Humana taps Google Cloud's agentic AI for member experience

A new partnership between Humana and Google Cloud aims to boost the member experience with the payer's new Agent Assist, a form of agentic AI built to answer members' questions about their health plans, the companies have announced.

Humana indicated that the Agent Assist will work in tandem with the payer's 20,000 member advocates already tasked with member navigation. Currently, those member advocates field nearly 80 million calls annually, creating a significant workload burden and potentially causing hiccups in the member experience.

According to Humana, member advocates will use Agent Assist to summarize call conversations, anticipate member needs and surface key member information. It can also provide member advocates with guidance, compliance support and automated call summaries. Humana said the agentic AI will help member advocates be more engaged during calls with members.

"We are always looking for new ways to enhance the member experience by making those interactions more personalized, accurate and faster," Japan Mehta, chief information officer at Humana, said in the announcement. "Agent Assist puts responsible innovation directly into the hands of our advocates, helping them to focus on what matters most -- helping our members."

Humana said some of its member advocates began using the Agent Assist in October 2025, but the full rollout across all member service centers is happening this year.

Agent Assist was built using Google Cloud's Vertex AI, Gemini and Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience (CX).

According to the payer, its partnership with Google Cloud has been central to its efforts to support human connection in healthcare, creating accountability for member advocates and ensuring access to accurate and vetted information.

Moreover, working with Google Cloud ensures the technology has data privacy, security and transparency, both companies stressed.

"Our collaboration with Humana is a blueprint for the future of healthcare -- where technology doesn't replace the human element, but radically enhances it," Chris Sakalosky, vice president of Strategic Industries at Google Cloud, said in a press release.

"By integrating Gemini Enterprise for CX, we're giving Humana's advocates an agent that handles the complexity of benefits in the background, so they can focus on the empathy and care that members deserve. This isn't just about efficiency; it's about redefining the standard for member support."

Sara Heath has reported news related to patient engagement and health equity since 2015.