A new report from Sixfold for you;
Sixfold, the AI underwriting company working with global insurers, has released The Future of Underwriting: AI Adoption, Workforce Trends, and Industry Optimism, an independent study of 543 underwriting executives and underwriters across the US and Europe.
Sixfold’s research found that underwriting professionals are not skeptical of AI, instead they are more excited about the future because of it. 99% of underwriting executives say it makes them more excited about the industry’s future. Underwriters themselves feel similarly optimistic, with 86% more excited about where the profession is headed and willing to recommend underwriting as a career today, and 79% feeling prepared for the future.
That optimism is being reinforced by measurable business outcomes. Every underwriting executive surveyed says AI has made their teams faster, better, or both, while 92% report better underwriting decisions and 85% say AI is helping teams handle more submissions. Four in five executives also say AI is already delivering a clear return on investment or they are confident it will.
Alex Schmelkin, Founder and CEO of Sixfold, said: “It might surprise the industry to hear how excited underwriters are about AI, but it’s what we’re hearing from our customers everyday. They’ve moved past ingestion engines and basic triage support. What they want is AI that aligns with how they actually think about risk and can take on some of their work. The insurers ready to put that into production will outpace their competitors.”
The research also highlights an important change in how insurers should think about AI investment. Technology is increasingly becoming part of insurers’ competition for talent. More than three quarters of underwriting executives are concerned about hiring and retaining experienced underwriters, with 77% worried employees could leave for organizations with stronger AI capabilities. Underwriters see it the same way, with 72% saying an employer’s AI strategy would influence a future career move.
“Not long ago when we spoke with underwriting leaders, they were concerned about how their underwriters would react to AI entering their workflow. Now the conversation has completely turned. Leaders tell us they’re worried about losing their best underwriters to competitors with stronger AI capabilities,” said Jane Tran, Co-founder and COO of Sixfold. “Underwriters are saying the same thing; where and how a company invests in AI genuinely affects whether they stay or go. Many organizations haven’t fully woken up to that yet but their AI strategy is their retention strategy.”
Despite AI’s momentum, the research suggests that challenges remain and points to where the next gains could come from. While the majority of underwriters say that AI has improved their relationships with brokers and agents, eight in ten underwriters still spend between 30 minutes and four hours chasing missing information from brokers on a single risk. 66% of executives say they wish they had more visibility into the quality of risks coming from each broker and agent.
The research points to where the industry has the most ground to gain, and where the next wave of value will come from. Download The Future of Underwriting: AI Adoption, Workforce Trends, and Industry Optimism report here.
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