Pinnacle Financial Partners

Ferne Emery

Benefits Compliance Leader

Ferne Emery is a benefit compliance professional focused on employee benefit communications, regulatory requirements, and risk management. Her perspective emphasizes the responsible use of AI, careful handling of confidential information, and the importance of human oversight in benefits administration.

Using AI for Routine Benefits Materials

One of the biggest administrative tasks for benefits professionals and HR teams during open enrollment is preparing employee benefit communications for the upcoming year. Updating materials such as benefit booklets, open enrollment guides, presentation slides, and plan documents can be burdensome, especially during the busiest time of the year. I see AI assistants as useful tools for supporting these tasks and saving time, but their use also carries compliance risks.

AI is particularly useful for reformatting and translating lengthy source documents. It can create benefit plan charts that summarize plan designs and employee costs. If one division or location offers slightly different benefits from another, AI can also help prepare separate PowerPoint presentations that reflect those differences. These uses can reduce administrative work, provided the output is reviewed for accuracy.

Writing Effective Prompts

The quality of AI-generated materials depends in part on the instructions I provide. A well-constructed prompt can mean the difference between a request that saves time and one that creates more work. When I asked my company’s AI assistant what makes a strong prompt for summarizing employee benefit materials, it responded, ‘a strong prompt should tell the AI what kind of chart you want, what information to extract, how much detail to include, and who the audience is.’

Clear instructions help guide the format, content, level of detail, and intended audience of the output. However, even a well-written prompt does not eliminate the need to check the results against the source documents. Benefit information must remain accurate, and differences between plans or employee groups must be represented correctly.

Managing Privacy and Information Security Risks

Using AI for routine tasks does not mean the risks are negligible. Before uploading internal company documents to a personal AI tool, I encourage employees to consider whether the tool has been approved for business use. The terms and conditions accepted for personal use may not meet the organization’s requirements. Legal and information security teams should assess AI tools for business use and review contractual terms before approving data sharing. Proprietary information must be handled carefully.

Once an AI tool has been approved, HR and benefits teams may want to use it for additional tasks. However, protected data, including personal health information (PHI) under HIPAA, biometric data, and other confidential information, should not be uploaded without appropriate safeguards. Organizations should establish clear AI-use policies, privacy protocols, and contractual protections before employees use these tools. Depending on how PHI will be accessed or handled, a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement with the AI software provider may also be necessary.

Maintaining Human Oversight of High-Risk Materials

I consider plan documents and Summary Plan Descriptions higher-risk materials because they serve as both employee benefit communications and legal documents. They should be drafted with legal counsel, particularly because they may be subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and other regulatory requirements. Inaccuracies or improper disclosures can lead to employee confusion, audits, and litigation. Human legal review remains essential.

AI can help me and other HR and benefits professionals streamline the preparation of employee benefit materials, improve efficiency, and reduce administrative burdens during open enrollment. However, I must balance these benefits with privacy, security and regulatory obligations. AI should complement, not replace, sound judgment and compliance oversight.