Insurance and the new datafication of uncertainty (INDU)

Insurance institutions form a crucial infrastructure in contemporary societies, as they pool and distribute risk, produce welfare, and build up trust that backs up economic activity. It is often claimed that big data and artificial intelligence have the potential to fundamentally transform the insurance industry. The Insurance and New Datafication of Uncertainty (INDU) research project examines to what extent and how digital technologies are actually changing insurance infrastructures and practices. This is done through four empirical case studies that investigate life insurance, car insurance, climate change-related (re)insurance, and cyber insurance, respectively. Thus, based on empirical knowledge, INDU provides an overall view on how new technologies are shaping insurance institutions. Important societal questions concern the potential individualization of risk, new ways of distributing responsibilities, and, more generally, changes in the collective forms of managing uncertainty.