{"id":49210,"date":"2026-02-05T16:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T16:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=49210"},"modified":"2026-02-05T16:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T16:37:09","slug":"study-finds-insurers-looking-to-build-trust-value-in-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/02\/05\/study-finds-insurers-looking-to-build-trust-value-in-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Study finds insurers looking to build trust, value in AI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The insurance business is built on trust. Likewise, AI cannot work without trust; users and consumers have to believe that\u00a0<a\/>it\u2019s providing accurate answers based on sound data. But as a new SAS report shows,\u00a0trust in AI\u00a0is a tricky subject, with users placing more trust in generative AI than traditional AI, but not always investing in the governance to ensure that trust is warranted.<\/p>\n<p>As the industry enters a year in which many expect\u00a0AI\u00a0to produce a spike in business value, insurers face an inflection point: AI adoption is accelerating, but businesses must address questions around governance and data maturity before they can realise its full potential.<\/p>\n<p>With an eye toward the coming year, industry experts from\u00a0SAS,\u00a0Amazon Web Services (AWS)\u00a0and\u00a0Economist Impact\u00a0will present a live webinar on 4 February \u2013\u00a0<em>2026 Insurance Trends<\/em><em>: Risks, Disruptions &#038; What Comes Next<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 to discuss the forces reshaping insurance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur research shows the insurance industry in line with other sectors \u2013 if not slightly ahead of them \u2013 in terms of delivering trustworthy AI,\u201d said Kathy Lange, Research Director of the AI and Automation Practice at IDC.\u00a0\u201cHowever, when it comes to the level of maturity of AI and data infrastructures, insurers lag behind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAI is an imperative for businesses, but it\u2019s not a magic pill,\u201d added Franklin Manchester, Global Insurance Strategic Advisor at SAS. \u201cFor AI to generate value throughout the enterprise, it needs to be supported by talented people and fuelled with robust, connected data. The insurers who can infuse AI into their existing operations \u2013 and who establish the governance necessary to deliver safe and responsible AI at scale \u2013 will have a competitive advantage for growth, innovation and creating value for their customers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Insurers taking a measured approach to AI<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The<em>\u00a0Data and AI Impact Report:\u00a0<\/em><em>The Trust Imperative<\/em>\u2013 an IDC report commissioned by SAS \u2013 reveals a number of themes indicating that the insurance industry, at least compared to other sectors, is taking a cautious, deliberate approach to adopting AI:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Modest overall AI maturity.<\/strong>\u00a0The report notes that, among the four industries analysed (the others being government, life sciences and banking), \u201c<em>insurance presents the most modest profile in terms of both AI and data infrastructure maturity<\/em>.\u201d Only\u00a07%\u00a0of insurers consider themselves \u201c<em>transformative<\/em>\u201d \u2013 the lowest of all industries. And 14%\u00a0remain siloed in their data infrastructure, slowing innovation and limiting enterprise-wide adoption.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Conservative investment profile.<\/strong>\u00a0About 8% of insurers expect to increase their AI spending by at least 20% in the next year, with\u00a0nearly 60% saying they expect an increase of between 4% and 20%. About one-third said they expected an even smaller increase (3% or less), if not an outright decrease in investment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Trust gaps.<\/strong>\u00a0Only 9% of insurers combine a high level of trust in the technology with strong trustworthy AI capabilities. Over 40% fall into the categories of\u00a0either underutilisation (low trust in reliable systems)\u00a0or\u00a0overreliance (high trust in unproven systems).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Challenges to AI modernisation.<\/strong>\u00a0Over half of insurance respondents (51%) said their organisation lacked effective data governance, and the same percentage said their data foundations were not centralised or optimised. Almost as many (44%) also perceived a shortage of specialised AI talent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>The move toward AI value<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As insurers move toward AI maturity, expect to see them focus on the uses that generate the most value, which are those that drive growth. The study found that cost-reduction measures produce the lowest return of any AI use. The bigger opportunities include improving customer experience, expanding market share and strengthening resilience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaking processes more efficient is still important,\u201d said Manchester. \u201cBut the most competitive insurers will focus on using AI for\u00a0innovation to drive premium growth through outstanding customer experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Executive webinar: 2026 Insurance Trends<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Registration is open for the 4 February\u00a0insurance trends webinar. The live discussion will offer insights into the trends that will shape the insurance industry over the next year and beyond, along with guidance for how to build trust, increase profitability and improve performance. In addition to SAS\u2019 Manchester, panellists will include:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Pratima Singh<\/strong>, Principal, Policy and Insights Team \u2013\u00a0<strong>Economist Impact<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sri Raghavan<\/strong>, Principal for Data and AI Enterprise Strategy \u2013\u00a0<strong>AWS<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The group will discuss some of the most timely trends and topics facing insurers, including agentic AI; adversarial AI; economic instability; and volatility from climate change, geopolitics, regulation and technological evolution.<\/p>\n<p><strong>About SAS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>SAS is a global leader in data and AI. With SAS software and industry-specific solutions, organizations transform data into trusted decisions. SAS gives you THE POWER TO KNOW<sup>\u00ae<\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For further information please contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mabel Schrimpton<\/p>\n<p>GTM Marketing Lead: South Africa &#038; Sub-Sahara Africa, SAS<\/p>\n<p>Mabel.Schrimpton@sas.com<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Study #finds #insurers #build #trust<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The insurance business is built on trust. Likewise, AI cannot work without trust; users and consumers have to believe that\u00a0it\u2019s&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,11],"tags":[824,3297,9643,2471,5375],"class_list":["post-49210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi","category-world","tag-build","tag-finds","tag-insurers","tag-study","tag-trust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49212,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49210\/revisions\/49212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}