2026 Executive Outlook | Adam Mitchell, Mitch Insurance

Although the past few years have been about Artificial Intelligence (AI) discovery, 2026 will mark the year of AI effectiveness, as it becomes more embedded in our work and everyday lives.

This will create new opportunities and risks. Increasingly, people will rely on AI agents to complete daily tasks. Over the next 12 months, we’ll see consumers begin to use AI agents to shop for insurance and even purchase their policies. As an industry, how will we respond when this happens?

An AI agent could call, email or text your brokerage and hold detailed conversations with your team. It will become impossible to distinguish these AI agents from humans. Are your people and systems ready to manage this in a fully compliant way?

If the answer is ‘no,’ don’t worry, because you’re not alone. A large portion of our industry is likely unprepared for this. But these discussions need to be happening at your brokerage now, and you should be developing strategies. It might be tempting to simply shrug this off. After all, most insurance policies in 2026 will still be bought in traditional ways to which we’ve become accustomed.

But every shift starts somewhere, and change can happen faster than you expect. Expect to see AI take cybercrime to unprecedented levels in 2026. Both the volume and sophistication of text, voice and video deepfakes are already making it harder to spot scams and determine what online content can be trusted.

As digital deceit becomes more widespread, this will become ever more challenging. AI-optimized cybercrime will continue to increase in scale, posing problems for everyone.

Your business is going to be at a greater risk than ever before of being attacked, impersonated or breached. The same holds true for your clients.

Interestingly, recent reports show Gen Z is more susceptible to AI scams than older generations, proving even the most technologically-savvy can be duped.