Patients increasingly expect more personalized and connected health care experiences, yet today’s health care often requires individuals to navigate a complex system of providers, benefits, services, and support channels during some of life’s most important moments.

Rather than viewing AI as another technology implementation, Katya Andresen, executive vice president and chief data, digital, and AI officer at The Cigna Group, encourages leaders to rethink how they approach strategy, decision-making, and organizational transformation.

How can AI create more personalized health care experiences?

For Andresen, one of the most promising applications of AI is its ability to make health care more connected, personalized, and proactive.

Too often, people are left piecing together information on their own while trying to understand benefits, find care, or access support. AI can help simplify those interactions by surfacing relevant information, answering questions, and connecting people to resources more quickly.

Andresen envisions intelligent agents that help people understand available services, access information, answer coverage questions, or connect with the right support when they need it. AI can also help clinicians and service teams reduce administrative burden by summarizing information and surfacing relevant insights that support better decision-making.

How is The Cigna Group using AI today?

While many organizations are still exploring the possibilities of AI, Andresen highlighted examples that are already helping create more personalized health care experiences today.

One example is Cigna Healthcare’s myCigna AI assistant, available to approximately 10 million customers. The assistant helps people understand medical benefits, claims, coverage, and care options through conversational, plain-language interactions.

Customers can upload documents they do not recognize and receive guidance on next steps. If an issue cannot be resolved digitally, the experience connects customers to a live agent chat without requiring them to start over.

Rather than replacing human support, Andresen said AI can help remove friction from the experience while enabling employees to focus on situations that require human judgement, empathy, and expertise. When it comes to clinical or coverage decisions, for example, the goal is not to remove human judgment from the loop – it’s to make human judgment better, she said.

Why is governance critical to responsible AI?

As organizations adopt more advanced AI capabilities, Andresen believes governance becomes even more important.

She challenged the perception that governance slows innovation. Instead, she described governance as a foundation that allows organizations to move faster with confidence.

Effective AI governance means bringing cybersecurity, legal, compliance, model oversight, and business expertise into the design process from the start rather than treating oversight as an afterthought.

As organizations explore emerging capabilities such as agentic AI, Andresen said the core question remains the same:

Does the technology help people get the right support with less friction in a way the organization can fully stand behind?

The future of AI in health care

As AI continues to evolve, Andresen encouraged leaders to avoid both complacency and hype.

While today’s enthusiasm around AI may outpace immediate realities, she believes organizations that create the most value will be those that combine innovation, responsible governance, and human expertise while remaining relentlessly focused on the people they serve.

The future of AI in health care is not simply about deploying new technology. Success depends on combining responsible governance, human expertise, and AI-enabled experiences that make health care simpler, more personalized, and more supportive for the people who rely on it every day.