Several insurers, including AXA XL, do offer protection under separate cyber policies for some misuses of AI. And although a few insurers declined to comment for this article, there's no sign that any have employed a generative AI exclusion for design professionals or contractors that perform design tasks.

What is clear is that insurers are convinced that generative AI, now incorporated into different aspects of design and construction work, could pose new and still unmeasurable exposures.

A milestone was passed in January when the Insurance Services Office, which creates model language for policies, issued an AI exclusion.

In an alert posted on its website earlier this year, broker Arthur J. Gallagher wrote that the exclusion is "beginning to appear on commercial general liability (CGL) policies" and "removes coverage" for generative AI used in "tools that are increasingly embedded in routine construction activities."

"This endorsement may create coverage gaps that aren't immediately obvious," Gallagher noted. "These gaps can affect claim outcomes, contractual compliance, bid responsiveness and prequalification with owners and public entities" for injuries or property damage. 

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Still other sources warned that dedicated AI coverages may soon become the norm, with "silent" AI coverage being replaced by specific new insurance products and endorsements with separate fees and payout limits.

One example cited was an absolute AI exclusion for policies issued to cover directors and officers errors and omissions by one of the many Berkley Insurance Co. subsidiaries and operating units. 

But that isolated Berkley policy has not been employed in any policy affecting design and construction.

Like broker Gallagher, law firm Shumaker sees a big change coming. It estimates in a website article that silent AI coverage—which may cover an AI-related data breach under a separate cyber policy or a claim related to the improper use of AI-generated content under a technology errors and omissions policy—will gradually become a thing of the past.

The reason? "AI can turn ordinary risks into larger, faster, harder-to-measure risks," Shumaker wrote.

Meanwhile, common sense needs to be applied when using generative AI, says AXA XL's Chia.

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Designers and contractors need to train staff for proper use of AI that complies with all of a company's rules. Generative AI should be used for appropriate tasks, says Chia, just as you "wouldn't use a Toyota Camry to plow snow."

But when it comes to professional liability insurance, says Chia, "our policy forms for architects and engineers are agnostic as to how the matter occurs."