Price comparison websites built their entire value proposition on being the fastest way to find the cheapest insurance option. That advantage is eroding quickly, and the shift is happening first among the consumers who will define the market going forward, according to Puneet Chattree (pictured), insurance industry lead at Accenture in Canada.

Accenture's Talk to My AI Agent report found that among Millennials, 27% now use generative AI platforms for insurance price research, compared to just 16% who use traditional price comparison sites. The gap is similar for Gen Z, where 26% turn to GenAI tools versus 11% who rely on comparison sites, a pattern Chattree said is roughly double in scale across both younger demographics.

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"Providers should assume that AI tools will expose pricing inconsistencies, poor value or weaker differentiation faster than any human could, even with price comparison websites," Chattree said. "What we're really seeing is that competitive, transparent, and machine-readable pricing will be non-negotiable as more consumers turn to AI to find the best deal."

Chattree said the significance of that shift goes beyond the raw numbers, since Millennials and Gen Z represent the demographic that will increasingly dominate the insurance-buying population over the coming years. A channel preference forming now among younger consumers, he said, is likely to become the default behaviour of the broader market as that generation ages into higher insurance spending, rather than remaining a niche habit confined to a single age cohort.

Part of what's driving the shift, he said, is the same trust dynamic showing up elsewhere in the data: younger consumers increasingly believe an AI tool can genuinely get them a better outcome, not just a faster search.

"There is a lot more trust. They feel they can get a better deal," Chattree said.

That behaviour isn't isolated to insurance either, Chattree said, since younger consumers are already relying on AI agents across other spending categories entirely.

"We're starting to see Gen Z and Millennials use agents not only for insurance, but for orchestration in retail," Chattree said. "They're comparing retail products the same way, and that behaviour is translating directly into how they shop for insurance."

That cross-category habit matters, Chattree said, because it means insurers and brokers aren't just competing against a new tool built specifically for their industry. They're competing against a broader shift in how an entire generation approaches comparison shopping of any kind, one that consumers are bringing into insurance fully formed rather than learning for the first time.

Crucially, younger consumers aren't using AI purely as a price-cutting tool, according to the survey, which found that 46% of respondents trust AI recommendations specifically, relying on these tools to identify a better fit rather than just the cheapest option available.

"It's not just about cutting the cost on pricing," Chattree said. "They're also using AI to identify higher quality providers, so it becomes an advice and product selection tool in addition to just finding the best price."

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That combination, Chattree said, is what makes this shift more structurally significant than earlier disruptions to comparison sites, since it isn't simply diverting price-sensitive shoppers to a cheaper alternative. It's replacing the entire research and recommendation function comparison sites were built to serve, with a tool consumers increasingly trust to weigh quality alongside cost, a distinction that changes what insurers actually need to compete on.

For carriers and brokers, Chattree said the response can't stop at the point of purchase or renewal. Products and digital experiences need to be built with the assumption that an AI tool, not a person, may be the one actually evaluating them on a consumer's behalf, which changes what "being found" even means in practice.

"Providers have to ensure that their products and their offerings, from a carrier lens and even a brokerage lens, are being optimized for AI," Chattree said. "What does it mean to be AI native in distribution for this new consumer?"

Many carriers, he said, are still approaching this as a variation on their existing direct-to-consumer strategy rather than recognizing it as a distinct challenge requiring its own dedicated approach. That assumption, he expects, will need to shift quickly as adoption among younger consumers continues to widen the gap with traditional comparison tools, leaving less time than many carriers currently assume they have to adjust.