South African insurance platform, Naked, has become the first company in the world to successfully develop and deploy a native app in ChatGPT that can provide a final, binding car insurance quote. The launch also appears to make Naked the first South African company to release a native app in ChatGPT, representing an early step towards a future where consumers will use AI assistants to understand, compare and manage financial products on their behalf.

Naked’s ChatGPT app connects directly to the same live underwriting and rating engine that powers quoting and buying on its website and app. This means the quote generated from the app in the ChatGPT interface is the final premium, and not an indicative estimate that requires an additional quoting process later.

The ChatGPT app is not intended to replace Naked’s website or mobile app, which remain the fastest and easiest ways to get a quote, buy cover, update a policy or submit a claim, the insurer says. Instead, the ChatGPT app showcases Naked’s continued investment in innovation and signals its belief that AI assistants will become an important new interface for financial services in the months and years to come.

Says Alex Thomson, co-founder of Naked Insurance (Photo): “Our app and website are still the best way to use Naked today. But we believe AI assistants will, in time, become one of the primary ways people interact with financial products, and we want to be ready for that next industry shift. This signals our readiness to keep making our offering easier, more convenient and more personalised as technology evolves.”

In time, AI assistants could go far beyond helping consumers understand their insurance. For example, a customer could set their preferences once, and their AI assistant could keep track of their policy, know when renewal is approaching, gather competing quotes, explain the differences in plain language and help them switch if it finds a better option that meets their needs. Instead of customers repeatedly navigating websites, filling in forms, making calls or manually comparing policy documents, more of this admin could be handled in the background.

“We are not waiting for AI interfaces to go mainstream,” says Alex. “We are making sure our technology is ready when our customers are. Our ChatGPT app is an exploratory step into a world where AI assistants could help manage a lot of your car and insurance-related admin on your behalf, according to your needs and preferences.”

The Naked ChatGPT app currently supports car insurance, allowing users to get a quote for both comprehensive and third-party only cover. You can answer quote questions in natural language, either by responding to the questions you’re asked or by having a more unstructured conversation. When viewing the quote in ChatGPT, you can customise your cover - for example, by adjusting the excess amount to see the impact on your premium, Naked adds.