For the past few years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been rolled out with spectacular speed in an increasing number of areas, such as medicine, the auto industry, finance, manufacturing, agriculture and marketing. This expansion lies at the crossroads of three major technological developments: the emergence of big data, the normalization of the interconnection between humans and machines, and advances in machine learning (technology that enables machines to learn from experience). AI is progressively transforming the way in which the economy and society operate.

The insurance industry is concerned by these changes on two fronts. Firstly, new risks associated with AI must be assessed, quantified, insured and mitigated against. The increasing use of AI raises numerous risk questions. For example, in an accident caused by an autonomous vehicle, who is liable – the user, the manufacturer or the creator of the algorithm behind the technology? What would be the insurance consequences of an AI bug or AI cyber-attack? Or, how can the insurer manage the shift in its risk profile due to impact of AI on biometric, property, casualty, financial, operational and strategic risks. Secondly, how can the insurance industry leverage off the potential of AI? For example, how can it be used to improve competitiveness, improve customer experience, reduce risk exposures and improve profits through greater use of automation, efficiency, refined underwriting and segmented pricing? With this in mind, SCOR is committed to incorporating new technology into its business and devoted a series of presentations and discussions to the topic of AI during its Annual Conference 2017.

This publication brings together all of these presentations and also includes a new, specially written article on the risk management implications and applications of AI. Denis Kessler, Chairman and CEO of SCOR, talks about the insurance industry against the backdrop of AI – what are the challenges involved in this historic turning point? Nicolas Miailhe, Co-founder and President of The Future Society at Harvard Kennedy School, gives a broad outline of AI, looking at what it can do, but also, beyond all the fantasy, what it cannot (yet?) do. Jennifer Coleman, Senior Risk Manager at SCOR, provides an analysis of the Risk Management applications and challenges of AI for (re)insurance companies. The round table moderated by Will Thorne, Innovation Leader for the Channel Syndicate, queries the changes underway in the sector: what is changing for insurance companies, and how can they best incorporate these new opportunities into their strategies? To conclude, Laurent Alexandre, CEO of DNA Vision, gives an impartial view of a development that is impacting society as a whole. In his view, what needs to change is not insurance, but insurers.