Patrice Bernard authors a report with resarch.astoria.io which invests in and researches the European Insurtech market including AI innovators. Good to get another perspective on actual deployments and the Allianz-Anthropic partnership.

Anthropic positions itself as the responsible provider of LLMs, Generative AI and a toolbox of AI tools and seems preferred to OpenAI by business customers. It claims to constantly build more efficient algorithms and seek to break the insatiable demand for compute power in new data centres rather than the brute forced scaling of OpenAI.

That seems a responsible approach by Anthropic, but it is still a vendor of LLMs with all the well documented faults e.g.

  • Probabilistic model rather than deterministic; latter is important for insurers
  • Hallucinations- will offer incorrect ‘facts’ change its answers over time and dumb down to an average of past answers all at the same time
  • Drift making it very hard to audit and provide an explanation of how decisions were made

So, what are the ambitions of Allianz? (I don't know by the way), so this is conjecture. 

Allianz's core platform Allianz Business System (ABS) was moved to Microsoft’s Azure cloud from 2025 and Microsoft partnered Synchier, an Insurtech owned by Allianz, to open-source parts of the solution’s core to improve and expand capabilities. Syncier will offer a configurable version of the solution called ABS Enterprise Edition to insurance providers as a service.

Allianz has always had a strategy to connect all aspects of the insurance ecosystem, and this goal fits in with the Anthropic partnership to leverage AI tools.

On the partnership, Patrice states: 

“This selection is easy to understand, as it aligns neatly with the industry’s ingrained culture of caution. In particular, the chosen implementation conditions lend themselves to continuous oversight, limiting as much as possible the potential missteps of machines. Unfortunately, they barely scratch the surface of the opportunities that AI typically opens up in the insurance sector.”

Allianz itself states: -

1. Empowering People, and Reimagining Code with AI

With foundational models built to address the unique insurance requirements, Anthropic is helping Allianz transform its operations with AI. Anthropic’s “Claude” models will become part of Allianz’s internal AI platform that is free to use for everyone within Allianz. “Claude Code” is already redefining software development for thousands of Allianz developers globally. Model Context Protocols (MCPs) will help employees to securely connect and integrate various data sources across different applications or services. 

2. Agentic AI Automation for Speed and Customer Excellence

Allianz and Anthropic are developing custom AI agents capable of orchestrating multi-step workflows and automating labor-intensive processes at scale – from intake documentation to claims processing in areas such as motor and health insurance. The result: fewer manual steps, faster first payments, and a better experience for claimants when it matters most. This experience includes Allianz’s human-in-the-loop principle: Especially in sensitive or very complex cases, Allianz employees take over and make sure claims are handled empathically.

3. Driving Transparency and Compliance with AI

The partnership is co-developing AI systems that, inter alia, log every decision, rationale, and data source to address insurance-specific risks and regulatory requirements, ensuring that all AI-driven actions are fully traceable and compliant.

Those goals are quite ambitious in fact with today’s tools.

Paul Maker, CTO of Aiimi with many corporate clients recently said " So it turns out that being given the entire Black & Decker power tool range for Christmas didn’t make me  a carpenter…

I love cursor. I really do. It saves me time. But I know what I want, I know what good looks like, and I understand code.

Use this tool as an accelerator, shepherded by an expert, and you’ll get further faster.

Give it to somebody who doesn’t understand software engineering and guess what…

https://lnkd.in/ebKb6A_y 

Patrice questions the potential productivity gains of vibe-coding and effective process optimization. An earlier AI tool, RPA, was generally an underperforming technology but more because pilots were commissioned without proper planning and resourcing and not aimed at priority and compelling problems. 

Technology is a means to an end and whilst many bemoan the fact that 80% or so of AI projects fail, this statistic is a familiar one as enterprises rush into pilots without defining why before asking how. RPA, I have mentioned in the same light.

I asked Claude.ai what the partnership will achieve.

"This partnership appears designed to address a core challenge in insurance: insurance is an industry where AI stakes are particularly high since decisions can affect millions of people Business Wire. By emphasizing transparency and safety, Allianz aims to deploy AI at scale while maintaining stakeholder trust in a heavily regulated industry.

For Anthropic, this represents a significant move into enterprise markets. Anthropic currently holds 40% of enterprise AI market share according to a December survey from investor Menlo Ventures, up from 32% in July TechCrunch, and this partnership with a major global insurer strengthens that position.

the companies are treating this as a model for how AI can be deployed in high-stakes, regulated industries—potentially positioning them as leaders in this approach."

The right words from both Allianz and Anthropic but will the limitations of current models allow these goals to be achieved?  It is best to ask technology partners ( see Appendix 1) that are unbiased, eat their own dog food before advising clients and are willing to tell the truth and act collaboratively to choose the right tools, vendors and keep an eye on the future which will change rapidly. Not to mention ensure the basics are in place e,g the data sources and management to fuel AI.

