Australian consumers are asking AI platforms detailed questions about insurance coverage, and in 70% of cases, no brand gets mentioned in response. That finding, drawn from 34,278 real consumer conversations tracked across Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT during May 2026, represents roughly 24,000 research interactions in a single month where Australian insurers were invisible - a gap that mid-tier and specialty carriers have yet to address.
The study, conducted by AI search monitoring firm Somantra, tracked 20 Australian insurance brands. It arrives as a separate GlobalData poll of 113 industry professionals finds nearly a quarter believe AI has not reached maturity suitable for widespread use - a hesitation that may be costing brands ground in channels where consumer attention is already concentrating.
Most specific consumer questions go unanswered by any brand
Across detailed, intent-driven queries - questions about coverage scenarios, eligibility conditions, and product comparisons - 70% of AI-generated responses named no insurer. The pool of domains cited by AI engines contracted 21% between March and May 2026, falling from 10,777 to 8,488 unique domains. As that pool narrows, the barrier to entering AI-generated recommendations rises.
"This is not a problem. This is an opportunity. Every one of those brandless responses is a gap in the market, which is proof that the right content, structured the right way and published on the sources AI engines trust, could put a brand into that answer instead of nobody at all," said Arun Prasad, founder of Somantra. "The window is closing. Every month, more of the long tail gets claimed by whichever brand shows up first with the right content on the right sources."
A small number of brands dominate high-volume queries
Where AI platforms do recommend brands, attention is concentrated among a handful of insurers. On ChatGPT, three brands - Allianz, NRMA, and AAMI - accounted for half of all insurance-related mentions. Nine brands collectively covered 90% of total mentions, leaving the remaining 11 tracked brands competing for a thin slice of visibility.
Google AI Overviews distributed attention more broadly, though not substantially so. Four brands reached the 50% threshold, and 11 were needed to cover 90% of mentions. Allianz recorded the highest combined total at 13,437 mentions across both platforms, followed by NRMA at 12,524 and Budget Direct at 10,708. At the other end, Ozicare appeared in 62 conversations, Coles Insurance in 517, and Qantas Insurance in 895.
"Google gives you options. ChatGPT gives you a shortlist, and the shortlist is getting shorter. If you are not already in the top tier on a given platform, you are fighting over scraps of visibility, not competing on equal terms," Prasad said.
Platform divergence creates both risk and opening for mid-tier brands
The two platforms rarely agree on which brand to recommend. Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT suggested the same brand for the same query in only 27.9% of cases in May, up from 23.7% in March. In roughly seven out of 10 head-to-head comparisons, a consumer asking the same question on each platform received a different brand recommendation.
Budget Direct illustrates the divergence risk. It led all brands on Google AI Overviews with 8,556 mentions, yet only 20.1% of its total AI visibility came from ChatGPT. For every five times Budget Direct appeared across both platforms, four of those appearances were on Google alone. As consumers increasingly use ChatGPT alongside Google to research financial products, a brand with that degree of platform concentration carries exposure it may not yet be measuring.
For brands currently underrepresented on one platform, the divergence also creates an opening. Because Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT are forming their assessments of brand authority independently, a brand shut out of one platform's preferred list may retain room to establish presence on the other. Professionals looking to build this presence can explore AI for Marketing strategies that address how AI search engines evaluate and cite brand content.
Car, home, and motorcycle insurance are the most crowded battlegrounds
The opportunity is not evenly distributed across product lines. Car insurance generated the highest volume of brand mentions at 22,777, followed by home and contents at 20,591 and motorcycle at 16,376. In these categories, established brands have accumulated visibility that a new entrant or smaller competitor would need sustained effort to displace.
Pet insurance and life insurance present a different picture. Pet recorded 2,457 total brand mentions across both platforms, and life insurance recorded 1,283 - categories where fewer brands currently feature in AI-generated responses. An insurer in either line that moves early to build presence on the sources AI engines cite faces less entrenched competition than one attempting to gain ground in car or home, where category leaders have already established substantial leads. Within categories, those leads are significant: Allianz held 3,941 mentions in travel insurance, NRMA led car with 3,238, QBE led motorcycle with 2,896, and Budget Direct led pet with 940.
Rankings shifted materially between March and May
The two-month gap between Somantra's March and May audits produced movement across the board. Allianz added 960 mentions to move past NRMA into the top overall position. Budget Direct posted the largest percentage gain among tracked brands, up 9.7%, displacing AAMI from the top three. AAMI recorded the steepest absolute decline, losing 2,147 mentions - an 18.1% drop. Bingle fell 30.8%, GIO fell 29.3%, and CGU dropped 27.8%.
Citation patterns on ChatGPT also shifted. In March, Canstar was the platform's most-cited domain with 232 references. By May, both Finder and Canstar each exceeded 900 citations, with Finder taking the top position at 902. Reddit climbed from 147 to 387 citations, reflecting a source mix that extends well beyond traditional comparison-site ecosystems.
That ranking volatility is unfolding while much of the insurance industry is still forming a view on AI deployment. A GlobalData poll found nearly a quarter of industry respondents questioned AI's readiness for widespread use. Ben Carey-Evans, senior insurance analyst at GlobalData, attributed the hesitation partly to the narrow scope of current implementations and to unresolved questions about accountability. "This might be because use cases to date are largely around customer service and chatbots, rather than full-scale implementation. Regulation has not fully caught up yet and there is concern around who is liable for mistakes made by AI," he said.
A shortage of in-house expertise ranked as the second-most-cited concern in the GlobalData poll. The firm's job analytics data recorded approximately 63,293 active AI-related insurance roles in 2025 - the highest on record and around 51% above 2024 levels. For insurance teams building internal capability, targeted AI for Insurance training can help close the gap between the technology's pace and the industry's capacity to deploy it effectively.
Why this matters for insurance professionals
AI search is not a future consideration. It is already determining which brands consumers encounter - and which they do not - before a policy is ever quoted. The Somantra data shows that in crowded lines like car and home insurance, a small number of brands have built leads that are widening with each reporting cycle. In less contested lines like pet and life insurance, the brandless-response rate represents a window that will not stay open indefinitely. The decision for insurance executives is not whether AI search matters, but whether they move before a competitor claims the uncontested ground that currently sits empty in seven out of 10 consumer queries.
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