleted a series of Tweets after the messages led social media users to question if the company’s artificial intelligence software assesses users’ physical attributes and body language to auto-deny claims submitted through user videos.
Lemonade asks users to submit videos alongside insurance claims.
Key Facts
Lemonade shared a Twitter thread Monday that said its AI can “pick up on non-verbal cues” when analyzing customers’ submitted videos explaining the details of their insurance claims.
Social media users immediately questioned whether autistic customers or people from minority backgrounds would be flagged by the AI.
Lemonade’s communication VP Yael Wissner-Levy told Forbes in a statement the company deleted the tweets because the messages were “very much misunderstood and incorrect information was spreading.”
“We deleted this awful thread which caused more confusion than anything else,” the company said in a blog post Wednesday, adding that using the phrase “non-verbal cues” was a poor choice of words.
The company said it doesn’t use technology that relies on disproven pseudoscience like phrenology and physiognomy (theories that purport a link between physical appearance and intelligence or character), nor does it evaluate insurance claims based on customer “background, gender, appearance, skin tone, disability, or any physical characteristic.”
Lemonade clarified their AI uses a facial-recognition technology to highlight claims submitted by “the same person under different identities,” such as a person wearing disguises to submit multiple claims, adding that flagged claims are later reviewed by humans and no claim is ever auto-denied based on AI.
Key Background
Lemonade launched in 2015 and was seen as a disruptor in the insurance business, being paper-free and using artificial intelligence and chatbots to help process insurance claims. Lemonade asks customers submitting claims to include a video of them explaining their situation in their own words, partly because the company believes it could reduce fraud. “Behavioral economics research … has shown that we humans are less prone to lying when we’re looking at ourselves speaking in a mirror [or] selfie camera,” the company said in a blog post Wednesday. The insurance firm operates in the U.S., Germany, the Netherlands and France, with plans to expand. In May, the company’s first quarter earnings report revealed Lemonade saw a net loss of $49 million, partially driven by insurance claims after the record-breaking storms in Texas earlier this year. Lemonade expects to earn between $117 million and $120 million through the rest of the year. Last month, the company announced plans to enter the auto insurance market.
Eliza Haverstock contributed to this story.
