Issue Insurance: judgment survives where risk is complex

Summary

This issue argues that insurance will remain a business built on people, especially where risks are complicated. EY expects advisors soon to work amid AI agents that support decisions, carry out actions and run back-office processes. Standardized products are likely to become fully AI-driven, with sensors and connected devices triggering claims automatically. Yet human judgment will remain vital for testing pricing models, validating decision-support systems, checking that AI outputs hold up and designing new products for changing risks and customer needs. The main capability challenge is training a new generation of underwriters and advisors able to tell when automated systems fail. EY concludes that productivity gains will come from scaling human judgment rather than replacing people.