Insurers race towards autonomous AI, Sapiens survey finds

Sapiens has launched an insurance AI maturity index based on a global survey of senior insurance professionals. The study found that 67% of respondents expect AI in insurance to become fully autonomous within two to three years.

The index places insurers in four groups: Reactive, Enabled, Operational, and Autonomous. It measures progress in cloud adoption, master data strategy, AI governance, and HR strategy.

Only a quarter of insurers were classified as Autonomous Leaders, while 28% were ranked Operational. Another 23% fell into the Enabled category and 24% were classed as Reactive.

The findings suggest uneven progress across the sector. The survey found that 77% of insurers said AI cuts product deployment times by an average of three months, while 87% said they are prioritising agentic AI, even though only 16% have adopted it.

Regional split

Benelux and the Nordics recorded the highest shares of Autonomous Leaders, at 33% and 28% respectively. The US, UK, and South Africa trailed at 25%, 23%, and 18%.

The data also showed a gap between insurance segments. Some 30% of property and casualty insurers were classed as Autonomous Leaders, compared with 25% of life insurers.

Company size also appeared to shape adoption. Among insurers with more than 20,000 employees, 39% fell into the Autonomous Leaders category. That compared with 27% of large insurers with up to 5,000 employees and 21% of specialist or mid-sized firms with fewer than 1,000 employees.

Use cases

Across all countries surveyed, respondents reported wider use of automation and AI than agentic AI. On average, 40% said they were using automation, 42% said they were using AI, and 24% said they were using agentic AI.

Insurers also reported stronger gains from AI than from agentic AI in several operational areas. For turnaround times, 60% cited benefits from AI versus 44% for agentic AI. For customer experience, the figures were 58% and 47%; for manual handling costs, 53% and 44%; and for error levels, 51% and 47%.

Globally, 61% of insurers said AI is a key business strategy for the future, and 51% said it would give them a competitive advantage. The Nordics ranked highest for the importance placed on agentic AI and readiness to adopt it, while the UK ranked lowest on both measures.

Human checks

Confidence in AI and agentic AI tools was high among users, but human oversight remained common. Some 86% said they were very or somewhat confident in the decisions made by these tools.

Even so, respondents said an average of 53% of agentic AI work is checked by a human. On average, 15% of decisions made by AI or agentic AI are overridden by a person.

Country data showed a more mixed picture. The Nordics and South Africa reported the highest confidence levels in checks on agentic AI, both at 89%, compared with 74% in the UK and 78% in North America. Yet South Africa and the Nordics also reported the highest rates of overriding more than 20% of AI decisions, at 48% and 35%, compared with 32% in North America and 29% in the UK.

Workforce focus

The survey suggested that skills and governance remain major barriers for insurers that have yet to adopt AI more fully. Non-users identified governance, skills development, and stronger data strategies as the main areas where they need support.

Autonomous Leaders were more likely than others to focus on workforce development. Some 71% said they were upskilling employees, compared with an international average of 53% and 35% among Reactive firms. They were also moving more quickly to hire AI-savvy staff, with 57% doing so, against an international average of 38% and 20% among Reactive firms.

In the Nordics, 49% of respondents said AI use is being mandated for all employees. That compared with 25% in the UK and 17% in North America.

Paul Wheeler, Chief Executive Officer at Sapiens, said the survey showed the pace of change facing insurers.

"The Sapiens Insurance AI Maturity Index highlights a clear, industry-wide imperative for AI and agentic AI adoption, though insurers must accelerate their timelines or risk being left behind," Wheeler said. "We see firsthand what is possible when these technologies are deployed at scale, particularly with agentic AI. By implementing the right strategies today, insurers can leverage AI not just as a tool, but as a catalyst to build deeper customer trust, launch products faster, and deliver superior digital user experiences."