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Few topics generate more tension in claims today than artificial intelligence. As AI adoption accelerates, concerns about job displacement continue to escalate, particularly among claims adjusters. The conversation inevitably gets positioned as “AI vs us.”
That perspective misses the point.
When used with intention, AI becomes the best tool in the adjusters’ toolbox. When used to its full potential, it’s their Iron Man suit. It can optimize and accelerate every task they complete and equip them with new levels of automation, assistance, and insight so they can focus on making smarter, high-value decisions.
The most successful claims organizations aren't chasing automation for its own sake. They're building AI-savvy teams that can easily scale their expertise across claims operations.
Why the Fear Exists and Why It Misses the Point
Skepticism around AI is understandable. Claims management has weathered multiple eras of automation, all introduced in the name of efficiency and cost control.
Adjusters have reasons to be weary.
But equating AI with replacement is short-sighted, and it oversimplifies what the technology brings to the table.
AI can automate everyday tasks like summarizing information, spotting patterns, and validating data, but it can also provide the data and tools for adjusters to make smarter decisions faster. Settling complex claims, navigating high-risk nuance, and determining appropriate outcomes require human judgment and accountability, but AI can enhance both.
This is the "human in the loop" principle. AI analyzes, summarizes, and informs. A person makes the call, especially in nuanced cases like negotiating large medical legal losses or determining appropriate steps in a litigation claim. When used as a support system rather than an authority, AI strengthens the people responsible for decision-making.
Where AI Actually Creates Value
Removing Administrative Drag
For adjusters, the biggest time drain isn't the claim itself; it's the admin work. Documentation, task switching, system toggling, data validation, quality checks, and follow-ups drain focus and create fatigue.
That’s where AI delivers immediate value.
Rather than operating as a separate tool, AI that’s embedded into the claim experience identifies issues and delivers guidance in real time. At Snapsheet, we're focused on capabilities like instant summarization, intelligent triage that routes claims efficiently using unstructured data, chain of logic assessments for subrogation or liability analysis, and continuous health audits that catch quality issues before they compound.
AI can review materials and consolidate those details rather than forcing adjusters to dig for them. Even the use of document analysis and intelligence reduces manual work and cognitive load. Complex documentation like police reports, medical bills, and extensive repair estimates can be analyzed, summarized, and processed in seconds, giving adjusters time to review, validate, and take action on that information.
That time back matters. Less administrative friction means adjusters are free to investigate losses, communicate with policyholders, and make better decisions. The result isn't just faster claims, it's a process that feels more consistent and more human. In a world where customers demand a higher standard of service than ever, those are critical elements of successful claims operations.
Raising the Floor
How AI Improves Adjuster Consistency
Performance varies across claims teams. Differences in experience, workload, and training naturally lead to inconsistencies, especially as volumes increase.
AI levels the field by scaling your best adjuster's expertise across the team. Every organization has that go-to expert for complex claims. AI captures that knowledge and makes it accessible to everyone, supporting less seasoned adjusters where consistency matters most: documentation quality, data accuracy, estimates, and compliance.
AI doesn't replace skill gaps. It closes them. It creates a more consistent claims experience without undermining the value of adjuster expertise or judgment.
Raising the Ceiling
The Emergence of the “Super Adjuster”
Remember the Iron Man suit? As AI improves baseline consistency across teams, it also amplifies top performers. The "super adjuster" isn't a new role or replacement model; it's a skilled professional whose expertise can be automatically scaled.
Top adjusters already know how to investigate thoroughly, communicate clearly, and make sound calls. AI helps them do those things faster and with greater confidence by identifying patterns, highlighting relevant information, and reducing the noise that outcomes. Instead of spending time searching for details or reconciling data, they focus on analysis, strategy, and results.
Control remains with the adjuster. Configurable AI supports decision-making without overriding it, reinforcing trust in both the process and the professional behind it. As claims operations evolve, expertise becomes more valuable, not less.
Scaling Humanity, Not Replacing It
Claims handling is built on confidence in its accuracy. Policyholders want to feel heard, understood, and supported during stressful moments. AI can’t create that connection, but it can protect it.
When adjusters have breathing room from admin tasks, they can be present. Their communication improves, responses feel more thoughtful, and interactions become less transactional. Personalization isn't driven by automation alone, but it's better enabled by giving adjusters the time they need.
By supporting adjusters at every level, AI acts as a stabilizing force, raising the overall quality of service. A rising tide lifts all boats.
Designing AI Around Adjusters, Not the Other Way Around
Building AI for claims requires accountability and responsibility. The systems we design today will directly influence how adjusters work, the decisions they make, and the outcomes they deliver.
As someone responsible for designing an AI platform that will become integral to how claims professionals operate daily, my philosophy is simple: we build to optimize the adjuster, not replace them. Whether it's for a carrier, TPA, or MGA model, AI has to enable and inform without taking control from the people responsible for the outcomes.
For us, transparency, configurability, and human control are design requirements. AI needs to align with existing workflows and respect adjuster expertise as capabilities continue to evolve.
The Future Is Augmented, Not Automated
AI isn't the moment where people become optional. It's an opportunity to elevate the professionals who power the claims process.
For claims leaders, the path forward is clear: invest in tools that support adjusters, protect judgment, and create confidence in accuracy. Supported adjusters create better outcomes for policyholders and organizations alike.
The organizations that will lead the next era of claims are those designing AI around people, not the other way around.
