How Insurance Can Help Businesses Manage Artificial Intelligence Risk and Boost Productivity
The Australian Financial Review
ENRICHED
Details
- Date Published
- 21 Sept 2026
- Priority Score
- 2
- Australian
- Yes
- Created
- 21 Sept 2026, 04:00 am
Description
The public debate often focuses on the risks AI may create. The greater economic risk may be failing to build frameworks that allow businesses to adopt it at scale.
Summary
This article highlights the significant lag in AI adoption across the Australian economy caused by business leaders' concerns over errors and malfunctions. It argues that insurance frameworks and risk management protocols are essential prerequisites for scaling AI and realizing productivity gains. While the piece focuses primarily on economic and operational risks rather than existential threats, it underscores the importance of institutional governance in managing frontier technology. The discussion is particularly relevant to the Australian policy context as the nation seeks to balance innovation with safety in a high-wage, services-led economy.
Body
TechnologyCyber SummitPrint articleSep 21, 2026 – 1.31pmThe debate about artificial intelligence has focused heavily on what the technology might make possible. For Australia, that matters. We are a high-wage, services-led economy with a long-running productivity challenge.But technology does not transform economies simply because it exists. It transforms economies when businesses have the confidence to adopt it at scale. Recent research contributed to by QBE found that about 60 per cent of business leaders have intentionally slowed AI implementation due to concerns about errors and malfunctions. That is the productivity challenge: the capability may be moving quickly, but adoption will only accelerate when organisations are confident the risks can be understood and managed.Loading...SaveLog in or Subscribe to save articleShareCopy linkCopiedEmailLinkedInTwitterFacebookCopy linkCopiedShare via...Gift this articleSubscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? LoginLicense articleRead MoreCyber SummitOpinionAIQBE InsuranceGeneral insuranceCybersecurityFetching latest articles