Will AI replace underwriters?
Updated
Insurance underwriters score 59 of 100 for AI exposure. The largest share of their task time, 72%, is work AI speeds up while they stay in charge. AI can take over the other 28% outright.
- 28% AI can do it
- 72% AI helps
High exposure
Higher than 89% of the 923 occupations we scored.
Task by task
We graded 7 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 2 of them today, speeds up 5 and leaves 0 to people.
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Review company records to determine amount of insurance in force on single risk or group of closely related risks. Looking up and totaling in-force coverage across company records is database work. | 80% AI can do it |
| Write to field representatives, medical personnel, or others to obtain further information, quote rates, or explain company underwriting policies. Drafting requests and explanations to agents, medical staff, and others is routine writing. | 72% AI can do it |
| Examine documents to determine degree of risk from factors such as applicant health, financial standing and value, and condition of property. AI can extract and summarize applicant health, financial, and property records for review. | 65% AI helps |
| Decrease value of policy when risk is substandard and specify applicable endorsements or apply rating to ensure safe, profitable distribution of risks, using reference materials. Rating and endorsement selection from manuals is rules-driven, but needs underwriter sign-off. | 62% AI helps |
| Evaluate possibility of losses due to catastrophe or excessive insurance. Catastrophe models and exposure analytics help, but judgment on tail losses remains human. | 45% AI helps |
| Decline excessive risks. AI can flag clearly excessive risks, but declining stays a underwriter decision. | 30% AI helps |
| Authorize reinsurance of policy when risk is high. AI can recommend reinsurance on high risks, but authorization is an accountable human call. | 30% AI helps |
How insurance underwriters compare
All occupations (923)
Business and financial operations (48)
Pay and outlook in the US
- Median pay
- $81,370 a year, May 2025
- People employed
- 105,420 in the US, May 2025
- Projected change in jobs
- -3.8% from 2024 to 2034
Skills to build
- Hold the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation
- Run catastrophe model outputs and challenge tail-loss assumptions
- Audit in-force coverage totals in Microsoft Access and Excel
- Apply rating manuals and endorsement rules, then document overrides
- Write declination and reinsurance referral memos in Microsoft Word
- Read applicant health and financial files for degree of risk
Safer roles nearby
5 related occupations with lower scores.
Questions about insurance underwriters and AI
Will underwriters be replaced by AI?
Partly. About 5 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly totaling in-force coverage across company records and drafting requests to field representatives and medical staff. Accepting, rating, and declining files stays with the underwriter who signs each decision.
Which tasks will AI take from insurance underwriters?
Three tasks carry the highest exposure. Totaling in-force coverage across company records scores 80 and is database work, so AI can run it quickly. Drafting requests to agents and medical staff scores 72 because it is routine writing. Pulling health, financial, and property details from applicant files scores 65 and is extraction and summary.
Which tasks stay with insurance underwriters?
Declining excessive risks, authorizing reinsurance on high risks, and judging catastrophe or excessive-loss exposure stay with the underwriter. AI can flag a clearly excessive risk or recommend reinsurance, but an accountable person signs the decision. Judgment on tail losses also remains human, even when catastrophe models supply the numbers.
How do insurance underwriters stay valuable as AI takes tasks?
By taking responsibility for the sign-off on every decision AI feeds them. Build fluency in catastrophe models and exposure analytics so you can test their tail-loss assumptions. Keep rating and endorsement choices tied to the manuals, and document why you overrode a rule. Check in-force totals in Microsoft Access and Excel before you sign, since those numbers drive the decision.
Related jobs
Next steps for insurance underwriters
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