Manulife Selects Adaptive ML as Reinforcement Learning Engine to Scale Enterprise AI

Executive Summary

• Manulife entered a multi‑year agreement with Adaptive ML to integrate its reinforcement‑learning engine (Adaptive Engine) into Manulife’s enterprise AI platform.
• The partnership will enable real‑time fine‑tuning of open‑source small language models, improving accuracy, cost efficiency and speed for use cases such as underwriting automation and sales support.
• Manulife highlights the initiative as a key pillar of its AI‑powered strategy, emphasizing responsible AI, sustainability benefits and competitive advantage in regulated financial services.

Key Details

• Partner: Adaptive ML – New York‑based private AI software company specializing in reinforcement‑learning operations (RLOps).
• Technology: Adaptive Engine – an RL‑powered platform that continuously learns from new data and user feedback to fine‑tune, evaluate, and deploy specialized language models (SLMs) for enterprise applications.
• Scope of Agreement: Multi‑year collaboration to explore practical AI use cases, initially focusing on:
• Automating underwriting quote generation.
• Executing complex business processes.
• Providing decision support to sales professionals.
• Strategic Rationale (Manulife):
• Accelerate progress on Manulife’s proprietary AI platform.
• Deliver “breakthrough solutions” that enhance speed, accuracy and innovation.
• Achieve cost‑efficiency by using specialist language models rather than large generalist LLMs.
• Strategic Rationale (Adaptive ML): Position Adaptive Engine as a blueprint for regulated industries to adopt AI at scale with superior reliability and reduced energy consumption.
• Leadership Quotes:
• Jodie Wallis, Global Chief AI Officer, Manulife – emphasized the partnership’s role in maintaining competitive edge and delivering value‑driven AI solutions.
• Julien Launay, CEO, Adaptive ML – highlighted the need for enterprise‑grade RL operations to enable scalable, reliable AI.
• Shamus Weiland, CIO, Manulife – noted the initiative will embed AI across business functions, improving customer experience while reducing friction.
• Responsible AI & Sustainability: The collaboration aligns with Manulife’s publicly disclosed Responsible AI Principles and is expected to lower energy usage over time through more efficient model fine‑tuning.
• Recognition: Manulife was recently named #1 life insurance company for AI maturity in the inaugural Evident AI Index for Insurance, underscoring its commitment to AI innovation.

Notable Quotes

“We continue to accelerate progress on our AI platform and Adaptive ML's capabilities position us to deliver breakthrough solutions that enhance speed, accuracy, and innovation.” – Jodie Wallis, Global Chief AI Officer, Manulife

“Generalist LLMs are not built for scalable enterprise production. Manulife is strategically taking ownership by deploying its own specialized agents using Adaptive Engine… gaining superior reliability and the ability to deliver cost efficiencies throughout their private environments worldwide.” – Julien Launay, CEO, Adaptive ML

Materiality Assessment: Non‑Material – Positive (strategic partnership with no immediate financial impact disclosed).