Re/insurance broker Aon has decided to extend its strategic alliance with Zesty.ai, a tech firm that uses artificial intelligence to assess climate and non-catastrophe risk, following the approval of a new wildfire risk model in California.
The California Department of Insurance (CDI) recently approved two underwriting and rating filings, including Z-FIRE, Zesty.ai’s AI-driven predictive model for wildfire risk assessment.
The filings that used the model were independently reviewed and evaluated by Aon, and represent the first AI model ever approved by the CDI.
Z-FIRE is designed to enhance insurers’ risk selection and rate setting, while helping them to understand the impact of climate change on wildfires and in turn their portfolios.
Equally, Zesty.ai asserts that consumers benefit from better transparency by seeing how renovating and upkeeping their properties can impact their wildfire score.
Initially forming their strategic alliance in 2019, the expanded relationship between Zesty.ai and Aon is focused on the accelerated deployment of AI and Machine Learning (ML) applications that help P&C insurance carriers close the property data gap.
The goal is to improve the carriers’ risk selection and rating for both personal and commercial lines of business, while helping obtain the full value of these data-driven decisions in their reinsurance transactions.
Aon and Zesty.ai have also broadened their collaboration to develop AI models for additional perils, such as severe convective storms (e.g., hail) and flood.
“We’re committed to helping clients leverage emerging technologies to advance their strategic initiatives, from increasing the availability of insurance to address the underserved, to allowing for better risk segmentation, ultimately resulting in higher transparency for reinsurance treaties,” said George deMenocal, CEO of Aon’s U.S. Reinsurance Solutions.
“Our collaboration with Zesty.ai is part of Aon’s technological evolution to deliver new products that meet clients’ needs today and tomorrow, in a transparent and efficient way. The recent approval of Zesty.ai’s model by the CDI further validates the future potential of AI-driven predictive analytics and the power of these collaborations.”
Attila Toth, Founder and CEO of Zesty.ai, also commented: “A deep understanding of every property is key to an equitable and stable insurance market. As the need to better measure climate risk increases, we are constantly refining our models and developing new ones and working with Aon greatly accelerates the adoption of these data-driven solutions. We’re proud to doubling down on our alliance with Aon to help carriers across North America improve every aspect of the underwriting, rating and reinsurance process.”
