Aviva
Aviva uses generative AI to summarise GP reports for life and critical illness underwriting
Aviva built a generative AI tool that turns long GP medical reports into short summaries for its underwriters, who still make the final decision. Aviva says it cut the time underwriters spend on each case by around half, and it extended the tool from life to critical illness cover in March 2026.
Key figures
Copied exactly from the sources. Copy any figure with its citation.
around half
Cut in underwriter review time per case (Aviva's description, stated with the March 2026 critical illness extension)1
eighteen months
Testing period before the life insurance launch2
1,000
Cases processed in the active test phase before launch2
What it took
The problem
Protection underwriters at Aviva had to read long digital medical reports from GPs before deciding on life and critical illness applications. Some reports ran past 90 pages. Reading them took a lot of underwriter time and held back turnaround.
What they built
A generative AI tool that reads a GP report and produces a short summary. It filters out details that do not matter and highlights the key information. Underwriters read the summary and make the final decision.
How they did it
Aviva tested the tool for eighteen months with controls in place and ran a 1,000-case trial phase before announcing it in November 2025. It planned to roll it out to underwriting teams from 28 November. In March 2026 it reused and extended the tool for individual critical illness applications, which are more complex, and reported the same high accuracy in testing. Aviva says it plans similar summaries for income protection, according to Mortgage Solutions.
Results
Aviva says underwriters now need around half the time to review each case, and describes significant improvements in turnaround times. The company gives no method or baseline for the figure.
Lessons for your project
Keep the person in charge of the decision. Aviva's underwriters read the summaries and make the final call, so the tool speeds up reading and does not decide cover.
Test for a long time on real cases before launch. Aviva ran eighteen months of testing and a 1,000-case trial phase first.
Reuse a proven tool for the next product line. Aviva extended the life tool to critical illness and re-tested accuracy on the harder cases.
Pick a bottleneck that is plain to staff. Medical reports running past 90 pages were a known time sink for underwriters.
Caveats
- The time saving is Aviva's own claim in a press release. The release gives no method, sample or baseline.
- The model and supplier are not disclosed.
- The first release says Aviva would roll the tool out to underwriting teams from 28 November 2025. deployedDate uses the month and is the announced start, not a confirmed go-live.
- The Aviva pages were read through a direct page download because the usual fetch tool was blocked. Mortgage Solutions, dated 18 March 2026, repeats the March release and is not independent confirmation.
Sources
- Aviva extends industry-first AI underwriting tool to Critical Illness cover
Aviva plc · 2026-03-18 · Press release · aviva.com
- Aviva to launch groundbreaking AI Underwriting Tool
Aviva plc · 2025-11-18 · Press release · aviva.com
- Aviva rolls out AI for critical illness cover
Mortgage Solutions · 2026-03-18 · News · mortgagesolutions.co.uk
Summarized in our own words from the sources above. Spotted an error? See corrections.