Processing time could be cut to as little as five seconds to decide on a claim, a senior official at Zurich Insurance told Reuters this spring. The industry is also making increasing use of “chatbots” — “virtual assistants” that can answer basic questions from customers contacting the company through a phone app.

The benefits of AI for the insurance sector are obvious, but what is still not clear is the impact on clients who have suffered a personal injury and might want to challenge the claim decision.

Michael Giordano, a Toronto-based personal injury lawyer, says it is an issue that the plaintiff-side bar needs to be prepared to handle.

“It is only a matter of time before this technology is used in Canada,” says Giordano, a partner at Avanessy Giordano LLP.

“From the plaintiff’s side, this may present challenges. In every case, there is an element of optics. There may be a subtlety that requires a human eye. Can this all be captured by an algorithm?” Giordano asks. Once the technology is introduced here, personal injury lawyers should try to find out more about the formulas used to make claims decisions, he suggests.