How TAL is using AI to adapt while protecting Australians

The life insurance provider is using AI, digital tools and new skills programmes to help its people spend less time searching for information and more time supporting customers By Laura Hyde | 11 November 2026 Australian life insurance firm TAL is investing in technology and skills to help it adapt and stay relevant for the five million Australians and their families who rely on its life insurance policies.

While TAL initially explored AI as a productivity tool, in April 2026 the firm signed a five-year agreement with Microsoft to accelerate its cloud and AI capabilities with infrastructure and skills investment designed to support employees. As part of this effort, TAL introduced a chat-based knowledge assistant, which provides employees with accurate answers to claims-related queries, saving an average of seven minutes per query.

The insurer has also integrated an AI-powered post-call summarisation tool into its core claims system to automatically transcribe and summarise customer conversations in real time. TAL’s approach to using AI to help teams be more present for customers when they need them most reflects Microsoft’s “frontier mindset”.

Rooted in the frontier firm framework, the approach encourages organisations to treat AI as a core part of the workforce, augmenting employees rather than simply serving as another software tool. Testing, learning and experimenting safely with AI has been and continues to be an important part of TAL’s approach.

The insurer recognises it must remain both trusted and adaptable, which requires leaders to establish clear guardrails to enable employees to innovate with confidence, while maintaining the trust of its customers. “It would be a good collective goal right now for us to have an Australia that is prosperous and well and inclusive and thriving ... and I think AI has a good role to play in that,” said Fiona Macgregor, group CEO and managing director of TAL.

Microsoft ANZ president Jane Livesey talks to TAL’s Fiona Macgregor about using AI to explore new possibilities while keeping people and trust at the centre