As Health insurers embrace AI, providers say it undermines trust

Casey Ross covers the use of artificial intelligence in medicine and its underlying questions of safety, fairness, and privacy.

Facing shrinking profit margins and higher medical costs, the nation’s largest health insurers are accelerating adoption of artificial intelligence throughout their sprawling operations, promising a wave of automation designed to cut expenses and boost productivity.

References to AI were a common part of the script during insurers’ calls with Wall Street analysts in the early weeks of 2026.

Executives at UnitedHealth Group pledged to lean heavily on the technology to cut $1 billion in costs this year, with CEO Steven Helmsley declaring that “we are clearly embarking on a new age of technology” in health care.