As businesses adopt artificial intelligence across their operations, cyber insurers are facing a growing challenge in assessing how those technologies could affect their clients’ risk profiles. Cyber risk intelligence provider KYND has launched an AI detection capability designed to give underwriters an independent view of AI technologies in use across an organisation.
The capability allows underwriters to identify AI technologies across an organisation’s external digital footprint using a single domain. Because the assessment does not require information from the business itself, the data can be used alongside proposal forms and underwriting discussions.
The launch comes as insurers face increasing pressure to understand how policyholders are deploying AI and what exposures those technologies may introduce. However, assessments can still depend heavily on information disclosed by businesses, while AI adoption continues to develop rapidly.
Research from IBM found that one in five organisations reported a breach last year linked to “shadow AI”, referring to AI tools being used without formal approval or oversight. Organisations with high levels of shadow AI also recorded average breach costs that were $670,000 higher than those with little or no shadow AI.
KYND co-founder Melanie Hayes said, ‘Proposal forms and underwriting conversations remain essential, but AI use is changing rapidly and businesses themselves may not always have complete oversight of the technologies being used across their organisation.
‘Giving underwriters independently observed information means the conversation can start with greater visibility of what is detectable on the risk, helping underwriters ask more informed questions and build a clearer picture of the exposure.’
KYND’s technology can detect AI applications and features visible across an organisation’s infrastructure. These include AI assistants and chatbots, generative AI tools, AI embedded in marketing and commerce technology, and AI crawlers permitted by an organisation’s infrastructure.
The capability follows KYND’s white paper, The Wild West of AI Risk, which examined the gap between AI adoption and disclosure. The report warned that unidentified AI use could leave exposures undetected during underwriting and contribute to hidden concentrations across insurers’ portfolios.
Beyond individual policies, the data could also be used by portfolio and reinsurance teams to identify common AI technologies and dependencies appearing across multiple insured organisations. This could provide insurers with additional information when assessing potential accumulation risk.
Hayes added, ‘As AI becomes more deeply embedded across businesses, insurers will increasingly need to understand where common technologies and dependencies are appearing across their books.
‘The industry is still building its understanding of how AI-related losses will develop. Being able to identify those dependencies now gives insurers a stronger foundation to understand and manage exposure as it evolves.’
AI detection forms part of KYND’s wider technology detection offering, which already identifies payment and cloud services, analytics, tracking pixels, session-recording tools, identity and access management systems and website-building platforms. The technology is intended to give insurers greater visibility into the technology dependencies behind individual risks and across their portfolios.
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