The AI holdout number keeps shrinking, 84% of the industry is now in or open
Citing industry survey data, Diem reports 84% of restoration now embraces or is open to AI, up from roughly 70% three years ago. Email drafting is still the top use case at every company size; 36% name estimating and jobsite documentation as their priority AI application. Notably, hiring fell from the #1 industry problem to #2, with payment now ranked first. His thesis: adoption lags appetite because of the team conversation nobody's had, not the tech.
Why it matters
The "should we use AI" debate is basically over, the gap now is execution. If a third of the industry is pointing AI at estimating and documentation, the operators still doing it by hand aren't cautious, they're falling behind on the two tasks that decide margin.
The read
An adoption survey from a vendor selling adoption deserves a squint, and open to AI is not the same as using it. The number underneath is the one that matters: payment just passed hiring as the industry's top problem. That tells you where to point any tool you buy. Start on the collections side, draft the follow-up letters, and measure days to payment before and after.
How we got here
Storyline: AI in claims 9 stories so far
What changed adoption sentiment now quantified at 84%, and the operator problem ranking flipped, payment overtook hiring as #1, pointing AI's next wave at collections/estimating instead of recruiting.
- 2 earlier stories on this storyline
- Texas regulators just put AI claims-handling on the table
- Sedgwick: 2026 CAT season will be harder to model
- Will your next claim be denied by a computer? Regulators are finally asking
- The hidden cost of AI (the operator's side of the ledger)
- Insurers are now excluding AI from your own liability coverage
- AI in the workplace: are your techs still thinking? (operator-adoption debate)
- The AI holdout number keeps shrinking, 84% of the industry is now in or open You are here
Read next
Sources C&R Magazine, If Your Team Is Scared of AI. Here's What to Tell Them. (published ).
Trade press (editorial by Jeff Diem, LEVLR/Elkmont Estimates, vendor interest disclosed) Medium confidence