“Build vs. Buy” has long been a decision weighing internal software development capabilities and budget against the cost of contracting with a vendor. With AI in the mix, the decision is now a question of where the capability sits in relation to regulated decision-making and the runtime cost of leveraging AI. For insurers, rating, pricing, and underwriting workflows now offer integrations with AI tooling, which can complicate the regulatory load associated with each capability.
In today’s Build vs. Buy discussion, two central questions should guide the decision:
- Is the capability a standard function, or does it create real differentiation?
- Does the solution make a regulated decision, or connect with the systems responsible for one?
Those answers point to four practical courses of action:
- Option 1: Configure (Buy) Commodity That Makes a Regulated Decision
- Option 2: Configure/Light Build Commodity that Interacts with Regulated Systems
- Option 3: Build Differentiator that Makes Regulated Decisions
- Option 4: AI-First Build
Read more in the article below.
ARTICLE
Build vs. Buy in 2026
How AI Shifted the Risk Landscape for Insurers
