MAPFRE examines how AI will transform the insurance industry by 2035

In a recent study, MAPFRE explores the future role of insurance in a world shaped by artificial intelligence (AI) by 2035, provisioning four plausible future scenarios to understand how these technology advances could affect people’s daily interactions and the key trends insurers must prepare for.

In the study “The Future of Interaction: The Role of Interaction in a World Shaped by Intelligent Agents,” intelligent agents are defined as systems capable of perceiving their surroundings, processing information, making decisions, and autonomously acting to achieve specific goals.

These can include digital or virtual assistants, AI chatbots, autonomous systems like self-driving cars, recommendation engines (found in streaming platforms like Netflix or Amazon and e-commerce), and smart home devices.

In its study, based on extensive research, MAPFRE outlines four possible future scenarios detailing how advancement in AI, digital agents, and smart devices could reshape daily interactions as they become more automated and intuitive.

The first one, “Where the Wall Stopped Us”, describes a scenario with limited digital advancement and minimal AI integration, leading to little change in the insurance sector.

This includes traditional insurance models without significant customisation, limited automation in underwriting and claims, a bureaucratic customer experience reliant on human agents, insufficient data integration for precise risk evaluation, and restricted innovation due to regulations.

The second scenario, “The art of maximising”, suggests widespread use of AI assistants that enhance efficiency in daily tasks, leading to streamlined processes for insurers without full-scale disruption.

These challenges include extreme market segmentation (personalised premiums versus standard), increased differentiation in insurance services based on exclusive data, and difficulty integrating data for precise risk assessment models.

In this scenario, technologically advanced insurance companies dominate the high-end market, leaving customers without access to advanced AI with less efficient and more costly insurance options.

The fourth and final scenario, “Towards utopia”, describes a world where intelligent agents facilitate seamless, personalised experiences, with widely accessible technology that revolutionises insurance operations and risk management.

For insurers, this signifies a shift towards real-time, data-driven, and preventive insurance models, as well as the involvement of dynamically adjusted premiums based on insured behaviour, complete automation of processes to eliminate human intervention, and the use of smart agents for comprehensive insurance management.

However, these changes also present challenges related to privacy and regulation due to increased hyper-connectivity.

Over all, the report highlighted a number of trends insurers must prepare for, such as the demand for smarter and seamless interactions across channels; greater automation in transactional processes; and human support at critical moments, something that requires empathy and clarity.

The report also emphasised the need to redefine physical and digital presence, which would need to be tailored to generational and customer preferences; and to anticipate the rise of intelligent agents shifting interactions away from traditional platforms.

It also advises insurers to prepare for the transformation of the value chain, with embedded insurance and new platforms; hyper-personalised services, enabled by rich customer data; and heightened security expectations, with trust and privacy becoming strategic priorities.

Javier Maraña, Head of Technological Innovation at MAPFRE, commented: “As human–machine interaction becomes more common, the insurance industry must evolve. We’re already working to adapt processes, strengthen tech infrastructure, and build strategic alliances to meet the demands of tomorrow’s policyholders.”

The report’s methodology, “Futurecasting,” generated these scenarios by identifying factors that will determine the evolution of reality around the focus topic, grouped into thirteen drivers. This approach helps stakeholders understand potential future situations, their implications, and arising opportunities.