The chequebooks are opening. A massive 90% of senior executives in the insurance sector are planning to increase their AI investment in 2026.
But here is the interesting part: they aren’t doing it to save money anymore. According to new data from Accenture’s Pulse of Change survey, 85% of leaders now view AI primarily as a tool for revenue expansion rather than cost reduction.
We are witnessing a shift from “how do we automate this task?” to “how do we rebuild our entire business model?”
However, throwing money at the technology stack is proving to be the easy part. The real challenge—and the reason many of these initiatives may stall—is a growing disconnect between the C-suite and the workforce.
The “Usage Gap” No One Is Talking About
While leadership optimism is at an all-time high, the reality on the ground tells a different story. You might expect that as tools get better, adoption would skyrocket. The data suggests the opposite.
Employee usage of AI is actually dropping.
- Regular AI use by employees has fallen by 10 percentage points since mid-2025.
- Independent experimentation with AI tools has dropped by 15 points.
- Only 40% of staff feel their training has actually prepared them for this shift.
Why the hesitation? It comes down to trust and clarity. Over half of employees (54%) report that low-quality or misleading AI outputs are killing productivity, not boosting it. When the tool hallucinates or fails, trust evaporates, and employees revert to old methods.
Enterprise Scale vs. Employee Readiness
We are moving past the “pilot phase.” 34% of companies are now rolling out AI agents across multiple functions. The technology is scaling, but the organizational structure isn’t keeping pace.
Less than 10% of businesses are redesigning job roles to match these new workflows. This creates a friction point: you have 2026 technology trying to operate within 2015 job descriptions. The result is a workforce that feels unprepared and unheard, with only 20% feeling they have a say in how AI impacts their daily grind.
The Bubble That Won’t Burst
Despite chatter about an “AI bubble” or inflated valuations, decision-makers are undeterred. The fear of missing out on growth outweighs the fear of a market correction.
In fact, 47% of executives stated they would increase AI spending even if the bubble burst. This suggests that for business owners and founders, AI is no longer a speculative bet—it is viewed as essential infrastructure for survival and growth.
The Takeaway for Founders
If you are planning your roadmap for the next 12 to 24 months, the lesson from this data is clear: Don’t just upgrade your software; upgrade your context.
Success in 2026 won’t be defined by who has the most powerful model. It will be defined by who has the cleanest data and the most prepared team. If your employees don’t trust the data, or if their roles haven’t evolved to accommodate the tools, your investment is just expensive shelfware.
Focus on data integrity and role redesign first. The revenue growth will follow.
