Amid explosive development of artificial intelligence, Florida lawmakers Tuesday began drilling into questions about the technology’s use in the insurance industry.
A panel of insurance and tech officials told the House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee that insurers are using artificial intelligence in a variety of ways, including in claims handling, and tried to dispel concerns that the technology could be misused.
Paul Martin, vice president of state affairs for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, told lawmakers that AI is a “tool” whose use is governed by already-existing insurance laws.
“If a practice is prohibited for a human to do on behalf of an insurance company, it is prohibited for AI to do,” Martin said. “Artificial intelligence is not an end run for the insurance companies around a state’s statutes or its regulations.”
Lawmakers asked a series of questions, including about whether artificial intelligence could be used to deny claims without human involvement, something Rep. Hillary Cassel, R-Dania Beach, said happens in the health-insurance industry.
“What law in Florida is on the books that’s going to tell an insurance company that AI cannot be the sole basis for the determination of a denial of a claim, whether it’s health insurance, property (insurance), et cetera?” asked Cassel, an attorney who handles property-insurance cases.
Thomas Koval, a board member for FCCI Insurance Group who also represented the Florida Insurance Council at Tuesday’s meeting, said “we have had AI around for a long time but now it’s just developed to the point that it is so exquisite, and we want to be careful and work with our IT (information technology) people to make sure that it is being done in the right way.”
“It’s just not like we’re going to turn everything onto Google and ask should we pay this claim,” Koval said.
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The House and Senate during the 2025 legislative session considered bills that would have prevented insurers from using artificial intelligence as the sole basis for denying claims. The bills did not pass, but Tuesday’s meeting was a sign the issue could re-emerge in the 2026 session, which will start in January.
“This is going to be an ongoing learning process for all of us,” House Insurance & Banking Chairman Brad Yeager, R-New Port Richey, said at the end of Tuesday’s meeting.
Outside of insurance, lawmakers also are looking at the use of artificial intelligence in education. The Senate Education Pre-K-12 Committee has scheduled a panel discussion next week on that issue.
Jarrett Catlin, state AI policy adviser for TechNet, an organization that represents technology companies, said other states have considered bills that deal with the use of artificial intelligence in insurance and other areas. Like Martin, he said existing laws often are sufficient to address the issues.
“We encourage you to only introduce new authorities specific to artificial intelligence when there’s a clear AI-specific risk,” he told the House members.
Some lawmakers focused on how artificial intelligence could affect the state’s property-insurance system. For example, Rep. Marie Woodson, D-Hollywood, said the “main issue for me is the high cost of premiums” and asked how artificial intelligence could affect that issue.
Koval said artificial intelligence can lead to more efficiency and speed in insurance-company operations, which should lower costs. He said such costs are a component of rates.
Meanwhile, Rep. Nathan Boyles, R-Baker, raised a concern that artificial intelligence could allow insurers to assess risks at a “micro” level, potentially leading to some property owners being shut out of coverage.
But Martin downplayed such concerns.
“AI is not there to deny claims,’ he said. “AI is not there to write fewer policies.”
