Insurance companies recruited 32% more artificial intelligence (AI) experts last year despite an overall reduction in staff numbers, according to research.
In its latest index for AI adoption in the insurance sector, benchmarking company Evident revealed that one in every 50 jobs in the sector is now an AI-based role. This comes at a time when the overall workforce declined by 2.2%.
The importance of AI recruitment was highlighted by the AI index, finding that the highest-ranked firm in terms of adoption, Allianz, employs 28% more AI specialists than its nearest competitor, AXA, which was ranked number two.
The insurance sector’s take-up of AI mirrors that of its banking counterparts, which lead the way in adopting the technology. In April, Evident revealed that one in 50 employees recruited by the top 10 banks work in AI-related roles and stated that AI roles could soon be the only “safe jobs” in the banking sector.
AI is now also core to the plans of large insurance companies. Barbara Karuth-Zelle, group chief operating officer at Allianz, which ranked highest in Evident’s AI adoption index, said AI doesn’t change its ambition, but “accelerates” how it delivers on it.
“Behind this ranking are thousands of moments: a claim processed faster, a customer experience reimagined, a partner better connected, a colleague freed up for what truly matters. And we are determined to keep going – an inspiring, transformative journey,” said Karuth-Zelle.
Zurich’s chief information and digital officer, Ericson Chan, said the insurer’s ranking at number four “signals a broader transformation from use cases to enterprise-wide execution and change”.
He added: “AI is no longer a technology initiative. It is becoming Zurich’s operating system.”
Agentic AI plays an increasing role in finance
Christian Preece, insurance director at Evident, said: “The growing role played by agentic systems means that insurers can connect multiple steps in a process – for tasks like first notice of loss, triaging, evidence assessment and policy checks – and make decisions that can dramatically reduce manual bottlenecks.”
He said insurers are also increasingly putting use cases into production that help to reshape entire workflows, “rather than creating isolated efficiencies”.
One IT professional with experience in the banking and insurance sector told Computer Weekly that the last time he worked at an insurer, “AI was not even talked about”, adding that “back then, it was all about adopting agile development methods”.
He said he is not surprised insurers are a bit behind banks in terms of AI adoption. “Banks tend to be more aggressive in terms of technology, I think partly because they’re bigger organisations and often global with more customers,” he added.
Alexandra Mousavizadeh, co-founder and co-CEO of Evident, said insurance companies are entering a new phase of AI adoption after spending time preparing for the technology.
“Up to this point, the priority, by and large, has been about laying the foundations. Now we’re seeing a growing emphasis on execution and scaling, with AI influencing underwriting, claims management and fraud detection across product categories.”
