American International Group is stepping up its use of artificial intelligence in underwriting and claims while keeping a heavy reliance on reinsurance, which its chief executive says will help protect profits as prices come down.

Peter Zaffino, AIG’s CEO, told the Keefe, Bruyette and Woods Insurance Conference that the company has already moved from testing AI to using it in parts of its business.

The technology will be rolled out in its Lexington unit later this year and across more commercial lines in 2026.

“In some areas we’re getting ten times as many submissions as we used to,” Mr Zaffino said. “You’re not going to bring in ten times as many underwriters.

“ Using AI to prioritise data and speed up decisions will allow us to grow significantly. Even getting back to our old bind ratios could mean more than $1 billion in extra business.”

He also defended AIG’s strategy of buying large amounts of reinsurance to spread out the risk, even though some rivals choose to retain more risk themselves.

“I like the predictability of volatility containment,” Mr Zaffino said. “I don’t like to be at the whim of what happens with the weather or a major hurricane. That’s how we’ve set up the entire company.”

With reinsurance prices falling this year, he said AIG is well positioned: “A reduction in reinsurance costs benefits us because that is embedded into our product … so we get the same benefit for lower cost.”

That stance is important for Bermuda, where many of the reinsurers AIG relies on are based.

Continued demand for protection from global insurers could help support business on the island even in a softer market, he suggested.

Mr Zaffino added that rating agency upgrades this year — including Moody’s first since 1990 — were “symbolic” of AIG’s turnaround. But he stressed that the company’s focus remains on using technology and careful risk management to sustain growth.