Manulife picks Akka to power enterprise agentic AI

Manulife has selected Akka as a partner for its enterprise agentic AI platform, adding Akka's runtime software to a programme the insurer and investment group is testing internally.

The agreement adds Akka to a group of technology suppliers supporting the platform, which Manulife positions as a standardised foundation for building and deploying AI agents across business units. The platform is in beta testing.

Akka's software focuses on running distributed applications. Manulife plans to use Akka's runtime to support workloads it expects to become part of business-critical workflows.

Manulife has positioned the partnership around operational resilience and governance, expecting Akka's technology to strengthen security and reliability as adoption expands.

Agentic platform

Manulife defines AI agents as systems that understand tasks, help make decisions, and take action for customers and employees. It says the platform provides an integrated environment for building and deploying these agents within the enterprise.

In addition to development tools, the platform includes governance controls and safeguards linked to Manulife's Responsible AI approach. Manulife has also tied the work to sustainability goals, including reducing infrastructure requirements through more energy-efficient designs.

"Our insurance and investment businesses are built on trust, and that same principle guides our approach to AI," said Jodie Wallis, Global Chief AI Officer, Manulife.

"As we explore technologies that can help us scale reliable, compliant and resilient AI systems, solutions like Akka illustrate how enterprises can build and operate agentic systems with the speed, predictability, and governance required in highly regulated environments. Their focus on orchestration, safety, operational SLAs, and system reliability reflects exactly the kind of rigor that supports responsible AI and consistent customer value," Wallis said.

Operational focus

Manulife's selection of Akka reflects a broader shift among large financial firms from AI experimentation to operational deployment. Agentic AI programmes often require controls for access, auditability, and consistent behaviour across complex workflows, as well as the ability to run at scale with predictable service levels.

Akka's chief executive said operational readiness is central to making AI useful in regulated settings, where organisations face scrutiny over decision-making and controls.

"Partnering with a leader like Manulife is an honour for us, and it's a testament to our 15 years of enterprise scale and regulated industry experience," said Tyler Jewell, CEO, Akka.

"The Manulife team demonstrates the rare understanding of what it really takes to deliver agentic AI on a global scale. Without consistent engineering practices that address a complex and continually changing set of environment factors, AI systems, which are inherently random, will not be trusted to deliver business outcomes," Jewell said.

Manulife says it is embedding AI across nearly every part of the business and training employees to design, operate, and scale AI systems. It linked the Akka partnership to governance and oversight practices.

"Manulife is embedding AI across nearly every part of our business while equipping our colleagues with the capabilities to design, operate, and scale solutions," said Shamus Weiland, Global Chief Information Officer, Manulife.

"Akka provides a secure, scalable software foundation to support high volumes of business applications to accelerate meaningful value creation across our franchise. This partnership is rooted in our Responsible AI Principles, with a strong focus on governance, human oversight, and safety, as we advance toward becoming an AI-powered organization," Weiland said.

Broader programme

Manulife has been assembling its enterprise AI platform through a mix of internal development and partnerships. In December 2025, it chose Adaptive ML to provide a reinforcement-learning engine for fine-tuning and optimising models used within the platform.

It has also pointed to external benchmarking as it builds out its AI strategy, noting it was named the top life insurance company for AI maturity in the inaugural Evident AI Index for Insurance in June 2025.

Manulife says it has invested in AI since 2016 and has expanded its portfolio of AI solutions in recent years through data and platform investment. It expects AI to generate more than AUD $1 billion of enterprise value by 2027, with roughly one-fifth tied to efficiency improvements.

As the beta phase continues, Manulife expects the platform to become the route for broader deployment of AI agents into core workflows, with Akka's runtime forming part of the operational base for those systems.