The Top Emerging Risks Insurers are watching in 2024

June 26, 2024 / 2 min read

While artificial intelligence has dominated both the headlines and the Verisk 2024 Emerging Issues Bracket Challenge, insurers face a wave of emerging risks beyond the buzzworthy. Unpacking the bracket results, our Emerging Issues team recently offered an in-depth look at some of the other developing risks insurers face in a recent webinar, The Emerging Risks to Watch in 2024.

man in futuristic car

Robots, used in a widening range of industrial applications at increasing scale, present an evolving risk profile as the technology integrates with artificial intelligence.

Microplastics, which range downward in size from a grain of rice to a fraction of the width of a human hair, are invading global ecosystems and food chains: soil, water, the ocean floor, and plant and animal life. Whether manufactured intentionally or generated through plastic degeneration, these potentially toxic particles are the targets of expensive and extensive litigation and legislation.

Social inflation continues to drive the growth of so-called “nuclear” verdicts in lawsuits. One example is the trend of lawsuits bankrolled by third-party litigation financing, despite scattered and sporadically successful efforts to curb the practice via legislation. Insurers continue to feel the effects, especially in general liability and commercial auto loss experience, but the impacts can extend across carriers’ operations.

Autonomous vehicles pose ongoing challenges for insurers to sift through: the implications of various levels of autonomy; piecemeal state and federal efforts to regulate testing and deployment of the technology; and how liability may be distributed across a range of potentially responsible parties.

Robots, used in a widening range of industrial applications at increasing scale, present an evolving risk profile as the technology integrates with artificial intelligence. This convergence raises new potential liabilities around autonomy, built-in bias, data privacy, and AI-generated “hallucinations” that might lead to unintended physical consequences.

Watch the complete webinar on-demand to take a deeper dive with Verisk’s Emerging Issues team, and sign up for the newsletter for weekly market intelligence on emerging risks.

The Top Emerging Risks Insurers Are Watching in 2024