Despite widespread experimentation with generative artificial intelligence (AI), many life and health insurers remain unprepared to scale the technology across their organizations, according to a recent report from Deloitte.
In a survey of 200 U.S. insurance executives—split evenly between the life & annuity (L&A) and property & casualty (P&C) sectors—76% reported implementing generative AI in at least one business function. L&A insurers led slightly, with 82% adoption, compared to 70% among P&C respondents. Larger insurers were also more likely to report adoption.
However, Deloitte’s findings suggest that most initiatives remain in early stages, such as proofs of concept and scoping, with relatively few insurers moving into broad deployment. The biggest barriers to scaling? Legacy technology infrastructure, poor data foundations, and lack of collaboration between business and technology teams. Interestingly, underfunding was not cited as a primary obstacle.
A closer look at adoption reveals that many insurers are concentrating their GenAI efforts in high-impact but complex areas. Deloitte found the largest proportion of projects are still in the scoping stage, particularly in product design and policy documents (39%), IT and data (37%), and legal functions (35%). Attitudes toward GenAI’s risk-reward profile remain mixed: 45% of executives say the benefits outweigh the risks, 25% say the risks are greater, and 31% remain undecided—highlighting both the promise and the lingering uncertainty that surround the technology.
Success, the report notes, tends to follow where companies foster strong cross-functional collaboration and invest in data readiness. These elements are critical to moving from pilot programs to full-scale deployment.
Deloitte recommends insurers focus on a “3R framework”—resources, responsibility, and returns—to guide their scaling strategy. Demonstrating early value, particularly in efficiency and productivity gains, will be key to maintaining leadership support and avoiding “experiment fatigue.”
While generative AI is already yielding incremental efficiencies, Deloitte cautions that the true value will come from longer-term innovation and transformation. For insurers willing to approach scaling with discipline and patience, the payoff could be a more agile, competitive, and customer-centric business model.
Read the entire Deloitte report here.
