There’s something deeply unsettling about watching someone potentially waste thousands of dollars while you’re powerless to help them. That’s exactly what’s happening to a Queensland homeowner who’s been receiving insurance correspondence for a mysterious “GJW” – someone who’s been paying premiums on their house for over 15 years, totalling potentially $15,000 or more.

The story reads like something out of a Kafka novel. The current homeowners have tried everything: returning mail, contacting the bank, even going to AFCA. Nothing works. The insurance company just keeps happily taking GJW’s money, year after year, for a policy they could never claim on because they don’t own the contents.

I’ve been following this fascinating development in healthcare where AI is essentially fighting AI, and it’s got me thinking about what happens when technology becomes the weapon of choice on both sides of a battle.

The story goes like this: health insurance companies are increasingly using AI to screen prior authorization requests, which many doctors believe is contributing to more claim denials. But here’s where it gets interesting - patients and healthcare providers are now turning to AI tools to fight back, essentially creating an algorithmic arms race in the world of health insurance.

The recent lawsuit against Allstate in Texas has sparked an interesting debate about data privacy and insurance companies. The allegations that Allstate paid app developers to secretly collect driver data are concerning, but frankly, not surprising.

Working in tech for over two decades, I’ve watched the evolution of data collection from simple website cookies to the intricate web of surveillance we navigate today. The insurance industry’s shift towards usage-based pricing was inevitable, but the methods being employed are increasingly questionable.