Is the Insurer Using AI to Analyze Video of You?
Insurance companies have hired investigators to film injured people for decades. What is new is what they do with the footage. Some now run that video through artificial intelligence, software that studies how you move, to argue that your body does not match the limits you have described. If you have an open injury claim in Michigan, it is worth understanding what this technology can and cannot prove, because a few seconds of video does not decide your case, and Michigan law says so.
What insurers are actually doing now
The old version of this was simple. An investigator sat outside your home and filmed you carrying a bag or bending down, hoping to catch a moment that looked inconsistent with an injury. The new version adds a layer on top. Artificial intelligence, which here means software trained to recognize and measure human movement, is used to study the footage frame by frame. It may estimate the angle of your joints, measure how far you reached, or compare how you walk against a supposedly normal pattern, then package that as evidence that you are not as hurt as you say.
This can sound intimidating, and insurers want it to. But dressing an old tactic in new software does not change the law that governs your claim, and it does not change the fact that a short clip captures a moment, not a life.
Why a few seconds of video is not your whole case
Michigan measures a serious injury by the whole picture, not a single good moment. To recover for pain and suffering after a car crash, an injured person generally has to meet the serious impairment threshold in MCL 500.3135. The Michigan Supreme Court explained how to apply that threshold in McCormick v Carrier, 487 Mich 180 (2010), and the key point protects injured people. The court said impairment is judged by looking at a person’s entire normal life, comparing before and after, and that the law does not require the impairment to affect every moment of every day.
That is exactly why a clip of you lifting a grocery bag or walking to your car does not end your claim. Having a good hour, or pushing through pain to do something ordinary, is part of real life with an injury. The question the law asks is broader, and a snippet of video answers a much smaller one.
The reliability problem with AI video analysis
When an insurer wants to use AI analysis of video as real evidence, it runs into rules built to keep unreliable evidence out. First, the video itself has to be authenticated under Michigan Rule of Evidence 901, meaning someone has to show it is a fair and accurate record of what it claims to show, without gaps or edits that mislead.
Second, if the insurer offers a software analysis of your movement as an expert conclusion, that opinion has to satisfy the reliability standard for expert testimony under Michigan Rule of Evidence 702. That means the method has to be shown reliable, the person presenting it has to explain how it works, and it has to be open to cross-examination. An algorithm that estimates joint angles from a shaky phone video, with no ability to test how it reached its numbers, is vulnerable on exactly these grounds. The insurer cannot simply announce a conclusion and expect it to stand.
When the software changes what the footage shows
There is a further danger worth naming. Some tools do not just measure movement, they sharpen, smooth, or reconstruct parts of a video, which can quietly change what a viewer thinks they see. If footage has been processed or enhanced by software, that raises the question of whether the version being shown is still a fair record of the event or a partly manufactured one. Original files, with their metadata intact, matter for that reason. The side offering the video has to be able to account for what was done to it, and an injured person is entitled to see the raw footage, not only the polished clip an adjuster wants to present.
What you can do to protect your claim
- Stay within your restrictions. Follow your doctor’s limits because they are good for your recovery, and because consistency between your treatment and your daily life is your strongest answer to any video.
- Do not exaggerate, and do not minimize. Describe your bad days and your better days accurately. A truthful, complete picture is far harder to attack than a claim that sounds absolute.
- Keep your medical record consistent. Tell your providers what you can and cannot do so the objective record reflects your real limits over time.
- Assume you may be watched. Surveillance is legal in public. The best protection is simply that your conduct matches your claim.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the insurance company legally film me?
Generally yes, in public places where you have no reasonable expectation of privacy. Surveillance itself is usually lawful. The real fight is not whether they can film you, but whether a short clip, or a software analysis of it, actually proves anything about your injury under Michigan law.
A video shows me carrying groceries. Is my claim over?
No. Under McCormick v Carrier, your impairment is measured across your whole life, not by one moment of movement. Doing an ordinary task, sometimes through pain, does not mean you are uninjured, and Michigan law does not require your impairment to affect every minute of every day.
Can they use an AI analysis of my movements against me?
Only if it holds up. To be admitted, video must be authenticated under Michigan Rule of Evidence 901, and a software analysis offered as an expert conclusion must meet the reliability standard of Rule 702. Those rules give an injured person real ground to challenge an untested algorithm.
What if the video looks edited or enhanced?
That is a serious issue. If footage was processed by software, the side using it has to account for what was changed, and you are entitled to the original files. Enhanced or altered video can distort what a viewer believes they are seeing, and that goes to whether it should be allowed at all.
How should I act while my claim is open?
Live within your medical restrictions and describe your limits accurately to your doctors. The most powerful response to surveillance is a life that actually matches what you have told your providers and the insurer.
Worried the insurer is twisting video of you?
Free consultation with Manny Chahal, no fee unless we recover, call 1-844-624-2425
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