A new £2 million academic-industry partnership, led by the University of Edinburgh, alongside insurance group AXA, WMG, the University of Warwick and the University of Oxford, will establish the groundwork for developing insurance for artificial intelligence (AI) for the future.
The partnership, dubbed as The UKRI Prosperity Partnership ‘AI2: Assurance and Insurance for Artificial Intelligence’, will research and explore insurance and protection services to protect organisations from unreliable AI solutions.
The partnership aims to develop novel methods to understand, measure, and ultimately insure against risk associated with the commercial application of AI.
This will allow insurers to accurately price and underwrite AI-related risks in sectors like transport and healthcare, for driverless cars or medical devices, as an example.
The project is part of a suite of industry challenge-led research projects addressing AI and insurance facilitated by Tobi Schneider, Edinburgh Innovations’ Financial Services and FinTech.
The 23 new Prosperity Partnerships are part-funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) alongside industry and universities.
All in all, the project believes that establishing a robust AI assurance and insurance framework will lead to the wider and safer adoption of AI technologies in industry by transferring risk into the insurance market. It will also provide clear incentives for AI developers to create safer and more reliable products.
Lukasz Szpruch, Lead academic Professor, University of Edinburgh’s School of Maths, commented, “As AI systems become more autonomous and embedded in high-stakes environments, traditional forms of insurance are no longer sufficient.
“AI insurance offers a new paradigm—one that explicitly covers risks like model failure, bias, or unintended behaviour that arise even when systems function within their design parameters. More than just risk transfer, it’s a mechanism to align incentives and reward those who build transparent, robust, and well-governed AI.”
Schneider, Sector Lead, based at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, said, “AI offers substantial potential benefits for society and the economy, but it also carries imminent risks. If we are to realise the benefits, we must be able to understand and mitigate the risks in tangible, applicable ways. This exciting project is one that will ultimately lead to better risk management practices and standards for AI, meaning people and businesses will be better protected from harm.”
Lord Vallance, Science Minister, added, “These partnerships show the range of real-world challenges the UK’s world-class research base is helping to tackle – from cutting carbon emissions in heavy transport, to improving access to life-saving medicines. By backing scientists to work hand-in-hand with industry, we’re combining cutting-edge research with business expertise to turn science into practical solutions that can make a difference in people’s daily lives.”
