New Liberate survey of policyholders: nearly half would take a 60-second AI payout, 61% still want a person on every denial and 86% want AI use disclosed

Nearly half of policyholders would take a 60-second AI claim payout over waiting on a person, but 61% want a human to review every denial, according to a new survey of 1,001 Americans with recent property or auto claim experience released today by Liberate, a provider of insurance-native AI agents for property and casualty insurers. Policyholders drew a clear line: be fast on yes, be human on no.

A policyholder walks out of a grocery store at 9 p.m. and finds her bumper on the ground. The coverage is clear. The photos are clear. She doesn't want a conversation. She wants it handled before she gets home.

Another policyholder gets the call that his water damage isn't covered. The exclusion is real. The decision is correct. To him it feels like the floor just gave way.

Those are different kinds of calls, and policyholders know it. The survey shows exactly where they draw the line between AI and a person.

Offered a choice between a 60-second AI payout with no human contact and a human on the phone in 10 minutes with payment in three days, nearly half chose the AI (49.5%). Asked how denials should be handled, 61% said a person must review every one. Only 33% would accept a "no" from AI alone. One in four want both: the instant payout when the answer is "yes" and a person when the answer is "no."

A yes is a transaction. A no is a judgment.

When a claim should be paid, policyholders want speed, certainty and no need to tell the story again. Carriers have always wanted to deliver that. The constraint has been capacity. Status calls, document requests and repeated explanations take hours that should go to the people who need them most.

A denial is different. It needs someone who can explain it, stand behind it and answer for it. The survey shows policyholders holding that line across every age group: 83% of those 60 and older want a human on every denial.

The findings land as Washington looks harder at how claims get closed. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley have pressed six of the largest personal lines carriers for claims data after Wall Street Journal analyses found auto insurers paid nothing on 45% of the liability and medical claims they closed last year, and the five largest home insurers paid nothing on 44% of resolved claims.

"Most of the industry is still asking whether policyholders will accept AI. Policyholders already answered that. They told us to be fast on yes and human on no," said Amrish Singh, co-founder and CEO of Liberate. "Carriers have always wanted to be there for people at their worst moments. AI that handles the routine and hands the hard calls to a person who already knows the story is how they finally do it at scale. That's a win for carriers, adjusters and policyholders."

What policyholders want from a claim, by the numbers

Age. 62% of policyholders aged 30 to 44 and 57% of those 18 to 29 would take the 60-second AI payout. Among those 60 and older, 30% would.

Disclosure. 57% want to be told every time AI touches their claim. Another 29% want to know when it made a decision. That's 86% who want disclosure, and only 11% who don't care. Policyholders who bought through a local agent want it most: 64% said "always tell me," compared with 50% of online buyers.

Repeating the story. 57% explained their loss from scratch to two or more people. 22% told it three or more times. 43% were asked for the same information more than once. The more often a policyholder repeated themselves, the more they wanted AI: 54% of those who re-explained their loss two or more times would take the AI payout, compared with 43% of those who told it once or never.

Carrying the follow-up. 55% reached out to their insurer or agent and heard nothing back. Four in 10 got no reply two or more times on the same claim. 42% said they had to reach out first to get news most or all of the time. 41% felt mostly or entirely responsible for moving their own claim. One in three went a week or longer without an update. The most requested time-saver, named by one in four, is knowing where the claim stands at all times.

Time. 65% spent three or more hours on their claim. One in three spent six or more. One in three claimants lost pay dealing with it.

Loyalty. 52% saw their premium rise after the claim. 60% told someone about the experience. 20% warned people away. 42% considered leaving their carrier or plan to leave. Only 36% are very confident a major loss would be covered.

"Most of what this survey counts is a status update nobody sent or a voicemail nobody returned," said Tom Freeland, president of Liberate. "You paid the premium. You shouldn't have to chase your own claim. Tell policyholders where their claim stands before they have to ask, and a lot of those calls never happen. That's the work AI should take so adjusters can take the call that needs a person."

About Liberate

Liberate builds insurance-native AI agents for property and casualty insurance. Its agents answer calls, texts, and emails, resolve sales, service, and claims requests end-to-end, and write every action back into core systems like Guidewire, Duck Creek, Snapsheet, and Applied Epic and more. A Supervisor Layer governs each interaction and escalates to a human when necessary. More than 70 carriers and brokers run more than 3.5 million transactions a month on Liberate. Insurance runs on Liberate. liberate.ai

Methodology

An online survey of 1,001 U.S. adults, ages 18 and over, was conducted by Propeller Insights on behalf of Liberate between Sept. 2 and Sept. 22, 2026. Respondents opted into an online database and were targeted based on demographics and survey qualifications. The study used a blended sampling approach, including both general population sample and targeted sample to help reach consumers who filed, abandoned or considered a property or auto claim in the past five years. To confirm qualifications, respondents verified their insurance coverage and claim experience within the survey itself. The maximum margin of sampling error for the overall sample is approximately +/- 3.1 percentage points at a 95% level of confidence. Claim-process figures are based on 934 respondents who filed or started a claim (+/- 3.2 points).

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