Exploring Agentic AI, Electric Motorcycles, and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Innovations
The race to leverage the immense potential of AI has certainly created extraordinary opportunities and enhanced capabilities for organizations, but it also comes with risks and profound responsibility.
While this rapidly advancing technology is improving productivity and efficiency, it has understandably raised some public concerns over its appropriate place at work and in our lives. How we live, work, and even move around seems to be constantly changing as innovations reshape expectations, redefine industries, and challenge long-standing assumptions.
As we navigate this dynamic landscape, we explore three key risks and their potential implications for insurers.
Rise of the AI Agent
Automation has typically lent itself to work that entails clearly defined and repetitive steps. But AI agents, or agentic AI, are (in theory) changing that. These autonomous AI systems are built from large language models and are designed to automate various enterprise or organizational tasks. Unlike some GenAI chatbots, agents may not need multiple prompts to accomplish a goal: they may be given a single prompt and then attempt to arrive at a solution themselves.
When we consider the potential for AI to augment and automate human labor, agents often loom large in that discussion. AI agents may offer a variety of capabilities, including the ability to access the internet and manipulate web browsers; write and execute code; coordinate with other AI agents; and even strategize, decide, and act—what’s known as “goal decomposition.”
Survey research suggests that a growing number of industries are either experimenting with or implementing AI agents across various business functions, from customer service and marketing to corporate strategy and human resources.
While these AI innovations may prove beneficial for many businesses in the years ahead, several questions remain about the risk management protocols being implemented by companies adopting such agentic large language models. There are concerns regarding whether these advanced AI systems may be vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated forms of cyberattack. For insurers, this may lead to exposure in errors and omissions, cyber liability, and product liability concerning AI agents.
The Emerging Electric Transport Mode
While electrified motorcycles are a niche market in the United States, globally, they are far more common. In 2021, for instance, more than 10 million electric two-wheelers were sold or registered worldwide. An international automaker aims to sell 4 million electric motorcycles annually by 2030 and to make all its motorcycle brands carbon-neutral by the 2040s.
Enthusiasts argue that electric motorcycles are quieter, produce less air pollution, and are easier to maintain than traditional motorcycles with internal combustion engines. Additionally, they come with lower fuel costs. However, critics highlight the high upfront cost of electric motorcycles and their limited mileage range, which poses a challenge for riders in the U.S., where EV charging stations are sparse and cities are sprawling.
Electric motorcycles typically generate more horsepower than their combustible engine counterparts and feature immediate, maximum torque typical of electric motors. This translates to faster acceleration, likely altering their risk profile compared to traditional motorcycles. Furthermore, being relatively novel, electrified motorcycles may present greater exposure to theft and face issues with the availability of replacement parts following a covered loss.
Fire risks associated with lithium-ion batteries used in modern electric motorcycles must also be taken into consideration. As we’ve learned with EVs, lithium-ion battery fires often burn hotter than combustion engine fires, may reignite after being extinguished, and can leak toxic chemicals and fumes. Unlike EVs, motorcycles may not offer the same degree of physical protection against battery intrusion during a vehicular accident.
Price and maintenance may prove the most prohibitive for automakers looking to break into the motorcycle market in the U.S. Electric motorcycles tend to cost several thousand dollars more on average than traditional models. At least one global automaker has committed to reversing this trend, aiming to align the total cost of owning an electric motorcycle with that of an internal combustion engine model within three years.
Hydrogen on the Horizon
The U.S. produces approximately 10 million metric tons of hydrogen each year, primarily for oil refinement and fertilizer production. Recent advancements in hydrogen fuel cell technology have made this readily available element an appealing alternative energy option, holding the potential to power everything from automobiles to freight trains.
These electrochemical devices convert hydrogen and oxygen into water, heat, and—crucially—electricity, and can be found in use across various industries, powering commercial forklifts and personal vehicles in the California market.
Fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) have an EPA-estimated range between 300 and 400 miles and feature high-pressure hydrogen tanks that supply a fuel cell stack, where hydrogen reacts with oxygen to generate electricity.
The upfront cost of these vehicles, coupled with the current lack of a reliable hydrogen fuel infrastructure, has made the scalability of these vehicles more difficult than that of battery-powered electric vehicles. Additionally, hydrogen is highly flammable, raising concerns about potential fire risks if used in personal vehicles.
These three technological trends represent evolving exposures for insurers. Agentic AI introduces new dimensions of cyber liability and operational risk, while electrified mobility and hydrogen fuel solutions raise questions around product safety, fire risk, infrastructure reliability, and long-tail liability. Insurers will need to deepen their understanding of these risks and analyze how they will impact their business.
Shavel is president and chief executive officer of Verisk, a data analytics and technology partner to the global insurance industry. He brings nearly 30 years of experience advising and leading publicly traded companies to Verisk.
