How AI Is Reshaping Life Insurance Underwriting

InnovationHow AI Is Reshaping Life Insurance UnderwritingByAbhishek Kumar,Forbes Councils Member.for Forbes Technology CouncilCOUNCIL POSTExpertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based)May 26, 2026, 09:15am EDTAbhishek Kumar is an AI product leader at NY Life. getty​The life insurance application process has not changed much in 50 years. Applicants fill out forms, schedule medical exams and wait. Weeks pass before anyone reviews the file. For healthy people in their 30s and 40s, the delay often feels excessive.Artificial intelligence is beginning to change this. I lead AI product initiatives at New York Life, building generative AI and machine learning solutions across underwriting, marketing and service operations. In my work across financial services and insurance, I have seen AI tools reduce underwriting timelines from weeks to hours by accelerating how information is gathered and reviewed. Technology does not replace human judgment. It supports underwriters by reducing manual work and surfacing relevant information faster.The barrier to enterprise AI adoption is rarely the model itself. The harder problem is operational. Regulated institutions need systems that fit existing workflows, satisfy compliance requirements and earn employee trust. That gap between technical capability and institutional deployment is where many AI initiatives succeed or fail.​The Problem With Traditional Underwriting​Traditional underwriting relies on the manual review of medical records, lab results, prescription histories and applicant disclosures. In my experience, the process typically takes three to six weeks, though timelines often stretch longer for applicants with complex medical histories or high coverage amounts. ​This creates friction throughout the process. Applicants abandon applications because of delays, agents lose momentum and operations teams absorb high manual processing costs.​Accord...