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Technology, Media and IP trends for 2024

In such a fast-changing world of technology innovation, writers’ strikes and intellectual property (IP) clashes, it can be difficult to see what’s coming next. To help you prepare, CFC sat down with their technology, media and IP experts.

Here are the top five trends they say are shaping 2024 and beyond.

Stabilization for the digital assets sector
In recent years, the digital assets sector has experienced fads from the sudden rise and fall of NFTs to the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. This has created intense cynicism, consumer interest and scams across the market.

In 2024, we expect this trend to die down, as regulators increasingly focus on digital assets, tightening the market and encouraging greater consumer protection. For example, the UK’s FCA is adopting new, stringent rules in marketing crypto assets, motivating businesses to increasingly integrate new technologies into their ways of working—as well as develop technology themselves.

Increased IP litigation in relation to AI training models
Advancements in AI will continue to pose challenges for IP ownership. With today’s AI models collecting billions of data points from across the internet—often with little regard for permissions—there remains more questions than answers when it comes to how IP law will apply to questions of IP ownership. We can usually expect the unexpected when applying established law to modern technology not envisaged at the time the law was developed.

Additionally, it’s still unclear who owns the rights to AI-generated works. Multiple parties have a legitimate claim, and companies in the creative industries are specifically urging their legal teams to chase down instances where their IP is being infringed by AI models. In 2023, claims in this space came thick and fast—from Getty Images claiming millions of its images were copied from its data base without permission to a group of US authors suing Open AI—and we expect that trend to strengthen in 2024.

An influx of content following the end of the Hollywood strikes
Numerous TV shows and film productions ground to a halt due to the 2023 writers’ strike, with the increasing use of AI a key topic of contention. Expect this to have a series of knock-on effects for actors, production companies and adjacent sub-sectors, as AI innovations continue to displace roles on the one hand, and create valuable efficiencies on the other.

With the end of the writer’s strike we can expect an influx of those working in the creative sector such as writers, videographers, film and tv producers to recommence trading. We’re likely to see post-production bottlenecks as companies race to get productions slated, as the industry attempts to right itself after what has been an uncertain period.

Accelerated demand for brand licensing deals
The global brand licensing market is projected to expand from $276 billion in 2021 to over $422 billion in 2031, driven by the need for brand awareness in the digital age, with products and brands often sold on multiple social platforms. We’ll increasingly see companies set up license deals to monopolize their brand, enabling them to enter new territories and create new revenue streams with minimal investment.

As much as brand licensing is a business opportunity, it comes with risk. Using licensed IP beyond the scope of the license agreement can run a risk for both the licensee as well as the licensor which may have conflicting license agreements in place.

Augmented reality to enhance experiences
Despite heavy investment from developers, AR still isn’t widely accepted by the gaming community, with most preferring keyboards and controllers. So why is Tim Cook in Vanity Fair, modelling the latest Apple Vision Pro, and why are companies like Ray Ban pushing their latest sunglasses integrated with AR?

While the global AR gaming market is expected to reach $38 billion by 2027, AR outside of this is expected to hit $60 billion by the end of 2024. Increasingly, we’ll see it transform everyday tasks from buying clothes online to servicing vehicles. What’s certain is that continuous investment in both the hardware and software surrounding this sector will both improve AR technology while making it more affordable.

Getting cover for emerging exposures
The technology, media and IP landscape is changing fast, giving rise to new and evolving exposures that businesses need to address. By looking ahead at what’s next, CFC helps you navigate this complex space with confidence.

Source: www.cfcunderwriting.com


Management Liability Insurance Guide

Management liability insurance is there to protect the management of the company and its subsidiaries, its employees and sometimes the entity itself. It’s a necessity for any company, big or small.

As regulation around corporate behavior and reporting increases, directors and officers are under more scrutiny than ever before. You don’t need to be guilty to be sued – even unfounded accusations of a wrongful act can lead to significant defence costs.

