Insurers shift AI spending to underwriting and risk selection

The 2026 Evident AI Index of 30 global insurers found companies are moving AI investment from general efficiency projects to tools that affect underwriting, pricing and risk selection.

The index reported AI-specialist headcount rose 32 percent over the past year while the broader insurance workforce fell 2.2 percent. AI specialists now represent about one in 50 employees at the firms tracked. Firms are shifting from building data foundations to deploying business-specific AI that changes pricing, claims outcomes and which risks are accepted.

Nearly 40 percent of insurers in the index now have a senior leader explicitly responsible for AI, with most appointments made in the last 12 months. The report found a rise in so-called agentic AI systems that coordinate actions across multiple stages of policy administration and claims: one in four newly disclosed use cases shows agentic orchestration, compared with one in 20 six months earlier. At the same time the share of data engineering roles declined as positions focused on AI development and software implementation increased.

Zurich rose from 12th to fourth in the rankings after rolling out ZurichIQ, a modular generative AI platform across underwriting, claims, legal and service operations. The company has developed function-specific tools such as PolicyIQ for contract comparisons and GuidelinelQ to enforce underwriting standards and manages these through a committee and model risk management processes. Zurich also runs internal training programs, including a £1.3m AI apprenticeship initiative.

The index highlighted that claims typically absorb 60 to 80 percent of premium income, so insurers are concentrating AI on fraud detection and risk selection where small improvements can affect loss costs more than reductions in administrative expense. Manulife, Generali and Intact Financial have published AI-driven financial figures; the report projects those three firms will generate more than $1 billion in AI-related value by the end of their reporting periods.

Allianz and AXA remain among the top-ranked firms for sustained investment across innovation, talent and transparency. Allianz is listed as having the largest AI talent pool in the industry and roughly 900 registered AI use cases worldwide.

Christian Preece, Insurance Director at Evident, said: “For years, insurers have competed on AI ambition, but now the focus is shifting from what insurers are building to the value they’re creating.” He added that the first public ROI disclosures give boards and shareholders the data they have been seeking.

Ericson Chan, Group Chief Information & Digital Officer at Zurich, described the change as “a broader transformation from use cases to enterprise-wide execution and change,” and said Zurich’s AI360 strategy embeds intelligence into workflows, decisions and customer outcomes.

The index concludes more insurers are likely to publish ROI figures and appoint senior AI leaders in the coming year as boards and investors seek clearer evidence of financial returns.