Last updated: September 23, 2026
For People. For Pets. For Trust: Responsible Use of AI at Allianz
In insurance, AI helps customers to get answers faster, receive more accurate offers and see claims settled more quickly – especially when it matters most. For many people and businesses, their insurance is what they rely on when things go wrong. This strong trust into insurance needs to be carried by AI as well. Trust is the precondition for innovation at scale.
Customer-first, with trust as the compass
At Allianz, the customer is at the center of everything we do. The same applies to our approach to AI: we’re using it with our customers at the heart of our strategy. We analyze, automate and personalize processes along every touchpoint with our customers. At the same time, we rigorously protect customer data, safeguard Allianz’s digital sovereignty and leverage human capabilities where they create the most value.
This customer-centric compass shapes how Allianz uses AI to drive growth and resilience. Efficiency and cost effects are important, but they are intentionally treated as outcomes of a trust-based AI strategy, not its starting point.
Governance built early
“Allianz introduced principles for responsible AI years before the EU AI Act required them”, says Philipp Raether, Chief Privacy & AI Trust Officer at Allianz. “This was a deliberate leadership decision: We wanted to scale AI without risking trust, reputation or business capability. We built governance and accountability in parallel to technological progress. It’s the right thing to do for our customers.”
Allianz established a Group Data and AI Trust Advisory Board , building on the Group Data Advisory Board founded in 2021, to advise the Board of Management of Allianz SE on data ethics and the responsible and compliant use of artificial intelligence.
Eight principles that translate trust into practice
Allianz has eight overarching principles that guide the responsible handling and application of AI. Not every principle applies to every use case, but the relevant ones are mandatory and their compliance is checked.
Allianz principles for responsible AI
- Prohibited AI: Allianz does not develop or use AI systems that violate law or fundamental values, including prohibited practices under the EU AI Act, e.g. AI that manipulates individuals, exploits vulnerabilities, or otherwise poses unacceptable risks to fundamental rights.
- Transparency: Customers are informed when and for what purpose AI is used, including when they interact with AI systems.
- Accountability, accuracy and proficiency: AI might hallucinate, which is why accuracy is a responsible AI requirement: inaccurate outputs can lead to misunderstandings or sub‑optimal decisions and therefore need to be appropriately managed to ensure reliable and trustworthy use.
- Security and resilience: Technical robustness and cyber-security across the full lifecycle, including protection against misuse and failures.
- Non-discrimination: AI use cases may create a risk of discrimination when biased data leads to unfair outcomes for certain individuals or groups. This risk is mitigated by identifying, preventing, and correcting bias in the data and use of AI.
- Data privacy: AI systems process data, which is why data privacy is a responsible AI requirement: only data that may be lawfully processed under applicable data protection laws is used by or made available to AI.
- Data governance: Data governance is essential because AI relies on data, and clear rules on data quality, origin, access, and use are necessary to ensure reliable, compliant, and trustworthy AI outcomes.
- Human oversight: AI is subject to human‑in‑the‑loop oversight, meaning designated humans monitor its use and can intervene or correct outcomes that are not aligned with Responsible AI principles.
Drawing red lines: what Allianz will not do
“Responsible AI is not only about enabling innovation, it is also about saying “no” to certain applications”, says Philipp Raether. “Allianz excludes AI systems that would structurally undermine trust, even if they were technically feasible or promised short-term efficiency gains.”
Examples of excluded applications include:
- Social scoring of individuals based on behavior, social characteristics or inferred traits.
- Emotion recognition to assess employees at work.
- Manipulative AI that exploits vulnerabilities to influence people.
- AI designed to circumvent legal or regulatory safeguards (prohibited under EU rules and not used outside the EU either).
A streamlined lifecycle: from ideas to operations and beyond
Allianz embeds responsibility into a standardized AI lifecycle. Every AI use case is registered early and then managed end-to-end, from ideation and design to build, go-live, continuous monitoring and, when needed, decommissioning. At each stage, risks relating to compliance, privacy, data quality, IT security and operational performance are assessed, documented and mitigated.
Responsible AI in action: two examples
1) End-to-end claims processing in property & casualty (P&C)
A tangible example is automated claims processing for high-volume, low-complexity claims. Customers (or their agents) upload documents such as invoices. Optical character recognition extracts relevant information, AI models validate key fields (for example invoice date and policy number) and compare them with policy data. If the system is uncertain, cases are routed to human experts.
In Allianz pet insurance in Germany, fully automated processing accounted for 49.7% of claims in 2025, leading to a payout time of a few hours after the filing of the claim for simple, everyday claims. Transparency of the use of AI is ensured through updated privacy notices that explain when cases may be handled fully automatically, and customers always have access to a human contact to avoid being trapped in a “AI loop”.
2) Agentic automation for food spoilage claims during natural catastrophes
In Australia, Allianz uses agent-based automation to handle food spoilage claims, a frequent small claim type during natural catastrophes. Several task-focused agents work together to complete subtasks and accelerate settlement from days to hours. The approach is designed for peak loads: in 95% of cases, the maximum payout requested is AUD 500.
For claims under AUD 500, overall processing time was reduced from around seven days to less than one day. Human oversight remains decisive: potential rejections are escalated to experienced claims handlers, and employees receive targeted training to interpret and challenge AI recommendations. Management dashboards compare AI outputs with actual claim outcomes to detect deviations early.
Investing in technology and people
Scaling AI responsibly requires sustained investment, not only into technology, but also in people when it comes to AI literacy and upskilling. Human-in-the-loop is not only a safeguard; it is also a way to ensure employees can apply judgment, creativity and empathy, especially in sensitive or complex cases where customers need more than automation.
Beyond algorithms: trust as the true advantage
In insurance, trust is everything. “AI will only deliver its promise if it strengthens that trust”, says Philipp Raether. That is why Allianz combines innovation with clear principles, governance and human responsibility. In the race for AI, trust is what makes progress sustainable.
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About Allianz
The Allianz Group is one of the world’s leading insurers and asset managers, active in almost 70 countries and serving around 97 million private and corporate customers*. Our customers benefit from a broad range of personal and corporate insurance services, including property, life and health insurance, as well as assistance services, credit and global business insurance. Recognized for the seventh consecutive year as the number one global insurance brand in Interbrand’s Best Global Brands 2025 ranking, Allianz’s success is built on technology-enabled customer centricity – providing peace of mind, protection, and prevention for our customers and strengthening the resilience of individuals, communities, and societies. We are one of the world’s largest investors, managing around 791 billion euros** on behalf of our insurance customers. Furthermore, our asset managers PIMCO and Allianz Global Investors manage about 2.2 trillion euros** of third-party assets. Thanks to our systematic integration of environmental and social criteria in our business processes and investment decisions, Allianz received an MSCI ESG Rating of AAA (as of March 2026). In 2025, our 156,000 dedicated employees achieved a total business volume of 186.9 billion euros and an operating profit of 17.4 billion euros for our shareholders.
* As of December 31, 2025. Customer count reflects Allianz customers in consolidated entities that are part of the customer reporting scope only.
** As of June 30, 2026.
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