Suncorp is ramping up its use of artificial intelligence (AI) across its insurance business, with chief information officer Adam Bennett revealing new plans to move beyond scaled deployment and into the next phase of development—Agentic AI.
Speaking at the Australian Financial Review AI Summit, Bennett said the focus now is on embedding AI throughout the organisation while ensuring ethical governance and maintaining a strong emphasis on customer experience.
Over the past year, Suncorp has expanded its AI and machine learning initiatives from isolated projects to enterprise-wide systems. The models now support a range of functions including product recommendation, customer interactions, underwriting, and fraud detection.
The technology is also being applied to streamline internal operations. For instance, generative AI is being used to reduce the number of questions required in home insurance applications and to provide staff with summarised claim information – cutting down time spent on data retrieval and improving communication with policyholders.
This approach is proving particularly useful during natural disasters. Suncorp now uses weather prediction overlays combined with customer data to send early warnings, prepare suppliers, and position staff ahead of storms or floods.
“Even before the rain starts falling or winds start whistling, we can overlay predicted weather patterns with our customer information. It helps us to be ready to respond with the right people in the right places, as quickly as possible,” Bennett said. These AI tools have enabled the insurer to speed up claims processing, allocate resources more efficiently, and focus staff attention on the most complex or urgent cases.
While expanding AI capabilities, Suncorp has prioritised safety, risk management, and governance across its operations. According to Bennett, AI is not treated as a standalone function but integrated into company-wide strategy.
“This isn’t something that sits in ‘the IT department’ – it’s intrinsic to our strategy, has top-down sponsorship and is being embedded enterprise-wide,” Bennett said.
To support this transformation, the company is also investing heavily in its workforce. Thousands of employees have participated in AI-focused programs such as leadership courses, hackathons, virtual conferences, and targeted reskilling initiatives.
“Our ability to embed AI across the organisation will be our competitive advantage, not the technology itself,” Bennett said, adding that as nearly all roles will work with AI in some capacity, ongoing education will remain a priority.
