James Benham:  Last year, I watched a carrier deliver a demo of an AI tool that could summarize a complex medical record in under ninety seconds. The room was impressed. Six months later, I asked how adoption was going. The project lead paused, then said something I’ve heard too many times: “The adjusters just aren’t using it.” The technology worked fine. The business case was solid. But nobody had planned for the people who were supposed to change how they work every day.

I’ve been building technology for the insurance industry since I started JBK out of my dorm room at Texas A&M in 2001, and that story is not new to me. I saw the same pattern in construction tech. I saw it in my own company. The tool delivers on its promise in a controlled environment, and then it meets the reality of how people actually operate...

The Workers’ Compensation Research Institute published a study in June 2025 looking at AI’s promises and challenges in our industry, and one of the clearest themes was that AI’s value depends on how transparent it is, how well it’s governed, and whether it genuinely supports the mission of helping injured workers recover. The report also makes an important point that I think gets lost in a lot of the hype: AI should not replace the first human contact in a claim.

Read the full article on WorkersCompensation.com here.  The WCRI study he cites is Artificial Intelligence in Workers’ Compensation: An Overview of Promises and Challenges.  View its page on our website for more information, including on how to get a copy!