Choosing the Right AI for Brokerage Teams: A Practical Guide

Executive Summary

AI is everywhere in today’s benefits world. From data extraction to analytics, teams are eager to use it to speed up renewals and free time for client strategy. But here’s the truth: AI isn’t magic. It doesn’t replace people, it isn’t always correct, and it can’t be held accountable when things go wrong.

That means the responsibility for protecting sensitive client data still rests with you. And right now, many employees are already experimenting with public AI tools, risking HIPAA-protected data, rate schedules, and trade secrets in the process.

So, how do you safely harness the power of AI? At Plansight, it comes down to understanding your options, asking the right questions, and selecting a provider tailored to your industry.

The Challenge

The siren song of AI is too powerful to ignore. Public tools like ChatGPT, Bard, or Grok are fast and free, which makes them tempting for busy benefits teams. The problem? Any information entered can be memorized by the model and potentially exposed to someone else. Even tools that try to “de-identify” data still leak proprietary details like rate schedules.

The risk is clear: if you wouldn’t hand a document to a competitor, you shouldn’t send it to a public AI tool.

3 Ways to Approach AI in Brokerage

1. Public AI Providers

These are free or low-cost tools accessible to anyone. While they offer convenience, they also come with the highest risk. Once your data is in, you lose control. That’s not an acceptable tradeoff for brokerages working with HIPAA-regulated information.

2. Self-Hosted Models

Running your own AI models on in-house servers is the most secure option. You control everything—data, processes, and access. The catch? It requires years of investment, expert teams, and millions of dollars. For most firms, it simply isn’t realistic.

3. Industry-Specific Providers

This is the middle ground. Partnering with a vendor who understands your industry and has built compliance into their processes ensures that sensitive data stays protected while your team still benefits from automation. At Plansight, we designed PlansightAI specifically for insurance documents, with HIPAA safeguards and workflows that eliminate the risk of data leakage.

Questions to Ask Before Choosing an AI Provider

1. What tasks does the tool actually help with?
Be specific: is it handling quote intake, data extraction, proposal formatting, or analytics? General promises like “faster” or “smarter” don’t mean much without context.

2. How do they measure performance?
Accuracy claims only matter if they’re based on real benchmarks that reflect your work. Testing only on simple SBCs inflates scores and sets you up for failure in production.

3. What form does the tool take?
Chatbot, document manager, or API? Each format solves different problems. You probably don’t need all three, so focus on the one that adds the most value to your workflow.

Why Context Matters in AI Claims

A 99% accuracy rate looks great until you realize the test was simple. Meanwhile, a tool reporting 95% accuracy on complex, class-based disability plans might actually serve you better in the real world. That’s why the best way to evaluate AI tools is to run your own documents through them head-to-head.

Why PlansightAI

PlansightAI was built with one focus: helping brokers work faster, safer, and smarter. We designed our system to handle the most complex documents, not just the easy ones, so it performs where you need it most. With built-in QA/QC, secure infrastructure, and HIPAA safeguards, PlansightAI eliminates the risks of public AI tools while giving your team the accuracy and speed they need to scale.

Key Takeaways

• Your employees need a safe technical solution to stop leaking data with public AI.
• Self-host if you can, but if not, choose an industry-specific provider who understands your risks.
• Continually evaluate AI tools with your own documents, not just their marketing claims.

Ready to See It in Action?

‍ PlansightAI provides brokers with the security of a private system and the power of automation. Schedule a discovery call today and see how you can scale smarter while keeping client data safe.

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