AI adoption in 2026: Agents using AI save 4 hours per week

From experimentation to everyday use: Rising adoption and reported time savings provide a clearer picture of how independent agents are putting AI to work.

Just a few years ago, artificial intelligence (AI) in insurance agencies was largely theoretical. Today, a growing number of agents are putting AI to work in their daily tasks, and it’s already saving them time. Among those using AI for work, 38% say it has saved them a notable amount of time, with an average of four hours saved per week.

The time savings come along with a dramatic increase in the individual use of AI in agencies. New research from Liberty Mutual found that the majority of agents report using AI for work in the past year.

Momentum is growing in agencies, but most use cases remain at the individual experimentation stage. At the organizational level, agencies are still early in the journey of integrating AI into their agency infrastructure in meaningful ways.

The 2026 Independent Agency Growth Study surveyed nearly 1,200 U.S.-based independent agency principals and staff members. The study marks the third year of research exploring attitudes, adoption, and impact of AI in insurance agencies, making it possible to see how behavior is changing over time.

AI is already paying off in everyday agency work

The 2026 Independent Agency Growth Study found that AI tools are saving agents significant amounts of time at work. More than 1 in 3 (38%) of agents say that they have saved a notable amount of time using AI. A further 35% said they saved a little bit of time.

Agents who use AI estimated that they saved an average of four hours per week. More than half (52%) saved more than two hours per week, with 14% saving eight hours or more, the equivalent of a full workday.

Agents who focus on commercial lines reported slightly higher time savings than those focused on personal lines, and agency leaders reported more time savings than staff.

The agents saving meaningful amounts of time (more than two hours per week) used AI for more tasks than those saving less time. Their top use cases were summarizing meeting notes (44%), generating marketing content (43%), comparing policy details (34%), and automating routine tasks such as data entry or document maintenance (26%).

AI adoption has hit a tipping point in insurance agencies

AI adoption is gaining momentum in agencies. The majority of employees in agencies are now using AI for work individually. And while few agencies have implemented AI tools into their agency infrastructure, more are starting to identify opportunities to do so.

Regular individual use of AI has doubled year over year

In 2026, more agents moved from theoretical interest in AI to regularly using it for work.

Sixty-nine percent of agents expressed interest in using AI for work, compared to 57% in 2025. But the real jump came in usage. In just one year, individual use of AI in agencies increased by 75%, with 65% of agents reporting using AI at least a few times for work in the past year, compared to 37% in 2025.

Agents are now using AI more frequently than in previous years. The portion of agents using AI weekly for work more than doubled, from 18% in 2025 to 41% in 2026.

Agent attitudes toward AI are shifting more positive

Agent attitudes about AI are shifting along with usage. In the initial Agent for the Future research on AI in agencies in 2024, agents were equally likely to view AI as a threat or an opportunity. In 2026, agents were almost twice as likely to say that AI is an opportunity (45%) rather than a threat.

Agents were also more likely to agree that AI can make them more efficient (56% vs 39% in 2024) and that AI technology will help grow their agency in the future (52% vs. 33% in 2024).

Younger agency employees are the most likely to have positive views of AI. Seventy percent of millennial and Gen Z employees believe AI can make their business more efficient, compared to 55% of Gen X and 42% of boomers. And 66% of millennials and Gen Z believe AI will help grow their agency in the future, compared to 49% of GenX and 42% of boomers. 

Between the growth in positive attitudes and use, the number of regular AI users will likely continue to grow in coming years. Eighty-three percent of AI users expect the frequency of their AI use to increase in the next year.

More agencies are implementing and prioritizing AI

Adoption of AI tools at the agency level lags behind individual use, but the research shows that momentum is building.

Forty-three percent of agents said their agency is very likely to implement AI into business practices in the next five years, up from 25% who said the same in 2024.

When asked what stage their agency was in with AI technology adoption, 14% of agents say their agency has implemented an AI tool or solution already, more than double the amount in 2025. Forty-two percent said their agency is learning about the potential and identifying opportunities. About a quarter of agents said their agency is interested in AI but not prioritizing it, a number that has held relatively steady over the years.

