Manulife’s Secret AI Playbook Exposed at Reuters Momentum Summit 2025 — What’s Inside?

Manulife's Responsible AI Principles were shared during the Reuters Momentum AI Summit in New York last month. These principles guide the design, development, and deployment of Manulife's Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions, which includes over 43 GenAI use cases in production, as of Q1 2025, an equivalent amount slated to be deployed across the organization by year end and over 450 ideas in evaluation¹.

Manulife's Responsible AI Principles empower the firm to deliver value from AI for its customers, colleagues and society. With the fast pace of change in AI, Manulife will evolve its Principles as it learns and grows, as the industry matures, and as new or updated regulations emerge. Manulife's Responsible AI Principles are:

• To use data and AI in ways that are aligned to the company's Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and Impact Agenda.
• To prioritize the safety of customers, colleagues and organization through sound delivery and governance processes.
• To endeavor to align AI efforts with a commitment to a sustainable future, by designing energy-efficient AI solutions and partnering with companies who share Manulife's values.
• To implement practices intended to make AI solutions and their use of data free from bias, explainable, and reliable, while maintaining the appropriate accountability for decision making.
• To prioritize human agency and empower our colleagues to use AI tools to enhance their skills and experience, knowing these are crucial for the future.
• To continually learn from and work with industry partners and AI experts to foster innovation and evolve our commitment to Responsible AI.

"As organizations increasingly rely on AI, being committed to responsible AI use is paramount and Manulife is proud to be a responsible AI steward," says Karen Leggett, Global Chief Marketing Officer for Manulife. "GenAI is enabling us to better serve our customers, find innovative ways of working, and accelerate our ambition of becoming the most digital customer-centric company in our industry. At the same time, Manulife is taking great care to embed ethical AI principles in every application and workflow."

Manulife is leading by example as Jodie Wallis, Global Chief Analytics Officer for Manulife, spoke at Reuters Momentum AI Summit in New York, where she, alongside industry leaders, discussed the future of artificial intelligence and its impact on global business. In her remarks, Wallis outlined how Manulife is using AI ethically and responsibly, providing benefits to customers while safeguarding their data and privacy.

"We are committed to harnessing AI responsibly, ensuring it aligns to our core values and supports our mission to make decisions easier and lives better," says Wallis. "Our AI Principles highlight the importance of ethical adoption, and we are dedicated to cultivating a collaborative environment that tackles the complexities of AI while ensuring it remains safe, trustworthy, and beneficial for all."

Manulife has been actively investing in and scaling AI capabilities since 2016. In the past three years, the firm has significantly increased the valueⁱ enabled through advanced analytics and AI by expanding its AI solutions portfolio and increasing efficiency through data and AI platform investmentsⁱⁱ, all driven by the company's responsible AI framework.

As of Q1 2025, Manulife has:

• Over 43 GenAI use cases in production and over 450 ideas in evaluation
• Approximately 200 data scientists and machine learning engineers
• Global access to GenAI tools for all colleagues
• A GenAI skills-building program for users, leaders and practitioners

The summit also provided a platform for Wallis to discuss the importance of educating and training colleagues on AI technologies.

"Empowering our workforce with the knowledge and skills to harness AI responsibly is crucial to our success and aligns with our commitment to a productive and ethical use of technology," says Wallis.

Manulife expects its digital investments and capabilities, including AI-enabled enhancements, to generate a threefold return on investment over five years through 2027, with over $600 million of benefits² realized in 2024 from our digital customer leadership initiatives globally. 

Caution regarding forward-looking statements

This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbour" provisions of Canadian provincial securities laws and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to Manulife's use of its digital capabilities, including AI and AI-enabled tools, and the expected benefits it expects to realize. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Certain material factors or assumptions are applied in making forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include but are not limited to general business and economic conditions; changes in laws and regulations with respect to the use of AI-enabled tools; our ability to execute our digital plans and to deploy future digital use cases; our ability to adapt products and services to the changing market; our ability to attract and retain key employees; and our ability to protect our intellectual property and exposure to claims of infringement from others. Additional information about material risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations may be found in our most recent annual and interim reports and elsewhere in our filings with Canadian and U.S. securities regulators.

The forward-looking statements in this document are, unless otherwise indicated, stated as of the date hereof. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

About Manulife  

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping our customers make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we operate as Manulife across Canada, Asia, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, providing financial advice and insurance for individuals, groups and businesses. Through Manulife Wealth & Asset Management, we offer global investment, financial advice, and retirement plan services to individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. At the end of 2024, we had more than 37,000 employees, over 109,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 36 million customers. We trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges, and under '945' in Hong Kong.