A new Insurance News feature podcast shares expert commentary on the latest trends, opportunities and challenges in insurtech.

Created in partnership with Insurtech Australia and hosted by Insurance News MD Andrew Silcox, the podcast was recorded on the sidelines of InsurtechLIVE26 in Sydney. 

“We’re looking at the landscape for 2026, where the initial hype phase of insurtech seems to have transitioned into a more pragmatic era,” Mr Silcox said.

“We’ve moved from a sector of many small players to one really focused on maturity and scale.” 

Listeners are treated to the latest observations from Insurtech Australia CEO Simone Dossetor and QBE Ventures global head of strategy and partnerships Lynn Thompson.

Also giving expert commentary are Curium CEO Tetiana George, Lorikeet co-founder Steve Hind, Zemple co-founder Aurora Voss, Envada SVP Felipe Flores, Hamilton Locke partner Charmian Holmes, and conference pitch contest winner Dylan Rodricks, co-founder of InsurAI. 

Here is a sample of commentary from the special feature INsight podcast.

Simone Dossetor: “We’re seeing positive momentum, which is great ... There is a real interest in where the sector is at. We’ll be doing targeted clinics for our members ... Are they at the early stage, or are they now looking at exit, are they looking at international opportunities?” 

Steve Hind: “The benchmark that insurers are competing against today is not word of mouth, it’s not television, advertising, it’s not search – it is ChatGPT. 

“AI can do a tonne of work humans do today as well or better than them ... But I expect to see a significant increase in the quality that’s expected in the market, which means you need just as many people. We will need just as many sales reps, it’s just that their proposals will be 50% better.  

“That makes me actually feel kind of optimistic that there’ll be plenty of work for humans to do, because what AI will do is sort of level us all up.” 

Tetiana George: “It’s harder and harder for junior people without deep insurance expertise to bring value to anything right now. If they are tasked with some simple jobs ... they will heavily rely on AI, but then they don’t necessarily have the expertise to quality-check it.  

“That’s one very, very big challenge for effectively the entire new generation of people entering the industry. 

“The composition of the workforce is shifting very much towards experience ... and it’s massive, because you have fewer and fewer of those people, they’re retiring. I’m not sure I have ... seen anyone who’s solving it effectively.” 

Aurora Voss: “Insurance is officially cracking open ... We can certainly learn from how other industries have consumed and used technology. I think that’s a very exciting evolution of our community.” 

You can find the latest episode, and previous episodes of INsight, published here.