Why it matters for your company
A policy's insuring agreement is written broadly, and the exclusions carve it back. Standard general liability forms exclude aircraft, professional services, pollution and expected or intended injury. Endorsements add more, and for frontier companies the ones that matter are the aircraft exclusion, prototype and pre-commercial exclusions, government-use exclusions and, since 2026, AI exclusions.
An exclusion does not announce itself at purchase. It sits in the paper until a claim arrives, and then it controls the outcome. Some exclusions carry a carve-back that restores a narrow piece of coverage, and the carve-back is often worth more to you than the headline.
Related terms
- EndorsementA page attached to a policy that changes it: it adds coverage, removes it, names a new party, or rewrites a definition. The endorsement controls over the base form wherever the two disagree.
- Aircraft exclusionThe clause in a standard general liability policy that removes injury or damage arising from owning, operating or entrusting an aircraft. Drones fall inside it unless the policy says otherwise.
- Generative AI exclusionAn endorsement that removes coverage for claims arising out of generative artificial intelligence. Standard-form versions for general liability, including one for products and completed operations, took effect in January 2026.
- Government-use exclusionA clause that removes coverage for products sold to or used by a government or military customer. It is common on product liability forms written for commercial markets.
- Absolute AI exclusionAn exclusion that removes any claim arising from, relating to or involving artificial intelligence in any way, with no carve-back for the insured's ordinary use. For a company whose product is a model or a machine, it can leave the policy close to empty.