When compared to numbers from our 2024 and 2025 studies, this shows a slow but steady increase in agencies that are implementing AI or seriously considering it.

Resourcing plays a role in why agency-level AI adoption is lower than individual adoption. While individuals can experiment with open-access tools such as generative AI, implementing tools at the agency level is a bigger lift. Larger agencies, those with more than 11 employees or $5 million or more in annual premium, are more likely than smaller agencies to have implemented an AI tool.

Individual use is outpacing agency policies and oversight

Individual AI adoption in agencies nearly doubled year over year, but agency oversight has not kept pace. And while overall attitudes about AI are increasingly positive, confidence and trust have leveled off.  

Just18% of agents say their agency has a well-defined policy on the use of AI, up only slightly from 12% in 2025. This is in contrast to the nearly two-thirds of individuals who say they use AI for work and means that most AI use in agencies is happening without clear guidance.  

At the same time, confidence in AI among those charged with providing such guidance has slowed. Less than one-third (29%) of agency principals say they know enough about AI to make business decisions about the technology, a slight uptick from 26% in 2025 and 22% in 2024. Trust in AI has also stalled. In 2025, 19% of agents said they trusted AI technology. In 2026, 22% said they trust AI technologies with business data and client information.   

This gap matters more as use grows. Concerns around data privacy and errors and omissions exposure are not unique to AI, but AI does add a new layer of consideration for agency leaders. Clear policies, training, and guidelines around responsible AI use can help close the gap and ensure that customer information remains secure.  

How are agencies using AI?  

Along with measuring AI adoption and attitudes in agencies, the 2026 Independent Agency Growth Study looked at how agencies are using AI. The research showed that agencies are currently using AI for mostly simple, routine tasks.  

AI has a broad range of uses in agencies. To better understand where use stands today compared to future potential use, we’ve broken these down into four categories based on the role AI can play at work:  

Assist: Helps people complete routine work more quickly and efficiently.  

Advise: Provides insights, recommendations, and analysis to support decision-making.  

Execute: Performs assigned tasks and follows defined workflows with limited human involvement.  

Deliver: Works toward a defined outcome by planning and coordinating actions within boundaries set by people. This is often called “agentic AI.”  

The difference between the Execute and Deliver levels is the starting point. At the Execute level, people define the process and AI follows it. At the Deliver level, people define the desired outcome and the boundaries, and AI determines how best to achieve the goal. 

Today, agents are primarily using AI as an assistant. They are experimenting with tools that help complete work they are already doing such as generating marketing content (18% of agents say their agency uses AI for this), summarizing meeting notes (17%), and comparing policy details (13%).  

At this stage of adoption, few agencies have invested in AI as part of their infrastructure, the kind that supports decisions, carries out routine tasks, or manages workflows. Agency use thins out at the Advise and Execute levels. The research did not ask about the tools at the Deliver level. Those types of tools are often called “agentic AI” – tools that can operate across different tools and systems to proactively handle a workflow from end to end without human involvement. For now, that remains the frontier.  

Agencies plan to go further with AI in the near future. When asked what their agency is planning to use AI for in the next year or two, interest rises across every use, and agents express strong interest in areas where AI is not being used today. For example, only 8% of agents say their agency uses AI to analyze customer data today, but 42% say they will consider this use case in the near future.  

In other words, agents expect to move from the Assist level to the Advise and Execute levels, putting AI to work in decision-making and workflows rather than only on individual tasks.  

Some limits are deliberate. The uses agents are least willing to consider are the ones closest to the client relationship. About a quarter (26%) will not consider AI for taking a customer’s initial contact info. 

Making AI pay off takes better tools and stronger skills  

The 2026 research shows that AI is gaining real momentum in insurance agencies. Individual agents are using AI and saving real time. Agencies are beginning to follow suit, with more implementing companywide tools and identifying where AI can make a difference in their businesses.  

Unlocking the full potential of AI in insurance agencies requires a balance of adopting the right tools to solve real problems and training people in the skills needed to make those tools effective.  

Four hours per week saved by one agent is a real gain. Multiplied across a skilled team working with tools built into the agency’s operations, it becomes a lasting advantage, freeing up every member of the agency to do more of the high-value work building and nurturing customer relationships. 

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