AI, insurance, discrimination and unfair differentiation: analysis and survey results

Mittwoch, 14. Mai 2025 16:00 Uhr

This talk by Prof. Zuiderveen Borgesius explores how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the insurance industry, focusing on two emerging trends: data-intensive underwriting and behaviour-based insurance.

Insurers underwrite risks: they calculate risks and decide on the insurance price. Insurers seem captivated by two trends enabled by Artificial Intelligence (AI). First, insurers could use AI for analysing more and new types of data to assess risks more precisely: data-intensive underwriting. Second, insurers could use AI to monitor the behaviour of individual consumers in real-time: behaviour-based insurance. For example, some car insurers offer a discount if the consumer agrees to being tracked by the insurer and drives safely. While the two trends bring many advantages, they may also have discriminatory effects on society. This presentation is based on papers that Zuiderveen Borgesius has co-authored with colleagues, and explores two questions. Which effects related to discrimination and unfair differentiation may occur if insurers use data-intensive underwriting and behaviour-based insurance? What is the opinion of the public on such practices? The presentation also reports on findings of a large-scale survey in the Netherlands.

The presentation is partly based on two papers

Marvin van Bekkum, Frederik Zuiderveen Borgesius, and Tom Heskes. "AI, insurance, discrimination and unfair differentiation: an overview and research agenda." Law, Innovation and Technology 17.1 (2025): 177-204. https://doi.org/10.1080/17579961.2025.2469348

Frederik Zuiderveen Borgesius, Marvin van Bekkum, Iris van Ooijen, Gabi Schaap & Maaike Harbers, 'Discrimination and AI in insurance: what do people find fair? Results from a survey', pre-print https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.12897

About Frederik Zuiderveen Borgesius

Frederik Zuiderveen Borgesius is professor of ICT and law. He works at the iHub the interdisciplinary research hub on digitalization and society. The iHub is an institute of the Radboud University in The Netherlands. His research mostly concerns fundamental rights, such as privacy and non-discrimination rights, in the context of new technologies. He regularly advises policymakers.