Insurer Guardian hands 1 million dental calls a year to Sierra’s AI agents

Guardian Life signed a multi-year deal with Sierra to use its AI agents for about 1 million dental benefit verification calls a year, plus payments and claim status checks. It is Guardian’s third AI partnership in a year, after HCLTech and Avantos.

US insurer Guardian Life is handing some of its busiest customer service work to AI agents from Sierra, the startup run by former Salesforce co-chief executive Bret Taylor. The two signed a multi-year partnership, Guardian said on Thursday.

Guardian will use Sierra for about 1 million calls a year to check dental benefits, plus payments and questions about claim status. It says the aim is faster answers, but it has not shared any targets or financial terms. Sierra has argued that AI agents should be paid per result, not per seat.

“No one should have to sit on hold to check on a claim or confirm dental benefits,” said Taylor, Sierra’s chief executive and co-founder.

Michael Prestileo, Guardian’s chief strategy officer, said the deal would let staff focus on the cases where “human judgment and connection matter most.”

It is Guardian’s third AI deal in a year. In July, it signed a seven-year deal with HCLTech, which is taking over Guardian’s India centre and nearly 2,000 of its staff. In February, it invested in Avantos, an AI platform for financial advisers.

Sierra, launched in February 2024, says it works with 46% of the Fortune 50. It raised $950M at a $15B valuation in May. Rivals are consolidating: Salesforce, which Taylor once co-ran, is buying Fin for $3.6B.

It has been adding features fast. Last month, it teamed up with Stripe so its agents can take card payments during calls, and with Meta on an open standard for personal AI agents.