Insurance Giants Bet on Agentic AI to Reshape Customer Service and Cut Costs

Major insurers are navigating a delicate tradeoff: investing heavily in agentic AI systems while simultaneously reducing operational headcount. Allstate, one of the sector's largest players, is positioning itself to compete in a marketplace increasingly dominated by autonomous AI assistants that handle customer transactions without human intermediaries.

During Allstate's Q3 2026 earnings call on Wednesday, CEO Tom Wilson outlined how the company plans to work alongside third-party agents rather than displacing them. Personal agentic AI assistants like Meta's Muse represent a new customer segment that prefers automated interactions, Wilson explained to investors. "We will be available to all personal agents," he said during the call.

Allstate has already moved aggressively into the space. Earlier this year, the insurer rolled out Allie, its proprietary agentic AI platform designed for agent-to-agent processing. The company reported that this rollout is now accelerating, with 97% of its workforce now certified as AI-enabled. In the third quarter alone, AI code production jumped 3.6 times compared to the first quarter. Ask Allstate, a customer service chatbot launched in July, is now handling 15% of chat volume with satisfactory performance metrics.

The insurer's next major milestone arrives in 2027, when it plans to launch its own protection-focused personal AI agent. This product will give independent agents a tool to direct customers toward Allstate's offerings, creating what Wilson characterized as mutual benefit. "Its value proposition includes more accurate pricing given our insurance expertise than the general purpose [personal agentic assistants] will have," he said. "It will also provide consumers with context on the type of coverage that's right for them and straight-through processing."

Funding these technology initiatives has required significant workforce restructuring. Wilson acknowledged the company's rising software and computing expenses while revealing a substantial reduction in headcount. "Today, we have 25% fewer people in technology than we did four years ago, and that's not just using AI," he said.

Manulife Charts Path to $1 Billion in AI Value

Manulife is pursuing an even more ambitious AI roadmap. During its Q3 2026 earnings call on Wednesday, CEO Phil Witherington told investors the company is targeting $1 billion in total enterprise AI value by 2027, a goal he said the organization is on track to reach.

"Becoming an AI-powered organization is key to improving experiences, transforming process, creating greater competitive differentiation and delivering value," Witherington said.

Manulife expanded its strategic partnership with Microsoft during the quarter, extending Copilot access to more than 30,000 employees. The company also deployed Microsoft Agent 365 to what Witherington described as efforts to "enhance productivity, support innovation and strengthen enterprise AI governance."