More than half (55%) of UK insurers have integrated artificial intelligence (AI) into core business functions, but many now face the industry’s growing “AI execution gap”, according to a recent report by dynamic AI insurance platform Earnix.
Earnix’s survey is based on insights from more than 400 global insurance executives, including 40 UK insurance leaders.
The findings reveal that while UK insurers are accelerating their adoption of AI, many are facing the challenge of moving from siled AI use cases to enterprise-scale operational decision-making.
The report also found that 98% of UK insurers are already using or planning to use generative AI to process unstructured data, significantly ahead of the global average.
Meanwhile, 30% of UK insurers admit they are significantly behind customer expectations for personalization.
Additionally, 91% of UK insurers plan to increase investment in third-party data, while 53% of respondents said regulation is moderately slowing AI innovation.
Research also shows that UK insurers are prioritizing the use of AI for operational workflows such as claims processing and policy issuance over customer retention use cases.
Adrian Mincher, head of UK, Ireland and South Africa at Earnix, said: “UK insurers have clearly moved beyond trialling AI in isolated pilots. This research strongly suggests that pressure has shifted to making AI work sustainably in the real world – in internal pricing, underwriting, claims and customer decision-making, where speed, governance and commercial performance are all simultaneously important.
“The market as a whole is not lacking in ambition or investment, but many companies still find it difficult to translate insights into action at scale. This is particularly evident when it comes to personalization, where customer expectations are changing rapidly and operational processes are struggling to keep up. The conversation around AI is now becoming more practical – less about testing the technology and more about whether insurers can close the execution gap and truly confidently embed AI into the way they make everyday decisions at scale.”
