Lloyd's of London CEO: Autonomous Weapons Are Rewriting War Risk

About this episode

Patrick Tiernan discusses how AI and drone warfare are changing the landscape of conflict risk and insurance.

(Episode 47) AI and drone warfare will force a “complete reimagining” of how conflict risk is calculated and insured, the chief executive of Lloyd’s of London has warned, because traditional assumptions about how wars escalate may no longer hold. Patrick Tiernan, who runs the 337-year-old insurance marketplace, told the Big Boss Interview that autonomous weapons and AI-driven decision-making could remove the warning signs and diplomatic pauses that have historically allowed insurers to adjust cover as conflicts intensify. “When we talk about the way war is insured at the moment, it assumes that it’ll build up, that there’ll be breaks in there, and that you can increase the cover,” he said. “It’s very possible that won’t be the case as there is more drone warfare, more artificial intelligence in the decision-making. So we’re going to have to completely reimagine how we cover that.” His warning comes as governments increase defence spending and NATO allies reassess their military commitments. Tiernan said Lloyd’s must ensure it has the capacity to insure growth in defence, energy and infrastructure, while being clearer about which forms of defence it supports. He said the current…

People in this episode

Host: BBC News

Guest: Patrick Tiernan

Topics covered

• autonomous weapons
• AI in warfare
• insurance risk
• drone warfare
• defense spending
• military commitments

Keywords

• autonomous weapons
• AI
• war risk
• insurance
• Lloyd's of London
• drone warfare
• defense spending

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Lloyd's of London, NATO

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