“The insurers who win won’t be the ones chasing every new technology trend. They’ll be the ones who apply technology with purpose. They’ll use AI to improve decision-making, enforce underwriting discipline, and scale responsibly. They’ll treat technology as a strategic partner in the business, not just a cost center or a feature checklist. That mindset—combining human expertise with intelligent systems—is what will allow insurers to thrive in an increasingly complex and competitive market.”
— Arvind Kaushal, CEO & Co-founder
This article is an excerpt from the P&C Insurance Leaders’ Outlook 2026.
Arvind Kaushal, Co-founder and CEO of Cogitate, has been a driving force behind the AI initiative at Cogitate. He sees the opportunities to solve business challenges with AI across the policyholder lifecycle and continually challenges our Cogitators to solve for them with orchestration of AI Agents.
Michael: From your perspective, what AI trends should insurers be focusing on in 2026?
Arvind: For me, technology, especially agentic AI, is ultimately a means to an end. Insurers don’t need more tools just for the sake of having them. What they need is help making better decisions, faster, at scale. In 2026, AI has to move beyond surface-level automation. It needs to actively assist underwriters in triaging submissions, identifying the best risks to bind, and surfacing the right insights at the right moment. That’s where agentic systems matter. They’re responding to prompts while at the same time orchestrating workflows and guiding outcomes.
Insurers are facing increasing submission volume and complexity. Expecting underwriters to manually evaluate everything simply isn’t sustainable. AI should be doing the heavy lifting around data collection, enrichment, and prioritization, so underwriters can focus on judgment and strategy rather than mechanics.
Michael: How does the evolution in AI parallel your priorities for Cogitate?
Arvind: You know, Michael, it really comes down to advancing the user journey. Our focus is on reducing friction across the underwriting lifecycle so teams can operate with more confidence and clarity. When AI is embedded properly, it’s not just accelerating tasks; it’s improving the quality of decisions. We want underwriters to see insights in context, understand why a risk looks the way it does, and act quickly with confidence in the data. That’s how you ultimately drive better outcomes: improved underwriting accuracy, better risk selection, and more consistent experiences across teams. The goal is to have speed while maintaining safety and control.
Michael: You’ve mentioned that insurers and MGAs are under pressure to scale quickly, sometimes at the cost of risk quality. How can AI help underwriters?
Arvind: This is a critical point, Michael. Writing bad business at scale is still bad business, it just fails faster. AI has to act as a guardrail, not just an accelerator. In markets like cyber liability, for example, risks evolve quickly and the margin for error is small. AI can help identify patterns that humans might miss in manual review of submissions, flag inconsistencies, and highlight exposures early in the process. What’s powerful here is using AI to help decide what not to write. That’s just as important as finding good risks. In 2026, insurers that succeed will be the ones using AI to maintain discipline as they grow, not abandon it.
Michael: As risk complexity increases, what does that mean for the role of the underwriter going forward?
Arvind: In my opinion, underwriters shouldn’t be spending their time gathering data or stitching together information from multiple systems. That work should be automated. Their value comes from interpreting risk, applying experience, and making informed decisions. AI should support that by delivering clean, relevant insights and removing noise. When underwriters are freed from manual tasks, they can focus on higher-order thinking, which might include portfolio strategy, emerging risks, and long-term profitability. That’s where human expertise really shines, and that’s how technology should be applied.
Michael: Looking ahead in 2026, what ultimately differentiates insurers who get this right?
Arvind: You know, it’s intentionality. The insurers who win won’t be the ones chasing every new technology trend. They’ll be the ones who apply technology with purpose. They’ll use AI to improve decision-making, enforce underwriting discipline, and scale responsibly. They’ll treat technology as a strategic partner in the business, not just a cost center or a feature checklist. That mindset, combining human expertise with intelligent systems, is what will allow insurers to thrive in an increasingly complex and competitive market.
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