Axa and Allianz top global AI insurance rankings as industry leaders race to scale innovation

Axa and Allianz Lead Global AI Adoption in Insurance

Axa has secured the top position in a new benchmark ranking of artificial intelligence (AI) adoption within the insurance industry. As insurers worldwide push to integrate AI into their core operations, the focus remains on improving efficiency, reducing fraud, and addressing rising climate and geopolitical risks.

The AI Index for Insurance, released by the benchmarking and intelligence platform Evident, evaluates 30 leading life, property and casualty (P&C), composite, and reinsurance companies across North America and Europe.

Axa Tops Evident’s AI Benchmark for Insurers

France’s Axa and Germany’s Allianz stand out as clear leaders. Both companies rank in the top five across the four key categories: Talent, Innovation, Leadership, and Transparency. Their success comes from years of deliberate, incremental AI investments and a strong organisational commitment to embedding AI.

The report highlights that just ten insurers hold over half of the AI talent in the industry. Among these are Canada’s Intact Financial and Manulife, as well as US-based USAA and MassMutual. P&C insurers currently outpace life insurers in AI adoption, benefiting from shorter policy cycles, frequent customer interactions, and access to large volumes of structured data that enable more agile AI deployment.

AI Presents Significant Opportunities for Insurers

AI offers insurers a unique chance to modernise underwriting, operations, and competitive positioning. However, progress is uneven, with only a few major insurers implementing comprehensive enterprise-wide AI strategies. Most investments focus on a few high-impact areas:

• Claims automation
• Customer service enhancement
• Underwriting improvements
• Internal knowledge search

Examples of AI Use Cases in Insurance

Several firms are already deploying AI tools to boost operational efficiency:

• Allianz has introduced an insurance copilot to assist with claims processing.
• Manulife uses AI to summarise legal documents, streamlining workflows.
• Aviva employs an AI-powered triage system.
• Travelers relies on a dynamic underwriting engine driven by AI.

AI Financial Returns Remain Limited but Promising

Only three insurers—Intact Financial, Zurich Insurance Group, and Aviva—have shared financial results from AI projects. Intact leads with over $150 million in annual benefits from more than 500 AI models, offering the most comprehensive return on investment (ROI) figures. This highlights a key challenge: while launching AI pilots is straightforward, scaling AI across an entire organisation is difficult but essential for lasting impact.

Geographical Insights in AI Adoption

Europe and North America are progressing at comparable speeds. Canadian insurers, despite a smaller market, rank highly—Manulife and Intact both place in the top five. In the US, insurers such as USAA, Liberty Mutual, The Hartford, and Travelers show strong AI workforce density. For example, nearly 5% of USAA’s employees focus on AI, which is almost three times the average across the Index.

European insurers lead in overall AI talent volume, but US companies demonstrate higher AI workforce density, reflecting focused strategies and organisational readiness.

Looking Ahead

Evident plans to update its AI Index for Insurance annually. This will provide investors and boards with clearer insights into how insurers manage digital risks and build sustainable AI capabilities.

For insurance professionals interested in enhancing AI skills and knowledge, exploring specialised AI courses can be valuable. Resources like Complete AI Training’s courses tailored for insurance roles offer practical guidance on applying AI in your field.