{"id":25004,"date":"2026-05-08T14:07:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:07:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insurance-canada.ca\/?p=85623"},"modified":"2026-05-08T14:07:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:07:42","slug":"amid-rising-cost-of-living-ai-emerging-as-benefits-decision-making-tool-for-gen-z-the-hartford-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/amid-rising-cost-of-living-ai-emerging-as-benefits-decision-making-tool-for-gen-z-the-hartford-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid Rising Cost Of Living, AI Emerging As Benefits Decision-Making Tool For Gen Z: The Hartford Study"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hartford, CT (May 7, 2026) \u2013 Artificial Intelligence (AI) search tools are now a part of how of some U.S. workers are making employee benefits decisions, particularly as inflation is driving up the cost of living, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/view.ceros.com\/the-hartford\/future-of-benefits\/p\/1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" shape=\"rect\">Future of Benefits Study<\/a> from The Hartford, a leading provider of employee benefits and absence management.<\/p>\n<p>The study found that 43% of U.S. workers are never sure they are choosing the right benefits \u2013 uncertainty that is driving a younger subset to seek guidance from AI search tools such as ChatGPT. Overall, 17% of U.S. workers used AI to help with benefits decisions during open enrollment. However, more than half of those workers were Gen Z. While younger workers express growing unease about AI\u2019s broader impact on work and creativity according to a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/708224\/gen-adoption-steady-skepticism-climbs.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" shape=\"rect\">Gallup poll<\/a>, Gen Z acknowledges AI\u2019s relevance and is curious about it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmerican workers are getting benefits information from more sources than ever before \u2013 HR portals, colleague and peer advice, and now AI,\u201d said Mike Fish, head of Employee Benefits at The Hartford. \u201cRegardless of how they prefer to receive their information, we help our employer clients provide support that\u2019s easy to access using AI-backed tools and clear, simple benefits communication.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4><b>Key Findings on AI and Benefits Enrollment:<\/b><\/h4>\n<ul class=\"bwlistdisc\">\n<li>94% of Gen Z workers who said they used AI (such as ChatGPT) during enrollment trusted the recommendations it provided; and<\/li>\n<li>Among U.S. workers who used AI during benefits enrollment, they reported using it to:\n<ul>\n<li>Compare different benefits options (59%);<\/li>\n<li>Get general information about benefits (55%);<\/li>\n<li>Get personalized recommendations (51%);<\/li>\n<li>Calculate costs or estimate expenses (45%); and<\/li>\n<li>Have someone tell them exactly what to choose or buy (31%).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In addition to the emerging use of AI for benefits guidance, the study shows U.S. workers are grappling with the financial pressures of everyday living expenses. Half of U.S. workers say they are unsure if they will have enough money for future medical care. As premiums, deductibles and <a href=\"https:\/\/cts.businesswire.com\/ct\/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.urban.org%2Fdata-tools%2Famerican-affordability-tracker&amp;esheet=54531051&amp;newsitemid=20260507564327&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=everyday+living+expenses+rise&amp;index=3&amp;md5=b02231e6e314c5d6c3ed93c45efb57af\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" shape=\"rect\">everyday living expenses rise<\/a>, employees are taking a closer look at supplemental health benefits \u2013 such as accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity insurance \u2013 as a way to gain access to added financial protection to help manage everyday expenses.<\/p>\n<h4><b>Key Findings on Cost of Living:<\/b><\/h4>\n<ul class=\"bwlistdisc\">\n<li>44% of U.S. workers say they are more worried about daily expenses \u2013 such as food, housing, healthcare and unexpected costs \u2013 than they are about their long-term financial future;<\/li>\n<li>38% of respondents say their financial situation is affecting their mental health;<\/li>\n<li>73% of blue-collar workers say they consider supplemental health benefits a part of their overall financial plan, compared with 60% of white-collar workers, and 54% of service-based workers, such as wait staff, salespeople, retail clerks, non-professional healthcare workers; and<\/li>\n<li>Top reasons that U.S. workers enrolled in supplemental health benefits were:\n<ul>\n<li>To have peace of mind for unexpected health events (62%);<\/li>\n<li>To help cover out of pocket costs (48%); and<\/li>\n<li>To fill gaps in medical and\/or pharmacy coverage (37%).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cU.S. workers want benefits that can help protect their paychecks \u2013 not just in a worst-case scenario, but in everyday life,\u201d said Fish. \u201cThese findings reinforce why clear, easy-to-use guidance, backed by knowledgeable support, matters more than ever as people weigh their options and look for coverage that helps close gaps and manage daily expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"smallhead\"><b>Survey Methodology<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>The Hartford\u2019s 2026 Future of Benefits Study of 1,000 U.S. workers was fielded between Dec. 3 through Dec. 11, 2025. The U.S. workers surveyed were actively employed. The margin of error for U.S. workers is +\/-4% at a 95% confidence level.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"smallhead\"><b>About The Hartford<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>The Hartford is a leader in property and casualty insurance, employee benefits and mutual funds. With more than 200 years of expertise, The Hartford is widely recognized for its service excellence, sustainability practices, trust and integrity. For more information, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehartford.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">www.thehartford.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"referencetextnoital\">The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. <em>(NYSE: HIG)<\/em> operates through its subsidiaries under the brand name, The Hartford, and is headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut. For additional details, please read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehartford.com\/legal-notice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" shape=\"rect\">The Hartford\u2019s legal notice<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"referencetext\">Some of the statements in this release may be considered forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We caution investors that these forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results may differ materially. Investors should consider the important risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ. These important risks and uncertainties include those discussed in our 2025 Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Forms 10-Q, and the other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume no obligation to update this release, which speaks as of the date issued.<\/p>\n<p class=\"referencetext\"><em>SOURCE: The Hartford<\/em><\/p>\n<p> Tags: <a href=\"https:\/\/insurance-canada.ca\/tag\/artificial-intelligence\/\" rel=\"tag\">Artificial Intelligence (AI)<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/insurance-canada.ca\/tag\/benefits\/\" rel=\"tag\">benefits<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/insurance-canada.ca\/tag\/gen-z\/\" rel=\"tag\">Gen Z<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/insurance-canada.ca\/tag\/survey\/\" rel=\"tag\">survey<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/insurance-canada.ca\/tag\/the-hartford\/\" rel=\"tag\">The Hartford<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/insurance-canada.ca\/tag\/united-states\/\" rel=\"tag\">United States (USA)<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hartford, CT (May 7, 2026) \u2013 Artificial Intelligence (AI) search tools are now a part of how of some U.S. workers are making employee benefits decisions, particularly as inflation is driving up the cost&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[1],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25004"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}