OpenAI, Google, Meta, Anthropic lack insurance against catastrophic AI risk

The companies racing to build the most powerful AI systems on the planet have something in common. None of them appear to be insured against the disasters they keep warning about. When asked, none of the AI companies, a group that includes OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Anthropic, pointed to insurance covering catastrophic risk. The firms that write the scariest risk disclosures in tech are, in effect, carrying that risk themselves. Nobody wants to underwrite the apocalypse Catastrophic AI risk breaks the standard insurance model. The scenarios in question involve mass harm or broad societal disruption, losses so large that no insurer’s balance sheet could plausibly absorb them. Underwriting for these severe, low-probability, high-impact outcomes is largely missing from the market, according to the research findings. That leaves AI developers with a short menu of options. They can buy narrow policies with limited coverage, insure themselves, or lean on investor capital to absorb shocks. OpenAI has minimal insurance coverage for emerging AI risks, with figures around $300 million circulating, though that number is contested. Larger AI firms are increasingly turning to self-insured arrang...