AI-driven health prompts have clients benefiting from earlier detection of serious illness, including cancer, Discovery Life said on Tuesday.
Discovery Life, a subsidiary of JSE-listed health and life insurer Discovery, has used incentives to encourage healthy behaviour through its Vitality programme. Discovery has invested in a global partnership with Google that uses AI to provide people with personalised recommendations to improve their health and lower the cost of cover.
In South Africa, Discovery Life clients have been encouraged to sign up for its “personalised payback booster”, which rewards people for completing AI-driven recommendations through Discovery Health’s “personalised health pathways” feature, launched last year. These recommendations are individually tailored and range from a nudge to go for a run to a reminder to undergo a colonoscopy.
During 2025, a total of 14,775 Discovery Life clients were prompted to undergo more than 18,000 screenings, of which almost 9,500 were for cancer.
These screenings led to 47 severe illness claims, of which 32 were for cancer diagnoses that were picked up early, at stage 1 or stage 2. The health screenings also identified 12 heart and artery conditions that needed treatment.
Many cancers — such as those of the breast, colon, and prostate — have a much better prognosis and lower treatment costs if they are diagnosed early.
“It’s a really powerful use of AI, one we are really excited about,” said Discovery Life deputy CEO Gareth Friedlander.
While many corporates were deploying AI to boost operational efficiency, Discovery Life was also using it to reduce clients’ risk of potentially life-threatening illness, he said. Screening also detects health problems that are not immediately life-threatening, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, he noted.
It was too soon to quantify cost savings or determine whether the tool reduced the rate of churn among clients, he said.
It’s a really powerful use of AI, one we are really excited about
— Gareth Friedlander, Discovery Life deputy CEO
Discovery Life had 523,000 lives under cover in 2025, up 5.7% from the 495,000 lives covered the year before. It paid out R11.5bn in claims in 2025, a figure in line with total claims paid in 2024. Almost two-thirds (65%) of the individual life policy payouts were for living benefits (illness, disability and income loss) and shared value payments, which reward clients for managing their health and wellness.
A total of R6.9bn was paid out in individual life insurance claims, R2.4bn in shared value rewards, and R2.2bn in group risk claims.
Cancer continued to be a key driver of claims, accounting for 45% of severe illness benefits, 37% of capital disability benefit claims, 27% of life cover claims, and 11% of income continuation benefits.
In 2025, Discovery Life payouts for share-value rewards comprised R1.25bn in life insurance premium paybacks and R1.16bn in its cash conversion benefit, which pays up to the value of a client’s full life cover at age 65 in 10 annual payments in retirement.
Vitality was integral to the success of Discovery Life, as the clients who were the most deeply engaged with the programme and reached gold or diamond status had a 73% lower mortality risk and 45% lower disability risk than clients who did not engage with it, said Friedlander.
Vitality incentivises members to make healthy choices, such as exercising or buying fruit and vegetables, with rewards such as subsidised gym membership, free movies and discounted airline tickets.
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