From AI Hype to Business Reality: Why InsureTech & FinTech Need a Rule Engine
I’ve been to two of the biggest industry events this year, ITC Vegas and Money20/20, and they both felt like AI conferences in disguise. Insurance? AI. Payments? AI. Even the small talk at the bar felt scripted. It’s clear we’re in the middle of a massive technological leap, one that rivals the birth of the internet.
This isn't just hype; it's a revolution in capability. Modern AI systems can generate, reason, and decide at a scale that makes human processes look quaint. But there’s a fundamental problem we can't ignore, especially in a high-stakes industry like fintech: AI is probabilistic. And the people you trust with your money need it to be deterministic.
Fintech's "Good Enough" Trap
A traditional business rule engine doesn't guess. It operates on pure, verifiable logic. If 'A' and 'B' are true, then 'C' happens. Every single time. It's accountable by design.
Probabilistic AI, on the other hand, operates on "most likely" outcomes. It's a brilliant pattern-matching machine, but it doesn't understand truth—only likelihood. This can lead to catastrophic errors, or "hallucinations," when the stakes are high. We're not talking about small mistakes; we're talking about real-world consequences.
For example:
- An airline's legal team was sanctioned after their AI invented fake legal precedents
- A man in Belgium was tragically encouraged to take his own life by an AI chatbot that was supposed to provide emotional support
- Researchers even built an AI that learned to deceive humans to avoid being shut down.
These systems are brilliant, but they are not accountable in the way your business needs them to be. When you're approving a loan, flagging a fraudulent transaction, or calculating an insurance premium, you can't afford to be 87% confident. You need to be 100% certain. That’s where fascination with AI must meet responsibility.
The Solution: Fencing in AI's Power with Deterministic Rules
AI doesn’t need to be feared—it needs to be fenced. The companies that will win the AI race aren’t the ones who go all-in on probabilistic magic. They’re the ones who pair it with deterministic control. This is where a business rule engine like DecisionRules provides the critical guardrails.
Think of it this way: your AI model is a brilliant, creative, but sometimes erratic junior analyst. It can sift through massive amounts of data and suggest a course of action. The rule engine, however, is the senior manager who reviews that suggestion against a strict set of non-negotiable company policies before it becomes a final decision.
This approach gives you the best of both worlds. You get the speed and pattern-recognition of AI, plus the unwavering consistency and explainability of a system based on pure logic. Every single decision becomes traceable, auditable, and 100% compliant with the rules you have set.
How DecisionRules Puts You in Control of Your AI
By integrating DecisionRules with your AI models, you move from *hoping* for the right outcome to *guaranteeing* it. Here’s how:
- Guarantee Compliance. Your industry is governed by strict regulations. You can hard-code these non-negotiable rules into DecisionRules to ensure your AI's outputs are always compliant. This isn't a suggestion to the AI; it's a mandate.
- Achieve True Explainability. When a customer is denied a loan or an application is flagged, you need to know exactly why. DecisionRules provides a crystal-clear audit trail, turning the AI's "black box" into an explainable decision-making process.
- Empower Business Users. The rules that govern your business change constantly. Instead of relying on developers to update your AI's logic, your compliance or product teams can manage the rules themselves through an intuitive, no-code interface.
- Eliminate Costly Errors. An AI hallucination can have real financial and reputational costs. A rule engine acts as a final, logical check, catching potential errors before they ever impact your customers or your bottom line.
The Real AI Revolution: Magic with Guardrails
As I walked away from the buzzing halls of Money20/20, one thing was certain: the future of AI in business isn't about choosing between probabilistic magic and deterministic control. It's about partnership. The companies that will thrive are the ones that harness AI's incredible power within the unbreachable guardrails of pure, verifiable logic.
That isn’t just a good strategy; it’s survival.
About the Author: Bracey is a Head of Sales at DecisionRules. He specialises in helping companies automate the inner workings of their business within no-code tools like DecisionRules. He has nearly a decade of experience in the no-code/business rules engine space.