I'm not here to scare anyone by saying, "Tech will replace all insurance professionals." That line is boring now.
What I want to talk about is something else: Tech may not replace your job immediately, but it is slowly replacing your worth in the system.
We are entering a phase where some changes in insurance are no longer a choice. They are inevitable. I call this "inevitablism" in insurance.
What Is Inevitablism?
Inevitablism in insurance refers to the mindset that certain industry shifts — such as automation, AI adoption, data-driven decision-making, and modernization of legacy systems — are not optional but unavoidable.
It's the belief that these changes will happen regardless of current comfort, resistance, or preparedness, and that insurers must adapt rather than delay, because the future will arrive with to without them.
Tech vs Talent: The Usage Gap
There is no shortage of talent in insurance. The real problem is how that talent is being used.
Across the industry, many bright professionals spend their day on low-value tasks:
- Moving data between systems
- Updating spreadsheets
- Chasing documents
- Sitting in the same recurring meeting.
They are capable of designing better products, rethinking portfolios, and solving complex risk problems. But because technology inside many insurers is underused or outdated, people become the "glue" holding legacy processes together.
And let's be honest — we all know insurance adopts technology at a speed of 0.1× compared with the rest of the world. When the world is moving toward no-code workflows, instant software creation, and autonomous systems, insurers are only now preparing to give GenAI controlled access to production environments.
The gap is not just between tech and customers; it is between tech and talent.
Instead of using technology to free people for higher-value work, we often use people to compensate for the lack of technology. That's where the fear of AI comes from. It's not just, "Will AI replace my work?" It's also, "Have we allowed our roles to become so basic that any decent system could replace them?"
The Age of Innovation
We are already in a world shaped by Web 3.0, emerging platforms and decentralized technologies. Bitcoin's rise is just one signal of how digital value and infrastructure are shifting. On top of this, AI is accelerating innovation at a speed the industry has never seen before.
In this environment, insurers do not have the option to "wait and watch". They will be forced to adopt technology and create products that match how people actually live, work and transact today.
Innovation will not grow linearly; it will grow exponentially with the help of AI.
Automation will not be a luxury; it will be a necessity.
With open-source AI tools, startups can build, iterate and launch at a fraction of the cost and time. This new tech wave can easily create the next 10 major insurance players for the world—born digital, data-native and globally connected from day one.
In the future, most people will have their own AI agent helping them choose the right policies from hundreds of options. Most interactions—advice, onboarding, even parts of claims—could happen through VR or AR environments, especially for complex or high-value risks.
Behind the scenes, risk and portfolio decisions will rely on far more computing power than today, with advanced simulation and optimization. At the same time, connections between insurance and reinsurance will become more streamlined, with better data-sharing, real-time insights, and smarter capital allocation.
Leadership Choices in a Legacy World
Some leaders still believe that sticking to legacy systems and old processes is the safest path. They focus on short-term stability, minimal change and being answerable upwards, rather than looking ahead.
And this creates another silent problem — there is no real plan to make the transition easier for the next generation of leaders. Very few leaders think 10 years ahead. They avoid solving foundational issues like unstructured data, fragmented systems, or outdated architecture. But if today's leaders don't streamline data, modernize infrastructure, and clean the technical debt, how will the next leader build, innovate, or scale?
Without this groundwork, every new initiative becomes a retrofit, every improvement becomes a patch.
On top of that, most organizations don't have a clear plan to upskill employees before introducing new technology. Instead of preparing talent for next-level work, new tools get dropped in suddenly. This creates anxiety, resistance, and the fear of being replaced. A thoughtful, long-term upskilling roadmap not only protects employees — it empowers them to drive the transition and elevate the organization to its next stage.
Others think long term. They understand that the next generation of executives will not just "manage operations" but will be expected to embrace innovation, work with AI and data fluently, and redesign how insurance is delivered.
The organizations that win will be the ones where leaders:
- Invest in modern platforms instead of patching legacy systems forever
- Empower teams to experiment, automate and simplify
- Build long-term upskilling plans so employees grow with the technology
- Prepare future executives to operate in a world where AI, Web 3.0 and virtual interactions are normal, not experimental
The choice is simple: either leadership shapes the transition, or the transition happens to them.
A Future No One Wants to Miss
If we get this right, the future of insurance is not something to fear—it's a future no one will want to miss.
Insurance will work much more globally than it does today. Risks will not only be priced and held locally; they can be pooled globally, with capital, data and exposure flowing more smoothly across borders.
With the help of Web 3.0 and digital identity, we may see unique decentralized IDs created for individuals, businesses and even digital assets. These IDs can carry verified risk information, claims history, behavior patterns and coverage details in a secure, portable way. That means faster underwriting, smarter risk selection and better pricing for those who manage risk well.
For customers, protection becomes something that quietly works in the background—across countries, platforms and channels—instead of a one-time, paperwork-heavy transaction.
At the same time, insurers may rely on an entire army of AI agents to handle day-to-day tasks: answering queries, comparing products, monitoring exposures, flagging anomalies, and triggering workflows. These agents will effectively act on behalf of both the insurer and the customer.
That raises a new question for the industry: we won't just be insuring people and organizations — we will also need to think about how to insure the agents and the risks created by their decisions, errors, or failures.
As more processes are automated and more intelligence is built into systems, something important happens on the human side: we actually get more time and space to think.
More time to:
- Discover what risks and needs are emerging
- Innovate types of coverage and services
- Design better experiences for both physical and virtual worlds
AI, automation and advanced computing handle the volume and speed. Humans handle the nuance and direction.
Final Thoughts
The future will not argue with any of us.
We can continue to debate whether Al will really reach certain capabilities, whether regulators will permit specific models, or whether customers will fully trust automated decisions. Many of these discussions are valid and necessary.
But some trends do not wait for our full intellectual comfort. They advance quietly through small projects, pilot programs and incremental upgrades.
The future does not require large numbers of people to keep legacy processes alive. It requires fewer people doing higher-value work, supported by smarter tools and more connected systems.
