By the end of this you'll know where AI fits in an MGA or wholesale shop, the controls your carriers will expect, and where to start without touching your authority.
Your inbox runs like a conveyor belt.
Retail agents send ACORD apps, half-filled supplementals, loss runs as phone photos, and a statement of values in a spreadsheet nobody has opened since 2019. Thunk. Another one lands. The good risks sit in the pile with the bad ones, and the clock runs on all of them.
Speed wins in wholesale. The first clean quote back to the retailer often gets the order. AI is the fastest way to get a submission from arrived to ready for an underwriter. The pen stays with the underwriter.
Where does AI fit in an MGA or wholesaler?
At the front door, and in the data entry behind it.
| Stage | What AI does | Who decides |
|---|---|---|
| Intake | Read the email and attachments, extract insured, class, location, limits, losses, effective date | No one yet |
| Completeness | List what's missing and draft the request back to the retail agent | The submission desk sends it |
| Clearance | Match the insured against open submissions and in-force accounts, flag possible duplicates | Your clearance rules |
| Appetite triage | Score the risk against program guidelines and flag hard declines | The underwriter |
| Rating entry | Key the extracted data into the rater or workbench | The underwriter checks it |
| Quote letter | Draft terms, conditions and subjectivities from the underwriter's decision | The underwriter signs off |
| Bordereaux | Reconcile bound policies against premium and claims reports | Your carrier reporting team |
Software vendors are already shipping MGA-specific AI. Vertafore's submission processing agent for MGAs, for example, reads emails, PDFs and spreadsheets, checks whether a submission is complete, and generates follow-up requests for what's missing. You don't need a big budget to get the front door right.
What should never leave the underwriter?
The decision, and anything near the edge of your authority.
Delegated authority is a contract. The NAIC's Managing General Agents Act is the model most states adopted for their MGA laws, per AgentSync's summary. It requires a written contract between the MGA and the insurer, and it makes the insurer review the MGA's underwriting and claims operations. Your binding authority agreement spells out the classes, limits and territories you can write.
So build your AI around one hard rule. It flags. It never binds. Anything outside the grant, or close to a limit, goes to a person with the authority to say yes, or to the carrier.
This isn't legal advice. Your binding authority agreement and your carriers' counsel decide what's allowed.
How does the NAIC bulletin reach you?
Through your carriers.
The NAIC adopted its Model Bulletin on the Use of Artificial Intelligence Systems by Insurers in December 2023, and its adoption map, with a status date of May 1, 2026, shows about half the states have adopted it. It is addressed to insurers. But it asks each insurer's written AI program to cover AI systems and data that come from third parties, with due diligence on those parties and, where appropriate, contract terms such as audit rights and cooperation with regulators. Day Pitney's summary walks through those provisions.
If you underwrite on a carrier's paper, you are the third party. Expect carrier audits to start asking:
- Which AI tools touch our submissions and rating?
- Does AI influence any decision about an applicant, and how is that decision reviewed?
- What data goes to the AI vendor, and is it used for training?
- Can you show us how a given decision was made?
Have the answers written down before the auditor arrives. Our guide to the NAIC AI model bulletin covers the bulletin itself.
How do you run submission intake with AI?
Extract, cite, flag. In that order.
- Collect the whole submission in one place: email body, ACORD forms, supplementals, loss runs, SOV.
- Extract into your intake fields, with the source page for every value.
- Flag conflicts between documents, like a different square footage on the SOV and the ACORD 140.
- List what's missing against your program's required items.
- Check clearance before anyone spends time underwriting.
- Hand the underwriter one clean summary with the flags on top.
Here's an intake prompt you can adapt:
You are the submission desk for a wholesale broker.
From the attached submission, extract: named insured, DBA, mailing and risk
addresses, class description, years in business, requested limits,
effective date, prior carrier, five years of losses, and TIV by location.
Give the source document and page for each value.
Then list (1) conflicts between documents, (2) items missing from this
checklist: [YOUR REQUIRED ITEMS], and (3) anything that matches these
declines: [HARD DECLINE LIST].
Do not score or recommend. Do not fill gaps.
For the bigger picture on intake, read insurance submission intake automation.
What's different for wholesale brokers?
Two things: the retail agent, and the surplus lines paperwork.
The retail agent. Your fastest win is the "what's missing" email. AI can draft it the minute a submission lands, specific to the class, polite, and in your voice. Every hour that request sits is an hour the retailer is shopping elsewhere.
Surplus lines paperwork. Each state sets its own rules for diligent search, filings, taxes and, where they apply, stamping fees. AI can prepare the documentation and the tax worksheet from the bound policy. The licensed surplus lines broker reviews and signs, because that license is the one on the line.
How do you pick AI tools for underwriting?
Score them on the boring parts.
| Question | A good answer |
|---|---|
| Does every extracted value show its source? | Yes, down to the page |
| What happens with a phone photo of a loss run? | It reads it or flags it as unreadable |
| Can it enforce our authority grant? | It flags out-of-grant risks and can't bind |
| Is there a log of what it did on each file? | Yes, exportable for carrier audits |
| Is our data used to train models? | No, in writing |
| What does "agent" mean in your product? | A specific, describable set of actions |
That last row matters more than it looks. Every vendor says agentic now, and it means something different at each one. Our guide to AI agents for insurance agencies has the questions that sort it out.
Where should you start?
With the "what's missing" email and clearance. Both are fast to measure, both cut time-to-quote, and neither touches a decision.
On the retail side of the house, Salience does the same front-door work for agencies: you forward the request, Salience prepares the applications and submissions, and nothing goes to a market until the agency approves. Browse the rest of the AI by line of business shelf for commercial, contractor and trucking guides.
Give us a call
Hey, all the tech is great, and innovation is great. There's a lot of responsibility and liability across the entire space, and a lot of people are saying the same words that mean different things. Give us a call. We plug in specifically to your processes and take care of the GDS first to unlock you and bring home the bacon.
Call +1 (916) 866-7867 or book a walkthrough.
Would you rather approve this than type it?
Forward the request or the prior application. Salience prepares the form, flags what's missing, and nothing goes out until you approve it.
Frequently asked questions
How are MGAs using AI?
Mostly at the front door: reading broker submissions, extracting the data underwriters need, checking clearance and appetite, and keying data into rating. Underwriting decisions and binding stay with people who hold the authority.
What is the best AI for insurance underwriting?
For an MGA or wholesaler, the best tool is the one that reads messy submissions accurately, shows where every value came from, respects your binding authority limits, and leaves an audit trail your carriers can review.
Can AI make underwriting decisions for an MGA?
It can score, sort and flag. A person with delegated authority should make and own the decision, especially near the edge of the authority grant, and your carrier contract may require it.
Does the NAIC AI bulletin apply to MGAs?
The bulletin is addressed to insurers, but it asks them to cover AI systems and data from third parties in their written AI program, including due diligence and contract terms. If you underwrite on a carrier's paper, expect those questions from the carrier.
How do wholesale brokers use AI on E&S submissions?
To turn incomplete retail submissions into a clean file fast: extract what's there, list what's missing, draft the request back to the retail agent, and prepare market-specific cover notes.