Swiss Re and Hitachi are offering to insure industrial companies against business disruption from bad or back-firing algorithms in critical AI-controlled processes and operations. It is the first time enterprises have been offered insurance against AI.
The arrangement is between the commercial insurance division of Swiss Reinsurance Company (Swiss Re), Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, and the European business of Japanese industrial conglomerate Hitachi. The pair are offering to insure ‘digital risk’ in the Industry 4.0 space, associated with automated AI in critical business functions.
They are launching an “integrated insurance-based” offer for the digital era, they said, to help organisations minimise risk from engaging with new digital technologies, notably analytics-based AI tools. The first AI insurance packages will be available later this month, and live with industrial customers.
They said the offer, which will expand beyond the Industry 4.0 space, will help organisations “accelerate their digital transformation while minimising the risk”. This will embolden them to embrace IoT technologies, in higher demand in the wake of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, to pursue automation and contactless operations as a way to reduce downtime and increase productivity.
Andreas Berger, chief executive of Swiss Re’s corporate solutions division, said: “We are excited to… advance corporate insurance through digital market platforms and accelerate the adoption of smart manufacturing. We are activating machine-sensor data and continuous diagnostics across the industrial sector. This will enable us to price risk more precisely, ensure effective pay-out mechanisms, and provide a seamless risk management experience that addresses industry inefficiencies and is tailored to our customers’ needs.”
Hicham Abdessamad, chief executive of Hitachi’s social innovation business, said: “With Hitachi’s experience in IT and OT and Swiss Re’s leadership in risk management, we will provide a unique offering to equip businesses with the opportunity and confidence to further digitize, optimize and automate their operations. In today’s world, it is becoming a necessity for businesses to use advanced technologies to become more agile and automate as much as possible. It is imperative that they can do so with the confidence that their digital risk is mitigated.”
