The head of the largest investment management company in Michigan has told the Bermuda Captive Conference that while artificial intelligence is sweeping away jobs, it is forcing companies to look more strategically at the staff that remain.

Kevin Yousif, president and founder of Yousif Capital Management, said: “AI is a game changer, but not by the way you are writing prompts and asking it to write a letter.

“Technical capabilities were so important, let’s say pre-Covid. But they are becoming less important, as AI and the systems that we are all using are making that work easier and faster.”

That means in the future, he said, interpersonal skills will become far more important. The ability to think strategically, mentor others, hold others accountable and also collaborate with others will become far more important in coming up with new business solutions.

He was speaking after a session he participated in entitled “The Human Factor: How to Spot a Future Captive Leader”. It explored how organisations can identify, hire and develop leaders who will shape the future captive insurance market.

The chartered financial analyst told The Royal Gazette: “Although AI is going to do a lot of it for you, it can’t do it alone. It still needs someone to help it, to guide it, and then you still need to communicate that back to your clients.

“So now the client interaction, the human interaction, becomes the most valuable asset we have. We’ve always said people are our most valuable assets. It's true. You can't do it alone. But with the advent of AI, it's going to make the technical component smaller. It has democratised that component.

“Those of us that are skilled in technical skills, that's good. God bless you. But it's not going to be as important in the future, as it is to be able to get in front of the client, tell the story and let them know how you add value.”

YCM provides investment management services for insurance companies for pension plans and for churches. The 17 members staff manage nearly $15 billion in assets and have about 80 clients.

It was AI that whittled away at staff numbers.

Mr Yousif said: “It’s really the time component. You can buy everything in this world as a number, except time. AI is going to make things easier to do. It's going to take less time to do the technical part, which means for an employer, you don't need as many people underneath you.

“You need the people that can go out and tell your story to the world. That's how you develop growth of a company, of a corporation in the world of AI.

“If you have a company that you believe is doing good for the world, you want to shout it from the rooftops. And the way to shout it from the rooftop is to go out and tell that story to someone else.

“You need less people on the technical and more people that are front facing. And that's why I think the interpersonal skill is very important.”

The panel also heard that it was increasingly important to find new staff members who were the right fit, shared the core values of the company and its passion.