How intelligent AI agents can reshape claims, customer service and the insurer–policyholder relationship.
As customer expectations for speed and empathy grow, insurers are under pressure to rethink how they communicate and serve. Andreea Plesea, PhD, Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder at Druid AI, explores how agentic AI is helping insurers combine efficiency with human understanding, building trust and loyalty in a market where technology and empathy must now work hand in hand.
From automation to autonomy
Policyholders now expect their insurers to respond with the speed of a digital service provider while still offering the understanding and reassurance that have always underpinned trust. As insurers look to meet these expectations, attention is turning to the next stage of intelligent technology: agentic AI.
Agentic AI represents a new generation of artificial intelligence. Instead of simply following programmed instructions, these systems can interpret intent, act independently and communicate using natural language. They can complete tasks, make contextual decisions and interact with multiple systems as a skilled member of staff might.
For insurers, this development is more than an efficiency gain. It offers a genuine opportunity to strengthen relationships by combining automation with empathy.
Research shows that 84% of customers now value experience as highly as price or product and 60% expect a response to their query within ten minutes. These numbers tell a clear story. The companies that succeed in the coming years will be those that deliver human warmth with digital speed. Agentic AI has the potential to help insurers do just that.
Rebuilding relationships through intelligent service
The claims process provides a useful example. For many customers, making a claim is the defining point in their relationship with an insurer. It is where trust is either reinforced or lost.
A recent study of property insurance satisfaction found that claims settled within ten days achieved an average score of 762 out of 1,000, while those taking more than a month dropped to 595.
Delays and miscommunication remain among the most frequent sources of complaint, with claims-experience-related issues continuing to dominate, accounting for around 71% of all insurance complaints in 2024. Agentic AI can help to change this pattern. Intelligent agents can guide customers through each step of the process, collect the necessary information, verify policy details and escalate complex cases automatically.
This allows insurers to offer faster decisions and clear communication without losing the sense of care and understanding that customers value.
Efficiency that feels human
The same balance of empathy and efficiency can be seen in policy issuance and onboarding. Many insurers now use conversational interfaces that allow customers to compare plans, confirm identity and complete their purchase within minutes.
Onboarding is another area where the right kind of automation can make a measurable difference. Almost half of insurance customers abandon applications partway through and nine in ten insurers admit to losing potential clients due to friction in these early interactions.
An agentic AI system can make the process smoother and more personal, replacing long forms and repetitive data entry with natural conversation that feels familiar and reassuring.
Underwriting remains one of the more complex areas for automation, but here, too, agentic AI is beginning to make progress. Intelligent systems can analyse data, identify missing information and recommend preliminary risk categories, allowing underwriters to focus on the nuances that still require human insight.
The goal is not to remove people from the process, but to make them more effective and responsive.
Balancing speed with empathy
Consumers consistently say that while they value efficiency, they are wary of losing the personal touch. Agentic AI can help resolve this tension.
Using natural language understanding, context recognition and adaptive conversation, intelligent agents can hold exchanges that feel personal rather than mechanical. They can also hand over smoothly to a human representative whenever a situation calls for deeper discussion or emotional sensitivity.
This design principle matters. Customers who experience empathy are far more likely to remain loyal, even after a claim or issue. The challenge for insurers is to use automation to create space for empathy, not replace it. Agentic AI can manage the flow of routine information, allowing people to focus on understanding and reassurance.
When applied well, the technology does not remove empathy but extends it, ensuring that every interaction feels acknowledged and supported, even when handled digitally.
As intelligent autonomy becomes embedded in insurance operations, questions of data ethics and transparency are becoming more pressing. A recent report by CI&T in collaboration with Reuters Events found that nearly three-quarters of UK underwriters cite fragmented or unstructured data as the primary barrier to AI adoption.
This highlights how the success of intelligent systems depends on the quality, accessibility and governance of the data that underpins them.
Insurers are adopting more structured approaches to AI implementation, focusing on small, measurable projects that can be scaled once proven. A phased ‘start small, prove fast, scale smart’ model ensures accountability and ethical control while systems are tested in real-world conditions. Transparency and explainability will become key differentiators as regulators demand clear evidence of fairness in AI-driven decision-making.
Empowering people and elevating service
One of the most promising outcomes of agentic AI is its ability to empower human employees rather than displace them. Internal use cases such as AI-powered support tools are already improving efficiency and satisfaction. In controlled trials, service agents assisted by AI handled almost 14% more enquiries per hour.
Automated IT helpdesk systems have reduced workloads by more than a third and increased satisfaction among internal users by around 30% at a global insurance and asset management company.
These examples demonstrate that AI can reduce pressure, eliminate repetitive tasks and allow teams to focus on the human elements of their work that add value.
The introduction of agentic AI requires thoughtful change management. Employees need training and reassurance that the technology is there to empower rather than replace them.
When used well, intelligent systems can elevate roles, giving staff the space to focus on empathy, communication and problem-solving rather than routine administration.
By investing in people as well as technology, insurers can unlock the full cultural and commercial value of agentic AI.
A More Human Future for Insurance
Agentic AI offers insurers a way to combine responsiveness, accuracy and transparency with the empathy that customers still want from a trusted provider. Claims can be resolved faster, onboarding can feel effortless and customer service can become a continuous conversation rather than a series of transactions.
Yet the greatest value lies in how these systems bring humanity back into digital service. Automation made insurance faster. Autonomy can make it more human again
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