What’s happening, in one paragraph
For years, most business liability policies simply didn’t mention AI — so AI-related claims were often covered by default. Insurers call that “silent AI,” and they are ending it. ISO (the organization that writes the standard policy forms most carriers use) introduced three optional endorsements, effective January 1, 2026, that explicitly remove generative-AI-related coverage from commercial general liability policies. On top of that, individual carriers have been filing their own AI exclusions — some of them labeled “absolute.” None of this appears in your policy automatically: a carrier has to attach the endorsement, and the usual moment for that is your renewal.
The three ISO endorsements
The full exclusion
Attached to a commercial general liability policy, it excludes coverage under both Coverage A and Coverage B — bodily injury, property damage, and personal & advertising injury — when the claim arises out of generative artificial intelligence. This is the broadest of the three, and the one to look for first.
The advertising-injury exclusion
Narrower: it applies only to Coverage B — personal and advertising injury — arising out of generative AI. If your business uses AI anywhere in its marketing, content, or communications, this is the one that touches that risk.
The products & completed-operations exclusion
Applies to the Products/Completed Operations coverage part: bodily injury or property damage arising out of generative AI. Relevant if what you sell, build, or install could involve AI — including AI embedded in software or tools you use to produce it.
It’s not just the standard forms
Individual carriers have gone further. Coverage attorneys have documented Berkley companies introducing what the forms themselves call “absolute” AI exclusions in directors & officers, errors & omissions, and fiduciary liability policies — barring claims “based upon, arising out of, or attributable to” essentially any use, deployment, or development of AI, under a definition of AI broad enough to reach software many businesses have used for years. Hamilton Insurance Group has used language excluding claims “in any way involving” generative AI — naming tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney directly. The words matter enormously: “caused by” AI is a narrow gate; “in any way involving” AI can reach almost anything a computer touched.
How to check your own renewal
Open the renewal PDF and search (Ctrl+F / Cmd+F) for each of these:
Then compare the endorsement list on this year’s declarations page against last year’s, and circle any form number that’s new. That comparison is the whole job — and the step almost nobody does, because renewals are sent looking identical to the prior year.
Compare it yourself — private
Our free tool finds every added and removed passage between the two documents, entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded — it works with your Wi‑Fi off.
Open the comparison toolLet a person do it — free
Send both documents and a real person reads them side by side, then replies in plain English within 48 hours. Documents deleted within 14 days.
Get the free human checkIf you find one: it’s not automatically the end
Two things are true at once. First, a new exclusion is a real reduction in what your policy promises, and you should know it’s there before you sign. Second, coverage attorneys point out that even broad exclusions don’t always end the story: courts construe exclusions narrowly and against the insurer; a lawsuit mixing AI and non-AI allegations may still obligate the insurer to defend; an exclusion read so broadly it would “swallow” the whole policy can be challenged as making coverage illusory; and older policy years without the exclusion may still respond to claims that span time. Whether any of that helps in a specific situation is exactly the kind of question a licensed broker or coverage attorney should answer — our job is only to make sure you see the change before it’s signed.
The one question worth sending your broker today, by email:
“Does my renewing policy add CG 40 47, CG 40 48, CG 35 08, or any other AI-related exclusion that my current policy doesn’t have — and if so, what would it take to cover those risks?”
Email, not phone — the written answer is the one that counts later.
Common questions
Is the AI exclusion in my policy automatically?
No. These are optional endorsements — your carrier has to attach them, and the usual moment is renewal. That’s why the renewal packet, not the news, is where you find out.
My business “doesn’t use AI.” Does this still matter?
Probably. A website chatbot, an email-writing assistant, résumé screening, pricing or scheduling software, AI features inside programs you already pay for — most businesses use AI without thinking of it that way. Under broad wording like “in any way involving,” that everyday use is what an exclusion can reach.
What does “absolute” mean in an absolute AI exclusion?
In practice: an exclusion written with no exceptions or carve-backs, applying regardless of any other contributing cause. It’s the broadest form the language comes in — which is also why coverage attorneys argue courts shouldn’t always read it literally.
Where does the exclusion actually appear in the documents?
Usually as a new form number in the endorsement list on the declarations pages, with the full text attached deeper in the packet. It rarely announces itself on page one — which is why searching the PDF and comparing against last year’s list works better than reading front to back.
Sources
This page summarizes publicly available reporting and legal analysis; it quotes no policy at length and is not insurance, legal, or financial advice. Always read the endorsement text in your own policy, and take coverage questions to your licensed broker, agent, or attorney.
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, “AI Exclusions in Insurance Policies: Broad Language, Uncertain Impact” (Apr 13, 2026) · Fenwick, “The End of ‘Silent AI’? Emerging AI Exclusions” (Jun 15, 2026) · Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, “The New AI Coverage Fight” (Jul 30, 2026) · Haynes Boone, “AI Exclusions in Insurance Policies: A Growing Threat” (Apr 13, 2026) · Gallagher, “ISO Introduces Generative AI Exclusion in Commercial Lines” (Aug 19, 2026)