Using images and voice recordings to facilitate underwriting life insurance

Abstract

A system and method for evaluating an insurance applicant as part of an underwriting process to determine one or more appropriate terms of life or other insurance coverage, such as premiums. A processing element employing a neural network is trained to correlate aspects of appearance and/or voice with personal and/or health-related characteristic. A database of images and/or voice recordings of individuals with known personal and/or health-related characteristics is provided for this purpose. The processing element is then provided with an image and/or voice recording of the insurance applicant. The image may be an otherwise non-diagnostic image, such as an ordinary “selfie.” The trained processing element analyzes the image of the insurance applicant, with their permission or affirmative consent, to determine the personal and/or health-related characteristic for the insurance applicant, and then, based upon that analysis, facilitates the underwriting process and/or suggests the one or more appropriate terms of insurance coverage.

Having thus described various embodiments of the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent includes the following: 
     
         1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A computer system comprising:
 at least one memory configured to store computer-executable instructions; and   at least one processor configured to execute the stored instructions, which when executed cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:   receiving, via a communication element of the computer system, image data and audio data representing an appearance and voice of an applicant;   analyzing the image data and the audio data of the applicant using a machine-learning (ML) algorithm, the ML algorithm configured to determine health-related characteristics for the applicant based upon an input of the image data and the audio data; and   generating or updating a health-related insurance policy based at least in part on the determined health-related characteristics of the applicant.   
     
     
         22 . The computer system of  claim 21 , wherein the ML algorithm is trained to correlate aspects of the appearance and the voice with health-related characteristics using a database of image, video, and/or audio information of individuals having known health-related characteristics. 
     
     
         23 . The computer system of  claim 21 , wherein the operations further comprise determining a life or health insurance policy, premium, or discount for the applicant based at least in part on the verified health-related characteristics of the applicant. 
     
     
         24 . The computer system of  claim 21 , wherein the health-related characteristics include a pulse or heart rate. 
     
     
         25 . The computer system of  claim 21 , wherein the health-related characteristics indicate, or are at least partly associated with, smoking, a lack of smoking, or an amount or frequency of smoking. 
     
     
         26 . The computer system of  claim 21 , wherein the health-related characteristics indicate, or are at least partly associated with, drug or alcohol use, a lack of drug or alcohol use, or an amount or frequency of drug or alcohol use. 
     
     
         27 . The computer system of  claim 21 , wherein the ML algorithm is trained using supervised machine learning. 
     
     
         28 . The computer system of  claim 21 , wherein the ML algorithm is implemented using a neural network. 
     
     
         29 . The computer system of  claim 28 , wherein the neural network is a convolutional neural network. 
     
     
         30 . The computer system of  claim 28 , wherein the neural network is a deep learning neural network. 
     
     
         31 . The computer system of  claim 21 , wherein the health-related characteristics are selected from a group including one or more of: age, sex, weight, height, lifespan, cause of death, tobacco use, alcohol use, drug use, diet, and existing medical conditions. 
     
     
         32 . The computer system of  claim 21 , wherein the operations further comprise using the determined health-related characteristics of the applicant to substantially and automatically determine appropriate terms of coverage for a life or health insurance policy. 
     
     
         33 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
 receiving image data and audio data representing an appearance and voice of an applicant;   analyzing the image data and the audio data of the applicant using a machine-learning (ML) algorithm, the ML algorithm configured to determine health-related characteristics for the applicant based upon an input of the image data and the audio data; and   generating or updating a health-related insurance policy based at least in part on the determined health-related characteristics of the applicant.   
     
     
         34 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 33 , further comprising training the ML algorithm to correlate aspects of the appearance and the voice with health-related characteristics using a database of image, video, and/or audio information of individuals having known health-related characteristics. 
     
     
         35 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 33 , further comprising determining a life or health insurance policy, premium, or discount for the applicant based at least in part on the verified health-related characteristics of the applicant, wherein the health-related characteristics include, indicate, or are at least partly associated with, smoking, a lack of smoking, or an amount or frequency of smoking, a pulse rate, heart rate, drug or alcohol use, a lack of drug or alcohol use, or an amount or frequency of drug or alcohol use. 
     
     
         36 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 33 , wherein the health-related characteristics are selected from a group including one or more of: age, sex, weight, height, lifespan, cause of death, tobacco use, alcohol use, drug use, diet, and existing medical conditions. 
     
     
         37 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 33 , further comprise using the determined health-related characteristics of the applicant to substantially and automatically determine appropriate terms of coverage for a life or health insurance policy. 
     
     
         38 . At least one non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, wherein when executed by a computing device including at least one processor in communication with at least one memory device and in communication with a mobile device of an applicant, the computer-executable instructions cause the at least one processor to:
 receive, from the mobile device of the applicant, image data and audio data representing an appearance and voice of the applicant;   analyze the image data and audio date of the applicant using a machine-learning (ML) algorithm, the ML algorithm configured to determine health-related characteristics for the applicant based upon an input of the image data and the audio data; and   generate or update a health-related insurance policy based at least in part on the determined health-related characteristics of the applicant.   
     
     
         39 . The least one non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 38 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one processor to train the ML algorithm to correlate aspects of the appearance and the voice with health-related characteristics using a database of image, video, and/or audio information of individuals having known health-related characteristics. 
     
     
         40 . The least one non-transitory computer-readable media of  claim 38 , wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one processor to use the determined health-related characteristics of the applicant to substantially and automatically determine appropriate terms of coverage for a life or health insurance policy.