Download CFC’s latest Canada-specific guide by clicking here to find out why management liability insurance is a must-have for any business.

In the guide you’ll learn about:

What a good policy should include
From employee practice liability to crime, but what about kidnap and random or reputation protection?

Key exposures
There’s more obvious risks that impact directors and officers, these are employees, customers and investors / shareholders. But the lesser obvious include regulators and ESG.

Which industries would benefit from a management liability policy
In short, all of them! But it’s suitable for more industries than you’d think.

Policies in action
Take a look at how the policy would be triggered in these scenarios

Conversation starters
Helpful tips and topics to cover with your clients when talking about the importance of management liability insurance

Common misconceptions
Some businesses think they don’t need management liability insurance, so to help you explain the value to your clients CFC has put together five of the most common misconceptions and how to debunk them.

Source: www.cfcunderwriting.com


Package Policies: Making Comprehensive Cover Simple

Today’s businesses face a blend of unique exposures. Here’s the simple way to help them get the comprehensive cover they need with package policies.

Since most businesses today are complex entities, the profile of risks they face don’t fit neatly into a single box. We see it across industries. An architect with professional liability (PL) insurance for their day-to-day work can still be vulnerable to risks in the world of cyber. Just as PL for a distributor of medical devices may not cover a product recall event, leaving the firm considerably worse off if an event occurs.

It used to be that businesses needed to purchase separate policies for each risk—a time-consuming and costly endeavor, with multiple policies also making things more complex when you go on to make a claim. Thankfully, there’s a better way. Read on for CFC’s main package policies.

Package policies from CFC

To remove complexity, CFC has developed a series of package policies that list and cover common risks in different industries. For businesses that aren’t certain of the risks they’re set to face, taking out a package policy ensures invaluable peace of mind, while also serving as a one-stop-shop that bundles different coverages into one policy.

That’s not all. CFC can also tailor coverage to a specific business, adding and removing coverages as required to design a product that’s perfect for them.

Professional services

Tailored to cater to the diverse requirements of professional service firms across a spectrum of industries, our policies encompass PL, commercial general liability (CGL), property, business interruption, legal expenses, directors and officers (D&O) and cyber. Find the product brochures below to learn more.

Healthcare

From traditional healthcare exposures to technology E&O, the healthcare sector requires a policy that addresses its unique needs. With healthcare providers holding vast amounts of sensitive data and their reliance on computer systems, cybercrime cover is even more important alongside the package policy PL and CGL cover.

Life sciences

Within a life sciences sector that ranges from natural health products to biotechnology, comprehensive insurance is imperative for businesses to address their nuanced needs. In these package policies, CFC’s standard coverage extends to include bespoke covers specific to the business.

Property and casualty

For businesses confronted with losses from property damage or loss, tailored coverage becomes essential. For manufacturers and distributors specifically, E&O requires specialized protection against a myriad of potential risks.

Technology and media

Paired with comprehensive cyber cover, these two package policies are built to fit modern business exposures. Including traditional property and business interruption cover, with intellectual property (IP) available to add on.

Financial institutions

With the pace of change in financial services leading to large amounts of sensitive data being stored, the right insurance cover is vital in protecting business-as-usual and driving growth. Financial institution package policies combine standard coverages with industry-specific cover such as kidnap and ransom protection.

Source: www.cfcunderwriting.com 


Six Things Successful Cyber Brokers Know

The case for cyber insurance gets stronger by the day, as cyber incidents grow in cost, cyber attacks become more frequent and cyber policies offer more innovative and effective services. But cyber is still a new market. Businesses often aren’t aware of their cyber risk or the role cyber insurance can play in protecting them. So how can you educate your customers about cyber?

