New Report Looks at AI Impact on Insurance Sector Productivity

This new report looks at the uses of AI across the insurance sector;

Insurance leaders are beginning to see artificial intelligence (AI) move from hype to real-world impact, according to a new report from Economist Impact and sponsored by SAS. The research finds that emerging technologies, such as generative AI, haven’t yet transformed the industry, but they are demonstrating gains in productivity.

And insurance leaders see a major role in particular for agentic AI – autonomous systems capable of performing even complex tasks almost independently – suggesting that the insurance firm of the near future might feature a hybrid workforce in which human agents and AI agents work hand-in-hand on tasks such as underwriting, product development, claims processing and more.

“Insurers’ workforces will become hybrids of human employees and agents collaborating closely, with some agents working largely independently under human oversight,” said Jodie Wallis, Global Chief Analytics Officer at Manulife, one of the executives whose expertise shaped the report’s findings.

AI creating value, but not always increasing profits…yet

Underwriting the Future: The role of artificial intelligence in insurance draws on insights from global insurance executives gathered through roundtable discussions and in-depth interviews. The report builds on Revealing the paths to 2040: Global insurance survey report, a study released in February that polled over 500 executives from 17 countries on the future of insurance.

Citing insights from experts representing Zurich North America, HDI Global, Tokio Marine and Manulife, the new report reveals a sector cautiously optimistic about AI’s potential to drive productivity, improve risk modelling and close the global protection gap. But the execs also acknowledged the structural, cultural and regulatory hurdles that remain. 

The report identifies three key takeaways:

1. The benefits of AI so far have been more incremental than transformational. While AI has long played a role in underwriting and fraud detection, recent advances in generative AI have sparked increased investment and board-level attention. Executives report that GenAI is speeding up coding workloads by 30% to 50%, streamlining customer service operations, and enabling real-time analysis of cyber and climate risks. But adoption is uneven across the industry, with insurtechs the furthest along with AI-integrated systems (particularly those in cyber insurance), while companies relying on legacy systems have moved more slowly. Many insurers are still tailoring AI to specific use cases rather than deploying it at scale.

2. Productivity gains from AI are not always translating into immediate cost savings. Rather than eliminating jobs, insurers often reinvest freed-up resources to build new tools or manage higher claim volumes. Companies must also train employees for roles that humans can perform better than AI – sales, for example – which takes time and doesn’t pay off immediately. Another positive aspect is the implementation of comprehensive agentic AI platforms, which enable insurers to adapt such agents more quickly to their changing needs and be less dependent on long-term, monolithic software projects. There’s another reality in play too: AI investments are already moving from being a competitive differentiator to something insurers think of as table-stakes in the industry.

3. Organisational agility is essential. Technology, governance and regulatory requirements around AI are changing fast. Insurers need to adapt their systems and processes and prioritise change management. Even so, the wide variance in regulatory requirements from one country to the next presents a challenge for global firms in particular.

“Agentic AI has the potential to fundamentally change how insurers operate – not by replacing expertise, but by complementing it,” says Andrew Pollard, insurance specialist at SAS UK and Ireland. “These agents will accelerate repetitive and data-intensive work, and when orchestrated together they can unlock new levels of productivity and insight. But the real value emerges when insurers combine them with trusted, domain-specific solutions and human expertise to tackle complex challenges like risk modelling or regulatory compliance.

“The fuel for all of this remains data. To realise the promise of agentic AI, insurers must ensure their data is not just high-quality, but connected and available in real-time so agents can act with precision and context.”

Looking ahead

So what does the future of insurance on AI look like? The industry is accelerating its adoption of the technology. While it may not have produced a revolution yet, insurers are continuing to invest and find new uses – if only to keep pace with the competition.

“Insurers increasingly see AI as essential, not optional,” continues Andrew. “Agentic AI in particular is moving us beyond pilots into enterprise-wide transformation. These agents can operate autonomously or in concert with people, delivering faster service, reducing leakage, and improving customer experiences. Most importantly, they free human teams to focus on creativity, judgement, and relationship-building – the areas where people make the biggest impact.”