Topics
Trends
InsurTech
Auto
Data Driven
Agencies
Artificial Intelligence
The race to leverage the immense potential of AI has certainly created extraordinary opportunities and enhanced capabilities for organizations, but it also comes with risks and profound responsibility.
While this rapidly advancing technology is improving productivity and efficiency, it has understandably raised some public concerns over its appropriate place at work and in our lives. How we live, work, and even move around seems to be constantly changing as innovations reshape expectations, redefine industries, and challenge long-standing assumptions.
As we navigate this dynamic landscape, we explore three key risks and their potential implications for insurers.
Rise of the AI Agent
Automation has typically lent itself to work that entails clearly defined and repetitive steps. But AI agents, or agentic AI, are (in theory) changing that. These autonomous AI systems are built from large language models and are designed to automate various enterprise or organizational tasks. Unlike some GenAI chatbots, agents may not need multiple prompts to accomplish a goal: they may be given a single prompt and then attempt to arrive at a solution themselves.
When we consider the potential for AI to augment and automate human labor, agents often loom large in that discussion. AI agents may offer a variety of capabilities, including the ability to access the internet and manipulate web browsers; write and execute code; coordinate with other AI agents; and even strategize, decide, and act—what’s known as “goal decomposition.”
Survey research suggests that a growing number of industries are either experimenting with or implementing AI agents across various business functions, from customer service and marketing to corporate strategy and human resources.
While these AI innovations may prove beneficial for many businesses in the years ahead, several questions remain about the risk management protocols being implemented by companies adopting such agentic large language models. There are concerns regarding whether these advanced AI systems may be vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated forms of cyberattack. For insurers, this may lead to exposure in errors and omissions, cyber liability, and product liability concerning AI agents.
The Emerging Electric Transport Mode
While electrified motorcycles are a niche market in the United States, globally, they are far more common. In 2021, for instance, more than 10 million electric two-wheelers were sold or registered worldwide. An international automaker aims to sell 4 million electric motorcycles annually by 2030 and to make all its motorcycle brands carbon-neutral by the 2040s.
Enthusiasts argue that electric motorcycles are quieter, produce less air pollution, and are easier to maintain than traditional motorcycles with internal combustion engines. Additionally, they come with lower fuel costs. However, critics highlight the high upfront cost of electric motorcycles and their limited mileage range, which poses a challenge for riders in the U.S., where EV charging stations are sparse and cities are sprawling.
Electric motorcycles typically generate more horsepower than their combustible engine counterparts and feature immediate, maximum torque typical of electric motors. This translates to faster acceleration, likely altering their risk profile compared to traditional motorcycles. Furthermore, being relatively novel, electrified motorcycles may present greater exposure to theft and face issues with the availability of replacement parts following a covered loss.
Fire risks associated with lithium-ion batteries used in modern electric motorcycles must also be taken into consideration. As we’ve learned with EVs, lithium-ion battery fires often burn hotter than combustion engine fires, may reignite after being extinguished, and can leak toxic chemicals and fumes. Unlike EVs, motorcycles may not offer the same degree of physical protection against battery intrusion during a vehicular accident.
Price and maintenance may prove the most prohibitive for automakers looking to break into the motorcycle market in the U.S. Electric motorcycles tend to cost several thousand dollars more on average than traditional models. At least one global automaker has committed to reversing this trend, aiming to align the total cost of owning an electric motorcycle with that of an internal combustion engine model within three years.
Hydrogen on the Horizon
The U.S. produces approximately 10 million metric tons of hydrogen each year, primarily for oil refinement and fertilizer production. Recent advancements in hydrogen fuel cell technology have made this readily available element an appealing alternative energy option, holding the potential to power everything from automobiles to freight trains.
These electrochemical devices convert hydrogen and oxygen into water, heat, and—crucially—electricity, and can be found in use across various industries, powering commercial forklifts and personal vehicles in the California market.
Fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) have an EPA-estimated range between 300 and 400 miles and feature high-pressure hydrogen tanks that supply a fuel cell stack, where hydrogen reacts with oxygen to generate electricity.
The upfront cost of these vehicles, coupled with the current lack of a reliable hydrogen fuel infrastructure, has made the scalability of these vehicles more difficult than that of battery-powered electric vehicles. Additionally, hydrogen is highly flammable, raising concerns about potential fire risks if used in personal vehicles.
These three technological trends represent evolving exposures for insurers. Agentic AI introduces new dimensions of cyber liability and operational risk, while electrified mobility and hydrogen fuel solutions raise questions around product safety, fire risk, infrastructure reliability, and long-tail liability. Insurers will need to deepen their understanding of these risks and analyze how they will impact their business.
Shavel is president and chief executive officer of Verisk, a data analytics and technology partner to the global insurance industry. He brings nearly 30 years of experience advising and leading publicly traded companies to Verisk.
Topics
Trends
InsurTech
Auto
Data Driven
Agencies
Artificial Intelligence