CFC sat down with some of their top-performing cyber brokers to discover their secrets to success. Here are six things they say every broker selling cyber should know:

  1. How to explain cyber exposure simplySince lots of businesses are new to cyber, jumping straight into granular detail can feel unrelatable and unconvincing. Businesses don’t need to know the difference between the Cobalt Strike infection and the Log4Shell vulnerability. They care about how they’re at risk, the potential consequences of that risk and how they can prevent it. So stick to the basics and avoid unnecessary jargon.

    It helps to ask the right questions. What cyber security practices do you have in place? Do you consider data privacy? Have you been impacted by a cyber attack before? Your client’s answers will paint a picture of their cyber exposure, so they can understand their risk and how cyber insurance is here to help.

    And there’s nothing better than a strong statistic to back up your points—did you know 72% of businesses worldwide have been impacted by ransomware in 2023?

  2. Key factors that influence the priceCyber insurance provides great value for businesses big and small, but in many circles its cost is a topic of discussion. Those new to cyber may point to the price of cyber insurance coming close to more traditional lines, so it helps to know the three big factors that influence the cost:

    1.    Cyber incidents, particularly against SMBs, are the top business risk for the fifth year running
    2.    The average cost of a cyber claim is significant
    3.    Today’s cyber policies offer sophisticated technical services that would be too pricey for SMBs to get on their own

    Learn more about why cyber insurance is a great investment for any business, plus a breakdown of cyber incident costs, in this quick read.

  3. How to handle these top objections“I already invest in cyber security.”
    Cyber insurance provides a different service to cyber security, it’s not a question of either/or. Good policies will support the business’s internal IT team or external managed service provider with an expert incident response and business recovery team, while being there to cover financial loss if the worst happens.

    “Cyber attacks only affect big businesses.”
    While it’s attacks on household names that make the news, any business can find itself hit by a cybercriminal. And since smaller businesses tend to have less mature cyber security practices in place, cybercriminals often see them as the more attractive target.

    “We don’t collect sensitive data.”
    Two of the most common and costly cyber attacks we see are actually ransomware and funds transfer fraud, which aren’t necessarily aimed at stealing data. The cost to contain threats, repair networks and restore business operations—or to recover stolen funds—are the insured’s biggest worry. Thankfully, both types of incident are covered under CFC’s cyber policy.

    Use this checklist to find answers for more common objections.

  4. Security assessments don’t tell the full storyBusinesses often use third-party risk reports and vulnerability scans to evaluate their cyber risk. While these assessments give a good snapshot of network health at a specific time, IT environments can change any day. This means assessments don’t reveal much around the level of security across a network, potentially presenting a far more positive picture than is the case.

    Fully understanding when and how risk reports are beneficial will help your clients understand their risk and purchase the correct coverage. We explain risk reports in more depth here.

  5. Good policies offer proactive and reactive servicesCyber insurance doesn’t just cover financial loss when an incident occurs. A good policy offers proactive protection to stop attacks from happening in the first place, and reactive support to respond to the incident efficiently and effectively.

    From the moment a CFC cyber policy is bound, their global team of cyber experts works around the clock to detect and alert their customers to cyber threats targeting their business. If they discover a cyber security issue, their team notifies the impacted business though their Response app, and takes steps to remediate the threat before it escalates.

    The value these services offer to small businesses in particular might just be the greatest benefit a cyber policy can provide.

  6. The perfect analogy that shows the true value of cyberTaking out property insurance in case of a fire is seen as standard practice. Alarms and sprinklers can reduce fire damage, but they can’t remove the possibility of you facing a costly bill and business interruption. It’s the same principle for cyber.

    The most advanced cyber security available can still get caught out by a new vulnerability or threat. Without cover, the impacted business won’t receive support in their incident response and recovery, and it’ll bear the financial burden alone.

    CFC’s cyber policy is the full package. For a smoke alarm they offer proactive cyber attack prevention, for a sprinkler system the largest in-house team of incident responders in market. And at the end they cover any damage and loss of income, helping policyholders get back on their feet.

