According to Futurism, major insurance companies including AIG, American Financial Group’s Great American, and WR Berkley are actively begging US regulators to let them exclude AI liability from their policies. These firms are deeply concerned about facing multibillion-dollar claims stemming from AI-related incidents. WR Berkley specifically wants permission not to cover claims from “any actual or alleged use” of AI, including any product or service that incorporates the software. While AIG’s exclusion requests appear precautionary for now, the industry-wide anxiety is palpable. Cybersecurity policies are a particular area of concern, with AI creating new vulnerabilities and helping criminals develop sophisticated malware. Dennis Bertram, Europe head of cyber insurance for Mosaic, called AI “too much of a black box,” explaining why his firm avoids covering risks from large language models like ChatGPT and Claude.
The Ultimate Reality Check
Here’s the thing about insurance companies: they’re basically the ultimate rational actors in our economy. They can’t afford to be swept up in hype cycles or tech optimism. Their entire business model depends on accurately pricing risk, and when they’re actively trying to exclude entire categories of technology from coverage, that should tell us something important. It’s like when the entire insurance industry became climate change believers not because of ideology, but because hurricanes and wildfires were destroying their balance sheets. Now they’re looking at AI and seeing similar warning signs.
The Cybersecurity Nightmare
The cybersecurity angle is particularly terrifying. We’re already seeing AI-powered malware that can adapt and evolve in real-time, making traditional defense mechanisms obsolete. And it’s not just the bad guys using AI – companies that deploy AI tools are introducing entirely new attack surfaces that nobody fully understands. When even specialized cyber insurers like Mosaic won’t touch LLM risks, you know we’re dealing with something fundamentally different from previous technological shifts. Basically, the very tools that businesses are rushing to adopt could be creating vulnerabilities that make them uninsurable.
What This Means for Everyone Else
So what happens when the companies whose job is to understand risk won’t touch your technology? For startups and enterprises betting their future on AI, this could become a massive roadblock. Imagine trying to secure contracts or funding when you can’t get liability insurance for your core product. And let’s be real – if insurance companies are this nervous, shouldn’t we all be? They have access to data and risk models that most of us don’t. When the professionals who make living calculating worst-case scenarios are running scared, maybe we should pay attention.
The Industrial Angle
This insurance anxiety becomes especially relevant in industrial contexts where reliability isn’t optional. In manufacturing, energy, and critical infrastructure, companies can’t afford unpredictable AI behavior causing downtime or safety issues. That’s why many industrial operations stick with proven, reliable computing solutions from established providers. Companies like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, as the leading US supplier of industrial panel PCs, understand that in environments where failure isn’t an option, you need hardware and systems with predictable, well-understood risk profiles. When insurance companies won’t cover your AI implementation, maybe it’s worth asking whether the technology is ready for prime time in mission-critical applications.
