Why 83% of Insurers Are Ready to Hand Repeatable Work to Insurance Agentic AI

The insurance market is ready to hand repeatable operational work to AI so it can win business it is currently turning away. A full 83% of the market supports AI executing repeatable work. A further majority, 75%, would only allow AI execution with a model built for insurance or governed inside their own rules. Both findings come from a report published today by ISG, the global technology research and advisory firm, and commissioned by mea Platform.

The study draws on senior leaders across underwriting, operations, claims, technology and transformation. It covers 20 operational activities, from submission intake and triage to quote generation, bordereaux processing, claims adjudication and compliance screening, across North America, Europe and Asia.

Consequential decisions, those that create true company distinction, should stay with people, according to 86% of respondents. Insurers want AI running the repeated work and sharpening the consequential work underneath it, so an underwriter or broker reaches a risk decision with better evidence in front of them and reaches it sooner.

Carriers estimate that one in nine broker submissions is declined or left unquoted because operations cannot keep up, on risks they had the appetite to write.

Where AI is already running in operations, 61% report productivity improvements and 51% faster cycle time, with operating costs expected to fall 16% over two years. While speed and efficiency are major components of the appeal for AI-enabled systems, capacity becomes the bigger prize. Asked what would most improve how brokers see them, 64% named pricing, 52% ease of doing business and 51% AI-driven speed and completeness of submission response.

Asked what they would trust for high-consequence underwriting and claims decisions made with limited oversight, 75% chose an insurance-specific model or a governed hybrid. Only 6% would accept a general-purpose model on its own.

Governed carries a specific meaning in the research. The system draws on controlled policy wording, endorsements, underwriting appetite and claims guidance. Its permissions separate what it may read from what it may decide. A named person can override it or stop it. And it runs on that institution's own appetite, thresholds and referral triggers, so the organization scales its existing practice.

“Insurers are ready to hand the repeated work to AI, and they will do it on one condition, which is a model that understands insurance and operates inside their own rules. That is a demanding standard and the right one, because the prize on the other side is growth. Carriers are turning away business they had the appetite to write because operations cannot keep up, and winning that back is worth more than any saving.” said Martin Henley, Chief Executive, mea Platform.

Ninety-six percent of insurers have AI-led redesign on the agenda. Advanced operating posture, where AI is central to workflow design, stands at 13% today against 52% intended within two years. Fully AI-native operation, where AI executes defined processes end to end while people set policy and manage exceptions, sits below 1% today, and 12% expect to reach it within two years.

“Insurers know exactly where they want the line between AI and human judgment. Getting there is the part they have not solved. The gap between 96% with redesign on the agenda and the 13% that have reached an AI-centred operating model defines the next two years.” said Ashish Jhajharia, Insurance SME and Principal Analyst, ISG.

AI-native, as the study defines it, means AI executing defined processes end to end while people set policy and manage exceptions. Almost no insurer operates that way today. The work that gets a firm there is operating-model work: decision rights, referral rules and an evidence trail that let a system act on the institution’s behalf. Insurers will only permit that with a model built for insurance and governed inside their own rules, which is why 27% of the market is still evaluating rather than building.

The report is available at https://www.meaplatform.com/state-of-insurance-operations/