68 For decades, insurance has been defined by episodic moments, such as a policy issued, a claim filed and a loss assessed. However, a new generation of AI agents can reshape that model by shifting the industry from reactive transactions to continuous engagement built around prevention, early intervention and outcome management. “Insurance can become more about prevention than dealing with a claim,” says Will Hyams of Howden Group Holdings, who spoke on a panel for the Microsoft AI Tour London on ‘Pioneering the future of financial services with AI’. “We could help clients to avoid that catastrophe if we can – and the real way to do that is through real-time data.” That ambition is increasingly achievable as insurers embed agentic AI across the value chain. Tyler Jones, chief marketing officer at Duck Creek Technologies, describes a “fundamental shift from reactive protection to proactive outcomes, where insurers gain a far more granular understanding of risk and can intervene earlier”. Intelligent core platforms like Duck Creek increasingly embed AI directly into underwriting, policy and claims workflows, allowing insurers to move from episodic transactions toward continuous insight and prevention. At the heart of this transformation are AI agents, which are “systems that support autonomous tasks, help make decisions and take action under human oversight,” as Jim DeMarco, head of insurance advisory for worldwide financial services at Microsoft, defines them. Many insurers began their AI journeys with digital assistants that summarise documents, extract data and reduce manual effort. Those tools delivered quick wins. But, as Jeffery Williams, a managing director in Microsoft’s insurance advisory organisation, explains, this is only the starting point. The more significant shift comes when insurers move from using AI to support individual tasks to managing intelligent agents that coordinate entire workflows. “In core operations, agents ingest unstructured submissions, medical records, images and emails, converting them into structured insights and recommended actions,” says Williams. Agents can prepare decision briefs, track regulatory requirements, surface risks and exceptions, automate hand-offs and ensure continuity across teams. Execution, in this model, is no longer confined to a single function. It is distributed across people, processes and systems. AI agents are reshaping underwriting, claims and actuarial functions, building on continuous insight, human-agent collaboration and trust. Microsoft’s Jeffery Williams tells us more BY ALICE CHAMBERS FEATURE digital colleagues Insurance’s
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