Tech & AI

Verisk, which owns Xactimate, agreed on July 30, 2025 to buy AccuLynx, the job-management software a large share of roofing contractors run their businesses on, for $2.35 billion.

Carmichael argues that technology carries no ethics of its own and proposes a written technology code of ethics for restoration companies: verify AI recommendations before acting, automate only with a clear purpose, stay accountable for decisions the software influenced, protect customer data, and use technology to elevate people rather than replace thinking.

Allstate CEO Wilson confirmed the carrier is running "ALLIE," an internal LLM they say is aimed at "more accurate pricing" and "more accurate claims." Allstate says it uses "only internal LLMs" (i.e. not a third-party vendor endpoint) and acknowledges ALLIE is "not completely built or deployed." Everything else (what ALLIE writes, whether it can auto-reduce or auto-deny an estimate, which states it's live in, and whether a licensed adjuster reviews its output) is unstated in the disclosure.

LEVLR launched Rapid Review on Aug 3. You upload your estimate PDF and the carrier's estimate PDF; the tool returns a prioritized breakdown of what to address first, the documentation supporting each line, and a prewritten adjuster response ready to edit and send.

The 84% "open to AI" figure comes from the 2026 State of the Industry Report.

Helixco announced Connect, positioned as an Emergency Response Profile + CRM built exclusively for restoration.

Citing industry survey data, Diem reports 84% of restoration now embraces or is open to AI, up from roughly 70% three years ago.

Helixco released ROM Wizard, a cloud tool inside its commercial platform that walks an estimator through guided questions and loss measurements and auto-generates a rough-order-of-magnitude scope and estimate, including equipment selection, power distribution, and generator fuel math.

TM+ Solutions, a cloud time-and-materials platform for property-loss work, acquired Vigilince, an AI tool that reads loss-site photos and field info to structure preliminary scope, flag safety concerns, and build mobilization checklists before crews arrive.

A trade-press piece on "knowledge decay", the argument that over-reliance on AI-generated content erodes critical thinking and expertise inside organizations.

The market is ending "silent AI" coverage.

The NAIC's AI model bulletin has now been adopted or mirrored by 25+ states, requiring AI-supported claim decisions to comply with unfair-claims-settlement standards.

JobSight shipped JobSightAI (AI receipt capture, conversational search across jobs).

Trade press pushed back on AI enthusiasm, arguing the costs (training, culture, judgment atrophy, error liability) aren't showing up in the vendor demos.

Detail firmed up on the three-tier labor-efficiency architecture we flagged in May: the new Large Restoration/Remodel tier sits between Restoration/Service and the old "New Construction" setting, which has been relabeled "Total Rebuild or Similar." It requires a 2026-or-later price list.

Texas DOI issued a bulletin on AI use in claims, and it surfaced in a Badger-vs-Sigman debate at the NAPIA meeting in Dallas.

Sedgwick's report says 2026 catastrophe risk is more distributed and harder to predict, and a talent exodus on the claims side will make losses harder and costlier to manage.

Capabuild, the LiDAR/360 documentation app for restoration and mitigation contractors that TrueBuilt acquired, has rebranded its restoration product to TrueRestore, wiring jobsite capture directly into TrueBuilt's AI estimation engine.

Carriers are using AI to inspect roofs and inform coverage/claim decisions, and insurance regulators are starting to pay attention to how those models are used.

Xactimate moved from two labor-efficiency models to three, adding a "Large Restoration/Remodel" tier meant to bridge service-level work and full rebuilds.

Trade press is raising the failure mode of AI estimating and scoping tools (a wrong AI call on materials or scope causing real damage), even as tools like Rebuild pitch insurance-compliant estimates in 90 seconds via an AI voice assistant.