Employers are set to significantly increase their use of AI in health benefits, a new survey shows, even as they continue to face barriers to rolling out the tech.
WTW polled 312 employers with about 4.6 million workers for the 2026 AI Use in Health and Benefits Survey, and found that 72% of those surveyed plan to embed AI into their benefits programs in the next two years. By comparison, only 20% said they are currently doing so.
The employers cited several key areas where they see AI likely supporting benefits at work, such as improved communication, cited by 68%, and data insights and analytics, noted by 59%. In addition, 57% of those surveyed said AI would likely support greater personalization.
Jeff Chandler, North America commercialization leader for Health & Benefits at WTW, said in a press release that these top priorities are all "areas where AI can materially improve how benefits teams make decisions and support employees."
"AI is moving quickly from pilots to practical application in health and benefits, and employers are deliberate about where they expect it to deliver value," Chandler said. "But ambition alone isn’t enough. Scaling AI responsibly requires the right foundations."
And the survey highlights that there is a gap between employers' ambitions around AI and their readiness to reach those goals. Seventy-one percent of benefits teams said they had "limited or no access" to the internal resources and skills needed to effectively deploy AI, even when those resources may exist elsewhere within the organization.
Employers also cited concerns around safety and security in deploying AI. For instance, 70% cited data privacy and security as a major concern, with 66% naming AI errors and 64% citing legal compliance and fiduciary exposure.
In addition, just 1% of employers said they have a fully developed roadmap for AI or governance that's specific to their benefits, though 56% said that one is in the works.
WTW found that the tech's early adopters, or about 16% of employers, are leading the way in identifying potential solutions. The players that were first out of the gate tend to have more defined strategies, roadmaps and governance frameworks established.
They're also finding external partners to lean on that can drive quicker impact in the near-term, WTW found.
"While adoption remains uneven today, the scale of planned investment suggests AI will soon become embedded in core benefits operations," said Jeff Levin-Scherz, population health leader, NA for Health & Benefits at WTW, in the press release. "Evidence from early adopters suggests that organizations need clear roadmaps, access to the right expertise and strong governance to manage risk and turn AI ambition into real outcomes."