We asked 200 benefits brokers about AI. Here’s the unfiltered version.

AI this, AI that. AI is everywhere. But does it really belong in benefits placement? If so, where?

You’re probably thinking about this a lot, and your peers are right there with you. Without real data to benchmark against, it’s easy to wonder if you’re the only person who’s both rolling your eyes at a vendor’s shiny new AI “feature” you’d never personally use—and experimenting with LLMs to clean up meeting notes and draft emails.

To help you sharpen your own take on where AI fits in benefits placement, we surveyed 200+ benefits brokers on how they use AI, what they want from it, and what vendors keep getting wrong.

Below, we share the results, which are far more nuanced than the hype you see on LinkedIn.

44% of your peers are already using AI

Nearly half of your peers say that AI has genuinely changed how they work. And it’s not because their company has bought some fancy new software or mandated its use.

Brokers are finding these tools on their own, testing them out for personal use to see if they can go a teeny bit faster, make their lives a little bit easier.

Though only 5% of brokers say AI is table stakes, those dabbling with AI tools are finding that:

• They’re able to take on higher volumes (without sacrificing quality).
• They have more time to consult with their clients.
• They’re investing more time in relationship-building with their carrier contacts.

Eventually, the gap between brokers who take AI seriously and those who don’t will start to show up in proposal turnaround time, the depth of analysis clients see at renewal, and the strength of partner relationships.

The tasks brokers want AI to help with

They’re—you guessed it—the ones that eat up the most time.

Right now, building and formatting proposals is the biggest culprit. It tops the list of the highest-effort, lowest-value work. Roughly 1 in 5 brokers (21%) say they want help with it.

After that, they cite:

• Gathering RFP responses. Lots of “Circling back on this request,” emails and trying to find the most recent doc or CSV to analyze.
• Extracting carrier data. Pulling rates, plan details, and renewal numbers out of PDFs, spreadsheets, and emails so quotes can be compared, which comes with a high potential for copy/paste errors that could bite you later.

These tasks really bog brokers down. In a separate survey we conducted at the end of last year, we found that brokers spend close to a full workweek—roughly 39 hours per employer group—just getting through the mechanics of placement.

Those are hours you could be spending on the work you’re really good at and enjoy. Things like bigger-picture benefits strategy, tailored to every client’s specific situation, population, and long-term goals.

Brokers pulling ahead are using AI to get this busywork off their plates, and are able to take on more business (without growing their team) as a result.

What would change people’s minds about AI

38% say the single thing that would most change how they think about a platform is evidence that it reduces time spent on manual data work. That was nearly double the share of any other answer.

Next came better client analysis. 21% of brokers want AI’s help in surfacing insights into a group’s utilization patterns and plan performance, plus carrier response rates and new business premiums. That way, their renewal conversations start with a strong point of view.

Brokers also want to improve their relationships with carriers. 13% wish AI could help them spend less time chasing responses and reformatting submissions.

All this to say, brokers don’t want to use new tech just because it’s new tech. They want to find tools that give them time to spend on the parts of the job only they can do.

What would make people trust a vendor’s pitch?

There was a definitive theme in the responses to this question: Seeing is believing.

→ 32% of brokers said a live demo of AI working in a typical benefits placement scenario would earn their trust. They want to witness—with their own eyes—how a feature works with real data in real time.

→ Another 31% said specific metrics would strengthen a vendor’s case. Like time saved, errors reduced, KPIs they can take back to their team or leadership.

→ 18% want references from brokers they respect. Being able to talk to someone about their use of a tool is much more convincing than a scrolling list of logos.

→ 15% want transparency about what AI can and can’t do. They want vendors to be upfront about edge cases that might still need some tweaking, their testing process, and where humans definitely still need to be in the loop.

Don’t just wait to be impressed

The data we collected isn’t showing a profession that’s afraid of AI—far from it. Most people haven’t seen anything that’s wowed them enough yet to sign on the dotted line.

That’s fair, but it’s worth knowing that the cost of waiting for the perfect platform isn’t zero. The longer you stay on a platform that’s not investing in integrating AI into the benefits placement workflow, the harder it’ll be to switch later. Just think about the momentum you’d lose on a rip-and-replace and reskilling your team.

The brokers who will be in the strongest position a year from now aren’t waiting for vendors to come to them. They’re doing their research, finding new and exciting tools, asking good questions, and stress-testing platforms now.

See how brokers and carriers are using AI in their day to day →