Example · Claims Adjuster
The work you grew into needs you on site or needs your signed decision. Software can do much of the desk work.
29 of your 40 hours still need you
- 16 stay yours
- 13 faster with AI
- 11 tools could take
A typical week at the middle pace. Your plan uses your own tasks.
Is claims adjusting a dying career?
By our task-by-task count, 29 of a typical 40-hour week as a claims adjuster still need a person. Tools could already take about 11 hours. Desk estimating, supplements, notes and reserves are what CCC and Verisk, the big claims software makers, spent a decade building software for, and carriers are switching it on. That is about 28% of your week.
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The work you have grown into is staying.
The work that stays has clear reasons to stay. A roof has to be walked by a person. A coverage decision, in a state like Texas, has to be a person's: the Department of Insurance said in June 2026 that where a carrier uses AI for a consequential decision, "TDI expects a person to review and agree with all decisions before action is taken." Your license is in your own name. And the industry is canceling trainee classes while telling every survey that experienced adjusters are the hardest people to find. As you gain experience, you move from the group it is cutting to the group it is short of. Make that move on purpose, toward field work.
The hard truth
The adjuster field is shrinking as a whole.
Claims adjusting is expected to have fewer jobs in ten years than it has today. Openings will keep coming, but each one is a seat someone else left.
Sources (2)
- Claims adjuster, appraiser, examiner and investigator jobs are projected to decline 6% from 2025 to 2035. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2026
- All of the roughly 21,600 yearly openings are expected to come from replacing workers. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2026
What stays yours
Walking the roof and deciding in five minutes
A person has to be there. A model can read Hover measurements and photos, but it cannot lift a shingle, feel the mat, or tell hail from foot traffic in person. Being there protects the inspection, though, and not always your seat. A photo app, a drone pilot or an independent adjuster can supply presence too.
Deciding whether it's covered
You hold this accountability yourself. In Texas, for example, Insurance Code Ch. 542 requires a written acceptance or rejection within 15 business days of the last document, and a rejection "must state the reasons"; TDI's June 2026 bulletin expects a person to review and agree with any AI-supported consequential decision. In practice, "a person" means your name and license.
The kitchen call: "here is exactly what happens next"
This takes local context and accountability. You know which local contractor will show up, whether the water endorsement bites, and what the mortgage company will do with the check. The model has the policy, but it does not know your county.
Sorting out who hit whom
This takes local context. Comparative negligence on a two-statement collision depends on what the witness didn't say and which intersection has a blind turn. Where a 51% bar applies, as in Texas, the call is worth money on both sides.
Negotiating with the public adjuster or the attorney
This takes accountability and context. Someone with authority has to say the number and own it. Under Texas's 542.060, for example, a bad number can carry 18% interest.
What can a claims adjuster move into?
Plan A is your best move inside the work you do now. Most sessions in the 13-week plan build toward it.
- A
The field and large-loss property track
Why it fits
Why you. Walking roofs and owning the kitchen call are the parts of the job adjusters tend to like, and any catastrophe deployments you have done show you can do it under pressure.
The gap. Your field skill is not written down anywhere. You have no Xactimate certification and no roof or water credential. You also have no number showing your inspections catch what photos miss.
The trade-off. Carriers are pushing first inspection to photo apps and independent adjusters, so the carrier-side field seat is becoming a large-loss-only seat, and a mid-size carrier has a handful. It's physical, and if the seat doesn't exist at your carrier when you're ready, you're applying elsewhere.
Other moves that fit
These are also good bets in this field. Read them if Plan A doesn't suit you.
Complex liability and litigated auto
Why it fits
Why you. You already make comparative-negligence calls and negotiate with attorneys.
The gap. You need bodily injury evaluation, litigation management, AIC 303 (a claims course from The Institutes), and the temperament to work with plaintiff's counsel all day.
The trade-off. It is like desk claims work on the phones but harder, with higher-stakes denial letters and no roof work. It may fit the market better than it fits you.
Own the model review
Why it fits
Why you. You already override the estimate tool, and regulators such as the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) have told carriers someone has to "review and agree."
