AI exposure: Insurance Underwriters
Review individual applications for insurance to evaluate degree of risk involved and determine acceptance of applications.
Reading this score
computed40.6% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Insurance Underwriters at the 72th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.9 out of 4 on what a current system can produce, and the frictions that hold other jobs in place are comparatively weak here.
What holds the line here is verification cost. Across this occupation's 7 tasks it averages 2.36 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, checking the output costs more than producing it. Where an undetected error is expensive, dangerous or irreversible, the economics change. Someone has to verify the work, and verifying can cost as much as doing it. This is the friction most likely to fall as tools for checking improve.
The most exposed thing this job does is Review company records to determine amount of insurance in force on single risk or group of..., at 73.3%. The least is Authorize reinsurance of policy when risk is high, at 23.3%. A gap of 50.0% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within business and financial operations occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 47.5% across the group's 48 roles, with 36 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 7 tasks, 3 are currently banded exposed, 4 assisted and 0 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take a change in who is permitted to sign the work, which is a question for regulators rather than for engineers. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Task by task
7 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Review company records to determine amount of insurance in force on single risk or group of closely related risks. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.04 | exposed |
| Examine documents to determine degree of risk from factors such as applicant health, financial standing and value, and condition of property. | 50.0% | 50.0% | 0.0% | 4.53 | assisted |
| Write to field representatives, medical personnel, or others to obtain further information, quote rates, or explain company underwriting policies. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.30 | exposed |
| Evaluate possibility of losses due to catastrophe or excessive insurance. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.19 | exposed |
| Decline excessive risks. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.43 | assisted |
| Decrease value of policy when risk is substandard and specify applicable endorsements or apply rating to ensure safe, profitable distribution of risks, using reference materials. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.97 | assisted |
| Authorize reinsurance of policy when risk is high. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.92 | assisted |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 2.86 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 0.00 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.64 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.57 | 0-3 |
| Context | 2.21 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 2.36 | 0-3 |
What this means in practice
Where most of a role's weighted task load is exposed, the work that survives is usually the part of the job nobody wrote into the job description: deciding what should be produced rather than producing it, and being answerable for the result. The tasks lowest on this page are a better guide to where to spend your time than any general advice about the future of work.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.