Underwriting the future: the role of artificial intelligence in insurance

This Economist Impact report explores how AI is reshaping insurance, with insights from global executives on current and emerging use cases, value creation as well as key operational and regulatory challenges.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is not new to the insurance industry. For decades insurers have applied machine learning to underwriting. Deep learning, adopted widely in the 2010s, has let firms handle larger volumes of data, sharpening their risk assessments and broadening AI’s application to areas such as fraud detection, customer service and weather forecasting.

But recent advances in generative AI have brought fresh excitement, prompting board-level attention and investment. It is transforming how insurers use data, boosting productivity, accelerating underwriting and claims processing, and improving predictive modelling. Insurers hope this technology will manage risk better, offer more tailored coverage and enhance customer experiences, all while reducing costs.

Society stands to gain too: AI may help insurers close the protection gap and cover risks that are today uninsured. Over the horizon, some anticipate a future where autonomous intelligent systems—or ‘agents’—handle many complex tasks independently. Large insurance companies recognise the potential benefits of agentic AI solutions and are already piloting a range of use cases.

This Economist Impact report draws on a series of roundtable discussions and interviews with insurance executives to understand their perspectives on how AI is reshaping the industry.