Futurist Amy Webb
As artificial intelligence reshapes the global economy, insurers face a fundamental shift in how risk is created, measured, and transferred. Speaking at an event hosted by MS Re during Miami Reinsurance Week, futurist Amy Webb outlined why the next decade will demand a new approach to risk.
The session, hosted by MS Re and attended by almost 200 insurance professionals, reflected growing industry focus on how emerging technologies could reshape risk over the coming decade.
Robots with human skin that can feel pain and pleasure, and computers made from human brain cells may sound like something out of a sci-fi movie. But they are already being developed and illustrate how artificial intelligence (AI) could profoundly reshape the insurance industry, according to futurist and founder of FTSG Amy Webb at Miami Reinsurance Week at a talk hosted by MS Re.
As artificial intelligence reshapes the global economy, insurers face a fundamental shift in how risk is created, measured, and transferred. Speaking at an event hosted by MS Re during Miami Reinsurance Week, futurist Amy Webb outlined why the next decade will demand a new approach to risk.
The session, hosted by MS Re and attended by almost 200 insurance professionals, reflected growing industry focus on how emerging technologies could reshape risk over the coming decade.
Robots with human skin that can feel pain and pleasure, and computers made from human brain cells may sound like something out of a sci-fi movie. But they are already being developed and illustrate how artificial intelligence (AI) could profoundly reshape the insurance industry, according to futurist and founder of FTSG Amy Webb at Miami Reinsurance Week at a talk hosted by MS Re.
Webb argued that these convergences could have far-reaching implications for the insurance and reinsurance sector.
The prospect of effectively unlimited labour driven by AI, for example, could undermine demand in labour‑dependent products such as workers’ compensation and employment liability, while accelerating disruption across global reinsurance markets. Insurers must begin to develop products that account for the risks associated with AI and machine-driven labor, transitioning away from models that rely on human workforces.
She also warned of increasing demand for computational power, particularly from AI systems, which creates a strain on resources. Insurers need to start factoring in energy reliability and access to power as key variables in their underwriting models. As locations become critical for AI data centres, understanding the implications for re/insurers is vital for future readiness.
Meanwhile, the emergence of what Webb described as “living intelligence”—systems that blend artificial intelligence with advances in biology—could give rise to entirely new categories of loss, forcing insurers to rethink how responsibility and accountability are defined and to develop frameworks to assess and underwrite these unconventional risks.
Steps to future proof business
Webb urged insurers to take a harder look at their reliance on computing power and factor energy and infrastructure constraints more explicitly into underwriting. She also encouraged reinsurers to start modelling the risks associated with living intelligence, while thinking more broadly about how emerging technologies could reshape their future role in the value chain.
“There are three no-regrets moves you could make right away,” Webb said. “First, partner with reinsurers to begin modelling risk in more experimental ways. You could start codesigning guardrails for emerging technologies. Second, pilot frameworks that evaluate how systems sense, decide, learn, and fail. Third, map the future of your value network.”