Despite my oft-written reservations about GenAI, Agentic AI and achieving the goal of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) anytime soon I also say that enterprises should experiment now of they are to embrace the AI technologies as they mature. In my opinion companies will supersede LLMs whether that be Anthropic, Google or start-ups. 

LLMs, specialist language models (SLMs) in private clouds, and current vendors can implement automation of well understood, high volume and repetitive tasks like analysing policy documents and matching cover to claims (Allianz cites these use cases).

Or analysing underwriter’s' beloved spreadsheets and new data sources to save the 50% or more of time that underwriters spend just analysing data rather than actually underwriting and growing the business.

In all cases, a professional human needs to check the output as the potential risk of errors will lead to non-compliance with industry and insurer's security rules. A number of insurers face expensive lawsuits for relying on AI too much so beware.

I wish Allianz and Anthropic well with this partnership and that Allianz gains the AI corporate muscle memory to embrace the new platforms and tools as they mature and are proven. Current use cases are limited but still deliver value so leaving it too late opens the market to the competition. Insurers have to cope with managing the present and forecasting macro- and micro-trends. Rory Yates details the challenges well (see further reading). Quarterly reports must be presented and whilst 2025 was a profitable year for UK home insurers a softening market, cost of living concerns driving consumers to seek lower prices and product commoditisation are predicted to lead to adverse ratios in 2026. CEO's walk a tightrope balancing these short-term challenges with long-term strategy.

We can all learn from the pharma industry which is benefitting from GenAI but still ensures that humans are in control after lab-based outputs offer faster analysis of potential new drugs (see Further Reading). Allianz is following that strategy so it will be interesting to see if the partnership with Anthropic yields the outcomes to ensure Allianz remains a top performing global insurer.

Further Reading

Beyond AI: Preparing For Artificial Superintelligence Forbes Magazine

The Adaptability Newsletter Rory Yates on Macro Trends for insurers

An AI revolution that is proving valuable and viable Insurtech World

An AI revolution in drug making is under way  The Economist

Appendix 1

Which AI technology partners can you trust?

The list below is neither exhaustive and is based on my own engagement with the companies listed and having had to place my own job and reputation on the line managing a large $17million transformation project that delivered over target, under budget and only a little late. 

Modern MACH architecture core and PAS platforms will be part of an integrated ecosystem in which data flows across the whole value chain. Insurers have mostly relied on the gorillas in the market, but even modern legacy platforms will limit an insurer's ability to leverage AI fully. 

 The UK's FCA industry regulator has stated that the “regulatory foundations” for the first Open Finance scheme are to be in place by the end of 2027. Prioritising small business lending, “so these engines of growth can better access capital”. That perhaps gives insurance a chance to get ready and lay some new foundations first. 

The risk is that the industry is once again caught napping, and the potential left untapped. Seamless data sharing across the whole financial ecosystem like that laid out in the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) Blueprint report will require operational data models, and integration capability that doesn’t really exist yet in insurance.

This will take new insurance business models built on technologies that make this possible. MACH based, event data streaming and AI harnessed as needed. Change will need to happen across the industry, but I am confident this change will come. 

Examples include (alphabetical order): -

  • EIS- describes its deployment of AI for esure. Chief Strategy Officer Rory Yates is well known in the industry for his insights and advice, including the pros and cons of deploying all AI tools, including GenAI. Describes the success with esure on its website.
  • FintechOS- strength and focus initially on banking; now expanding into insurance and AI deployment. Scott Thompson is the insurance lead
  • Genasys- clients include Simply Health and many MGAs. Group CEO is Andre Symes; the CRO is Gavin Peters
  • ICE has many insurance customers listed on its website. ERS Motor Insurer, Ticker, Provident Insurance, The Hood Group (travel insurance). ICE is part of the Actuaris Group. CEO Andrew Passfield
  • Instanda has`` many insurance clients, including Vitality for its core platform and transformation services.  CEO Tim Hardcastle and Group CRO Derek Hill

AI and Data Management technology partners that can steer you through the AI, GenAI, Agentic AI, Special and AGI journey of experimentation with safety and compliance as a priority: - 

For larger Tier One and Two Carriers, Global Insurers, Reinsurers and the large global Brokers and emerging large MGA groupings as US MGAs scoop up British MGAs

