Hiscox has gone live with what is thought to be the London insurance market’s first lead underwriting model enhanced by generative AI to provide sabotage and terrorism insurance quotes.

Initially developed as a proof of concept in December 2023 in collaboration with Google Cloud, the new underwriting model enables Hiscox’s sabotage and terrorism line of business to significantly reduce the time taken from the submission of a risk through to quote.

By combining Hiscox AI Laboratories, or Hailo, with Google Cloud’s GenAI, Hiscox has removed the manual elements of the underwriting process. In-scope risks are now assessed using Google Cloud’s Gemini large language model, with the system generating an email for the broker with pricing and other data already completed, ready for underwriter review – all within minutes.

Kate Markham, Hiscox London Market CEO, said: “We were really excited by the potential shown by the proof of concept, so to see it now making a tangible impact on our business – starting with sabotage and terrorism – is fantastic. The efficiency delivered is testament to the outstanding collaboration between Hiscox and Google Cloud. It proves that by bringing teams together and harnessing technology, we can deliver tangible benefits for customers, while freeing up our underwriters from manual tasks and allowing them to focus on more complex risks where human expertise is critical.”

The new underwriting model is available to all brokers, with the first risk written with WTW.

Jo Holliday, global head of crisis management, at WTW, commented: “WTW has long recognised the enhanced use of digitisation as critical to the future of the insurance market. By harnessing AI to help streamline processes and deliver much quicker turnaround times from risk submission to quote, we are taking a step forward in the evolution of the digital marketplace, which is great news for our clients.”

Hiscox and Google Cloud are exploring additional capabilities as well as potential applications in other lines of business.

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