The gap. You need a steady sampling method, a way to sort errors by type, and a ledger the vendor can't argue with.
The trade-off. It's a desk, and it builds the system that shrinks adjuster seats, including the one behind you. Its ledger is also evidence for the field track.
What's a plan B for insurance adjusters?
Plan B is a job AI is creating that these skills already fit. One session a week in the plan trains you for it, so it is ready if your job shrinks or you want a change.
BPlan B, picked for this role
AI evaluation specialist
Deciding whether a loss is covered gives you the judgment insurers need to review what their claims models get right and wrong.
Other options
Expert AI trainer (contract)
Walking roofs and settling liability disputes is field experience AI training platforms seek, and the contract work can start within weeks.
AI governance analyst
Your experience with coverage rules and regulator complaints helps you check whether AI claim decisions stay fair and defensible.
In your own plan you can switch to any of the 47 roles.
The first two weeks
The first 2 of 13 weeks. Most weeks have three sessions of 30, 60 and 60 to 90 minutes, and some weeks the third one is a field day. Add one 40-minute Plan B session each week. Weeks 11 and 12 have two main sessions. If a catastrophe deployment comes up, pause the plan and treat the deployment as your plan for those weeks. By week 13 you'll have a dollar comparison of photo estimates against your on-site work, a denial letter standard your unit uses, an Xactimate Level 1 result and a meeting held to ask for the field track.
- Week 1: Measure your week
What you do
- APull your closed files from the last 90 days. Count them by claim type, note the average days to close, and mark which ones you inspected in person.
- ATrack your time for one week against the task list. Write down the hours each task takes.
- ARead your state's AI bulletin and prompt-payment rules. For example, Texas has Bulletin B-0003-26 from its Department of Insurance (TDI) and Insurance Code Ch. 542. Write one page on what they mean for your desk.
- BTake the free AIAI Sample Course from The Institutes, the insurance training body. It previews their AI-in-insurance program. Note where AI already shows up in the life of a claim.
- Week 2: Compare photo and site estimates
What you do
- AMake a sheet with no names or claim numbers. For each claim, list the photo estimate total, your total and what changed.
- AFill in rows from this year's files that you inspected in person.
- AOn each loss you walk this week, write down what the photos or the independent adjuster's scope missed.
- BTake the first half of AI Fluency: Framework & Foundations, Anthropic's free course. Write a one-page made-up auto claim to practice on.
Three courses from the plan
Checked 2026-09-22.
- Texas All-Lines Adjuster license, renewalTexas Department of Insurance · $50 per two-year term; $25 late fee
If you hold a license, it is your main asset. Never let it lapse, and check your own state's terms.
- Commissioner's Bulletin B-0003-26, AI use by regulated entitiesTexas Department of Insurance · Free
Yes, Week 1. Even outside Texas it shows where regulators are heading.
- Tex. Ins. Code Ch. 542, Subchapter B (prompt payment) and Ch. 542ATexas Legislature Online · Free
Yes, Week 1, or your own state's equivalent. Know your own deadlines and who holds your liability.
Risks beyond AI: moderateWeather and market-cycle risk
Weather and the insurance market move claims headcount more than model capability does. Hail years add people, and soft markets and reinsurance costs cut them. Meanwhile the industry is shrinking the bottom of the ladder while running short of experienced adjusters.
Where this could be wrong
- Being on site may protect you less than we assumed. The person on the roof can be an independent adjuster at $60 an hour, a drone pilot, or the insured with a guided-video app. The inspection is protected, but who does it is a purchasing decision for the carrier.
- Regulatory bulletins are guidance and do not carry the force of statute. One supervisor agreeing with 400 files a day satisfies "review and agree" on paper. A carrier could treat it as a checkbox.
- The employment drop may be overstated. The "claims adjusting employment fell 21% year-over-year through May 2026" figure is a Glassdoor/Indeed analysis, not BLS, and sits oddly against carrier employment down 2.5%.
- We assumed a field day exists. If yours doesn't, compare independent-adjuster scopes with final payments instead, and the field track becomes an external application.
Also matched: claims adjuster, insurance adjuster, property adjuster. Research checked 2026-09-22. Page updated .