  • EY - proof is in the esure use case quoted on its website- Chris Payne heads up the insurance practice; you'll see him at many industry events
  • Service Now acquired Moveworks to extend generative and agentic AI. Able to scale and operationalise across the whole enterprise like EY. Nigel Walsh heads up the insurance practice
  • Capgemini publishes valuable survey insights and has partnered with AI-powered pricing and underwriting Insurtech Hyperexistenial, which claims to validate every data source used to allow insurers to validate for adherence to compliance and regulatory standards before deploying. on July 7th Capgemini announced the acquisition of BPO WNS Group which many Tier One insurers outsource parts of the value chain to. WNS has a strategic partnership with digital claims platform Insurtech RightIndem to transform claims in a transformative ecosystem.  Luca Russingan is the Capgemini Senior Director, Insurance Intelligence.
  • Accenture acquired Altus Consulting, which analyses an insurer’s digital maturity and how to fill gaps for future innovation- Mark McDonald heads the Insurance practice in the UK
  • BCG is well known, though I have no direct experience. It has shared the stage with Agentic AI tools partner Kore.ai
  • KPMG- Hew Evans is Head of Insurance in the UK and Matthew Smith is the Partner for Strategy & Transformation and Global Claims Lead
  • Salesforce.com- acquired Informatica to deliver AI across insurers; good fit with customers of its CRM, Sales, SaaS, and marketing platforms
  • Publicis Sapient- growing its insurance customer base. Was the implementation partner that I chose in the hotel project from a short list, as they proved more collaborative and put skin in the game. Dan Cole runs the Insurance Practice
  • Hitachi Digital Services- Hitachi is part of a massive global implementer with strong experience in Building Management Systems (integrate with insurers for preventative maintenance) and strong AI and other capabilities. Stuart Reeder heads up the Insurance Practice
  • Palantir made its name and dizzying valuation delivering AI to governments, particularly defence in the USA and the NHS in the UK. Licensing a tad expensive even for Tier One insurers, but they offer some compelling solutions and a test-learn-iterate-prove culture and workshops. Value, as with the other partners I list, must be in the eye of the beholder.
  • CGI- well respected in government, CGI has ten of the top UK insurers as customers of its Ratebase Insurance rating and pricing platform, and its Underwriters Workbench.  Darren Rudd is Head of Insurance and technology business consulting and will listen to your requirement and be realistic about satisfying them.
  • PCW's insurance practice includes Automation, AI, and digital ecosystems: product design, underwriting, pricing, and claims.
  • Maarten Ectors - I first met Maarten when he was Chief Digital Officer at Legal & General Insurance. He invited innovators to a 5-day workshop with the L&G Teams for 4 streams one of which was claims transformation. He rejected the RFP/POC process and instead wanted the innovators to present their solutions to The CEO and C-Suite Friday morning. One outcome was a team of well-trained L&G claim handlers augmented by technology winning a Smart Claim award for L&G, satisfied customers and better GI ratios. Maarten transferred to L&G Group as Chief Innovation officer, won more innovation awards, and now runs AI start-ups. He can certainly advise and oversee large, medium and smaller insurers. His pace of innovation may be a challenge to the cautious! Currently founder of Greentic.ai an open-source platform “To create armies of digital workers". Worth meeting

For Mid-Size Insurers Tier Three and smaller, Brokers and MGAs 

  • Aiimi Limited; Aiimi made its name enabling Water Utilities to locate and reduce water leaks by accessing unstructured data using its AI-powered data management platform that will also make data AI-ready. It counts the FCA as a client and Riverstone International as an acquirer of legacy books of business.  JLR and The Cabinet Office are named clients. It names PwC as a business partner. The CRO is Mark Drayton
  • Kore.ai is a US-headquartered Agentic AI partner with a European presence and support in London. Johnson and Johnson and Morgan Stanley are two of many global clients. The Chief Strategy Officer is Cathal McCarthy
  • AI Risk: a community of innovators that develops and deploys AI. It has built an agentic AI platform for a broker and is demonstrating a production version of this. On its website an operational deployment is described in a case study. I have a feeling it's a smallish broker (6 or so humans). The CEO is stated as being unable to recruit key people (humans) and has replaced all with digital agents. I have a feeling that can work better for a broker or MGA, whilst large insurers data issues will be a challenge. AI Risk certainly advises large insurers so worth talking with Simon Torrance who is the founder and CEO
  • Outlier Technology Limited. A blog on LinkedIn caught my eye. 'The best thing a business can do is forget AI exists' - tech CEO  I called CEO David Tyler and found he had delivered a major data and AI project for a large utility that had spent £4m on a POC to meet regulatory compliance demands by a fixed date- a real problem. The POC failed despite it being a technical success. That pilot purgatory in action! The human end-users found it useless and rejected the deployment.  Outlier was retained to make it work and ensure the users embraced it, which they did successfully. Outlier can collaborate to deliver even large projects cost-effectively as long as you share domain knowledge and collaborate with all your stakeholders. Outlier can build out a test, learn, and iterate MVP process until you are happy with the result. Worth a chat with David and his team.
  • There will be many other potential partners- I have listed those I have personal experience with and those insurers have used.