Manulife has launched an AI assistant that gives Canadian advisors round-the-clock access to underwriting guidance, adding a pre-application tool to the AI engine it already uses to decide cases.
The Manulife Advisor AI Assistant, available through the insurer’s Advisor Portal, lets advisors ask underwriting questions in plain language. Answers are generated from Manulife’s underwriting advisor handbooks. The first version covers life insurance, critical illness insurance and Manulife’s Synergy products.
Manulife said the tool is meant to help advisors prepare for client conversations, understand likely underwriting requirements, and gather information earlier, so clients have clearer expectations before they apply.
“The faster advisors can get to the information they need, the more confidently they can help clients move forward,” said Karen Cutler, chief underwriter at Manulife Canada.
Manulife was explicit about the tool’s limits. The assistant does not make underwriting decisions or give a binding indication of insurability, premiums, coverage or outcomes, and all applications are still assessed under Manulife’s standard underwriting requirements. The insurer warned that AI-generated answers may contain errors and said advisors are expected to use professional judgment. It added that the tool is designed to complement its underwriters and wholesalers, not replace them.
Jamie Campbell, Manulife Canada’s head of AI and data, said the aim was to make underwriting information easier to find so advisors could spend more time with clients.
The assistant covers the stage before an application is submitted. After submission, Manulife relies on MAUDE, its automated underwriting decision engine, first launched in 2018.
In January, Manulife introduced an upgraded version of MAUDE alongside a redesigned electronic application, enabling automatic approvals in as little as two minutes for qualifying applicants. At the time, Cutler said that by December 2025, 58% of eligible cases were being approved automatically through MAUDE, a 56% increase from before the upgrade.
Manulife plans to expand the assistant beyond underwriting to other parts of doing business with the insurer. The launch is part of a wider AI push across underwriting, operations and digital services. Manulife expects AI to generate more than $1 billion in enterprise value by 2027, with $300 million achieved by the end of 2025.
The practical gain is time. Underwriting questions that once needed a call or email to a wholesaler or underwriter, such as how a client’s diabetes or travel history might be treated, can now be answered at any hour. That’s particularly useful for newer advisors still learning how underwriting works.
The caveats matter as much as the convenience. Because answers are non-binding and may be wrong, advisors who pass them on to clients as firm expectations risk setting up disappointment if the final decision differs. Treating the assistant as a starting point and confirming anything material with an underwriter remains the safer approach, and it’s the one Manulife itself recommends.
