Insurity finds 51% comfortable with AI

Insurity said on May 21 that 51% of consumers would feel comfortable if their insurer used artificial intelligence to monitor severe weather and send real-time alerts about risks such as hail, floods or wildfires. The Hartford, Connecticut-based insurance software company released the finding as part of its 2026 AI in Insurance Report, a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults conducted online in February 2026. The result was up from 45% in 2025, according to the company. The same release said consumers were more receptive when AI was tied to catastrophe preparedness and recovery than when it was framed as a decision-maker. ### Why does severe weather produce a different response from consumers? Insurity said 42% of respondents believe AI could help insurers process claims more efficiently after severe weather events, up from 28% a year earlier. Another 51% said they would feel confident filing a severe weather-related claim if AI helped validate the loss using satellite imagery or weather data, compared with 38% in 2025. Jatin Atre, Insurity’s president, said consumers “immediately understand the value of AI” when it can warn them earlier about a hailstorm, validate damage with satellite data and speed claims after a catastrophe. (finance.yahoo.com) The company’s wording points to a use case consumers can see: event monitoring, alerts and evidence support around a named weather event. In the survey results Insurity published, those functions were presented as tied to visible external data rather than as opaque internal scoring. ### Where does consumer trust still break down? Insurity said only one-third of respondents trust AI-driven insurance decisions, while 26% said they need more information before forming an opinion. (finance.yahoo.com) The April release from the same 2026 report said nearly half of respondents express distrust when AI is positioned as making decisions about claims approvals, fraud detection or policy adjustments. The gap is wider in more autonomous tasks. Insurity said 46% would let AI generate a quote, 39% are comfortable with AI tracking claim status and 38% would use AI to update personal information. But only 22% said they would feel comfortable with AI filing a claim on their behalf, and 16% were comfortable with AI canceling or renewing a policy. (insurity.com) ### What does the broader survey say about attitudes toward insurance AI? Insurity said 84% of consumers now use AI tools at least occasionally and 27% use them daily. In insurance specifically, 39% said in 2026 that it is a good idea for their insurer to use AI to improve services, nearly double the 20% who said that in 2025. The share who said they were less likely to buy from an insurer that publicly used AI fell to 36% from 44% a year earlier, the company said. (insurity.com) Atre said consumers “are not impressed by the fact that insurers are using AI” and instead care about how it is used. He said trust grows when AI is used to make underwriting smarter, claims faster and interactions clearer, with oversight in place. ### How should insurers read the 51% figure? The 51% result does not show blanket approval for AI across insurance. (insurity.com) The same dataset shows higher acceptance for monitoring, alerts and validation support than for final decisions on claims or policies. That makes the severe-weather finding more specific than a general endorsement of automated claims handling. This is an inference from Insurity’s published survey splits between catastrophe-response uses and decision-making uses. The next public reference point is Insurity’s 2026 AI in Insurance Report, which the company said is based on a February 2026 survey of more than 1,000 randomly selected U.S. adults. Insurity released broader AI sentiment findings on April 21 and the severe-weather findings on May 21. (insurity.com) (finance.yahoo.com)