With today’s cyber policies broadening their cover and protection, and cyber risk escalating at an alarming rate, cyber insurance is set to play a bigger role than ever before. By helping your clients to understand their cyber risk- and how cyber insurance is such a gamechanger – you and CFC can help protect businesses and perhaps even turn the tide on cybercrime.

See how you can best speak to your clients about cyber risk and insurance in CFC’s on-demand webinar.

Source: www.cfcunderwriting.com


Debunking AI Hysteria

Should we be spooked by the current AI hysteria? While it’s true that AI risks are evolving fast, adopting the right approach can leave us better placed for what the future has in store.

The rise of AI has been nothing short of revolutionary. But as headlines shout about job-stealing algorithms and sentient AI plotting to overthrow us all, it’s easy to get caught up in a whirlwind of panic and paranoia. Fortunately, society doesn’t have to pack its bags for the AI apocalypse just yet.

The truth is that AI has been around for decades. In call centers as far back as the 1950s, automatic call distributors have routed calls to the right agent at the right time. In the 2010s, chatbots began to transform customer service. Now in the 2020s, AI has impacted most industries to some degree, with new use cases and risks bound to emerge in the future. The question is, how can we prepare for them?

The risks associated with AI
If AI has been around for such a long time, why the current hysteria? It’s all to do with accessibility. It used to be that AI tools were expensive and hard to use. These days, however, anyone can use tools like ChatGPT on the internet for free. This opens up a wealth of use cases, with businesses everywhere looking to AI for a competitive advantage. But to capitalize fully, they also need to address the risks that AI brings.

Nowhere is this more apparent than with generative AI. From GPT-4 to Bard, these tools are often built on large language models that analyze information from different sources, principally the internet. But who owns the content they produce? If a tool produces an image that includes unauthorized use of copyrighted material, who is liable? How about if the AI inadvertently infringes on third-party intellectual property (IP)? Or if a professional is given misinformation that leads them to taking actions that negatively impact their business or their clients?

In Hollywood, the writers’ strike showed just how AI can be a double-edged sword. The ability for AI tools to write scripts in seconds and list limitless episode ideas is a gamechanger for production businesses but has writers fearing for their livelihoods. Then there’s the matter of built-in bias. If a dataset for identifying credit risk in the UK is deployed in the US, the AI tool will lack accuracy. In the medical world, this can lead to patients not being flagged for health screenings, inaccurate diagnosis and inappropriate treatment.

That’s not all. There are privacy concerns, cyber security issues, a growing regulatory environment to consider. Different countries can take different approaches to regulation, and businesses must comply with all at once if they’re to operate in all those regions. Suddenly the AI hysteria makes a lot of sense. There are so many use cases, so many potential risks, that the future feels uncertain. But that doesn’t mean we can’t prepare ourselves for that uncertainty.

A futureproof approach
While AI risks are complex and varied, CFC has been writing them for years. Recently, they covered an AI-powered crop health assessment tool that provides actionable data to farmers in real time. To cover exposures across technology, errors and omissions, bodily injury, IP and cyber, they provided a $2 million limit. Then there’s an AI tool that generates virtual assets for backgrounds in video games. They provided the business with a $2 million limit for its technology, errors and omissions, bodily injury, IP and cyber exposures.

Still, in the AI space it’s vital to tread cautiously. Step into a fast-moving market with unknown liability issues and risk getting swept away by the current. The secret to success is knowing that AI risk isn’t the same as standard technology risk and we need to understand the nuances between them. That’s why more people are working on AI at CFC than at any other provider in market. They don’t have all the answers, but they do have some of the foremost experts in the industry ready to react wherever exposures arise.

It’s difficult to predict how this space will evolve. The only way of meeting AI risks head on is by broadening our outlook and considering emerging exposures with a cautious eye. This way, we can dampen the hysteria, prepare for opportunities that lie ahead and help build a society that’s maximizing AI. What better time to start than now.

Source: www.cfcunderwriting.com


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