Nationwide drives AI experimentation and flagship underwriting transformation
Nationwide is leaning into practical AI to modernize workflows, build associate confidence, and grow underwriting capacity. The strategy is simple: start small, keep humans in control, and scale what works.
Three lanes of change
According to Guru Vasudeva, SVP and CIO for property & casualty, Nationwide is driving AI across three areas: supporting day-to-day work, rethinking software engineering, and reshaping core insurance operations. The company exposed associates to tools early to build comfort and judgment. "We experimented with tools like Copilot, but more recently we rolled out Glean to pull together information from internal and external sources, packaging insights efficiently," he said. The stance is clear: AI enables; people decide.
AI-enabled software engineering
On the development side, teams are testing an "AI DLC" model - an AI-enabled lifecycle from requirements to testing. Tools like GitHub Copilot and Playwright are used to accelerate analysis, draft code, generate test cases, and reduce rework. "We are reimagining how our development teams operate. It's about augmenting skills rather than replacing people," Vasudeva said.
- Requirements: faster translation of business intent into user stories and acceptance criteria
- Build: code suggestions, boilerplate generation, and secure patterns on demand
- Test: automated scenario creation, UI testing, and defect summarization
For reference, see GitHub Copilot for assisted coding and Playwright for end-to-end testing at scale.
Flagship initiative: agribusiness underwriting
Nationwide's "flagship initiatives" focus AI on specific outcomes. In commercial agribusiness, submissions can include multi-state buildings, fleets, and a flood of unstructured documents. Underwriters spend time chasing details and piecing together context.
AI now helps identify missing fields, summarize prior conversations, and surface relevant public information. "Underwriters still review and make the decisions, but AI acts as an aide, reducing cycle time and improving responsiveness," Vasudeva said.
Adoption wasn't left to chance. A cross-functional team - underwriting volunteers, technologists, and corporate innovation - built minimal viable products and iterated. Brad Liggett, president of agribusiness, appointed a senior underwriter as an AI champion to translate capabilities into daily workflows. "Transformation is not just about technology - it's about winning hearts and minds," Vasudeva noted.
From the C-suite to the front line
Executive sponsorship has been explicit. Mark Berven, president of the P&C group, and other leaders reviewed proposals and elevated agribusiness underwriting as a priority. The target metric is clear: increase underwriting capacity by helping underwriters process more submissions, with greater confidence, in less time.
Personal lines: from react to predict-and-prevent
Beyond commercial lines, Nationwide is moving personal lines toward prevention. By integrating AI with smart-home signals and weather alerts, the company is working to identify risk early and mitigate losses before they occur. That shift improves customer experience and reduces avoidable claim costs.
For context on public alerting, see the National Weather Service.
What insurance leaders can copy now
- Expose teams to AI early and often; build familiarity before scale
- Pick one flagship workflow with measurable friction (cycle time, rework, throughput)
- Embed a respected frontline "AI champion" to guide adoption and feedback loops
- Ship small: MVPs like missing-field flags, document summaries, and research aides
- Keep humans in control with clear decision boundaries and audit trails
- Measure capacity lift, response times, and quality - then reinvest where ROI is proven
If you're planning a similar path, this resource may help: AI for Insurance.
The bottom line
Nationwide's approach is pragmatic: start with real work, empower people, and let results pull AI forward. That's how you modernize underwriting and claims without losing the human judgment that makes insurance work.
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