TL;DR
Accenture’s survey of 218 senior insurance executives shows 90% plan to increase AI spending in 2026. However, only 40% of employees feel adequately trained, and just 5% of companies are adjusting job roles to support AI adoption.
Investment Up, Readiness Down
Insurance executives are betting heavily on AI despite significant workforce challenges, according to Accenture’s Pulse of Change survey of 3,650 C-suite leaders across 20 industries and countries.
Among the 218 senior insurance executives surveyed, 85% view AI as a tool for revenue expansion rather than cost reduction. Yet 54% of employees report that low-quality or misleading AI outputs are undermining productivity.
“It’s clear that insurance leaders are confident in AI’s capacity to drive growth,” says Khalid Lahraoui, Accenture’s insurance industry group lead. “They are decisively increasing investments, despite ROI uncertainty.”
The Employee Disconnect
The gap between leadership enthusiasm and workforce readiness is stark:
- 40% of employees feel their training has equipped them for AI responsibilities
- 20% feel they have any say in how AI affects their work
- 48% feel secure in their roles, down from 59% in summer 2025
- 10 percentage point drop in regular AI use by employees since summer 2025
Meanwhile, 34% of insurance companies are now rolling out AI agents across multiple functions, and nearly a third are rebuilding entire processes around the technology.
Bubble-Proof Confidence
Even concerns about a potential AI bubble haven’t dampened executive optimism. If a bubble burst, 47% said they would increase AI spending and 37% would accelerate recruitment.
The Real Challenge
The report concludes that the key obstacle isn’t AI technology itself—it’s getting employees engaged and prepared. Companies must redesign job roles, align incentives, and improve training programmes.
“2026 will favour those that align confidence in technological investments with commitment to workforce needs,” the report states.