Absolute AI Exclusion

An insurance endorsement that bars coverage for any claim arising out of the use, deployment, or development of artificial intelligence, with no carve-back.

An Absolute AI Exclusion is a liability insurance endorsement that bars coverage for any claim arising out of the use, deployment, or development of artificial intelligence, with no carve-back for third-party, licensed, or embedded systems. The exclusion is structurally distinct from coverage-part-specific endorsements like Verisk's CG 40 48 (Coverage B only) or CG 35 08 (Products and Completed Operations only) because it preserves no operative coverage for AI-related conduct anywhere it attaches.

The most aggressive market example is W.R. Berkley's PC 51380 Artificial Intelligence Exclusion (Absolute), introduced across its Directors and Officers, Employment Practices Liability, and Fiduciary Liability forms (the filed endorsement carries a June 2024 edition date and surfaced in 2025 to 2026 filings). The Berkley wording reaches any actual or alleged use, deployment, or development of AI by any person or entity, including content generation, failure to detect third-party AI output, and inadequate AI governance practices.

The scope is what distinguishes the form from the Verisk CG 40 47 Commercial General Liability endorsement attaching at U.S. renewals from January 1, 2026. CG 40 47 is CGL-only and addresses bodily injury, property damage, and personal and advertising injury. An absolute AI exclusion runs through the management liability tower (D&O, Employment Practices Liability, Fiduciary), removing the forms a deployer would otherwise expect to respond to a securities, governance, or employment-practices claim involving AI.

The combined effect on a deployer's program is that AI exposure is no longer silently sitting inside legacy management and professional liability forms. For an insured carrying both a CGL with CG 40 47 and a D&O with an absolute AI exclusion, a standalone Generative AI Liability policy becomes the only structural answer for AI-driven claims that would otherwise have fallen across multiple legacy towers.

Also known as

Berkley Absolute AI Exclusion, PC 51380, Artificial Intelligence Absolute Exclusion

Frequently asked

How is an absolute AI exclusion different from Verisk CG 40 47?

CG 40 47 is a Commercial General Liability endorsement only; it addresses bodily injury, property damage, and personal and advertising injury arising out of generative AI. An absolute AI exclusion is broader by line, attaching to management liability forms such as Directors and Officers, Employment Practices Liability, and Fiduciary Liability rather than CGL. The two operate in different parts of the program, but a deployer can encounter both at renewal, with the combined effect of removing AI exposure from the underlying tower across coverage lines.

Why did W.R. Berkley file an absolute AI exclusion in 2025?

Carriers writing Directors and Officers, Employment Practices Liability, and Fiduciary Liability identified AI as a cross-line aggregation exposure that legacy forms were never priced to absorb. Berkley's PC 51380 (June 2024 edition, surfacing in 2025 to 2026 filings) is the most aggressive market response, removing AI exposure from those management liability towers without a carve-back. Commentators have predicted the broadest version may not survive in commercial use, but several carriers have followed with proprietary AI exclusions tracking similar language.

What coverage remains after an absolute AI exclusion attaches?

On the affected policy, none for AI-driven claims; the exclusion is structured to leave no operative coverage for the use, deployment, or development of AI. A deployer carrying an absolute AI exclusion on its D&O or E&O typically fills the gap with a standalone Generative AI Liability policy designed to respond to claims arising out of AI outputs, model behavior, and deployment decisions, sitting alongside the legacy towers rather than inside them.

Related terms

generative AI liability insurance overview

General information, not legal or insurance advice.