# Risklytics

> Risklytics is a commercial insurance brokerage for robotics, autonomous vehicles and hardware in the field.

Risklytics, Inc. is a commercial insurance brokerage doing business as Risklytics Insurance Services, a licensed insurance producer, based in San Francisco and serving companies in the United States. Founders tell us what they build and where it operates in plain English at https://app.risklytics.ai/; licensed brokers place the program with insurers who cover autonomy and hardware explicitly, and read the policy wording before anything binds. Risklytics is a Y Combinator company.

## Who we serve

Companies that put robots, autonomous vehicles, drones, AI software, hardware and spacecraft to work, from the first customer contract through scale. The reader is usually a founder or operator who knows the product and not insurance.

## Who we insure

- [Robotics & Physical AI](https://www.risklytics.ai/solutions/robotics/): Machines working customer sites.

  A robotics company needs general liability for the people and property around its machines, tech E&O for the customer who loses money when the machine gets the job wrong, equipment coverage for the robots themselves in transit and on site, and workers' compensation for the technicians who install and service them. Most customer contracts add an umbrella on top. What makes the placement different from a software company's is the wording: the policy has to respond when the machine was operating on its own.
  Contracts set the order. The first pilot agreement asks for a certificate of general liability with the customer named, and it asks before the machine goes in. Everything else follows the deployment.

- [AI Software & Agents](https://www.risklytics.ai/solutions/ai-software/): Models doing customer work.

  An AI software company needs technology errors and omissions, usually called tech E&O, as the anchor, because it is the line built to respond when your technology's work causes a customer a financial loss, and a model's output is your technology's work. Cyber liability sits beside it for breaches, data exposure and the response costs that follow. General liability arrives early because leases and contracts require it, and directors and officers coverage arrives at the first priced round because term sheets require it.
  The part that is specific to AI is the wording. A tech E&O form written before agents existed can carry a generative AI exclusion, an absolute AI exclusion, or a definition of technology services that never reaches a model's decision. Two quotes with the same premium and limits can behave completely differently at claim time.

- [Hardware & Deep Tech](https://www.risklytics.ai/solutions/hardware/): Machines built on a bench, sold to customers.

  A hardware company needs general liability with products and completed operations included, because the claim that matters most arrives after the product leaves your hands. It needs property coverage for the lab and the inventory, equipment coverage for the units in transit and at customer sites, tech E&O when the product carries firmware or software a customer relies on, and workers' compensation once anyone is on payroll. Cyber and directors and officers coverage follow the first enterprise contract and the first priced round.
  The hard part is timing. Generic forms tend to exclude products that are not yet commercial, and a prototype at a trade show or a demo unit at a customer's plant is exactly the product a startup has. The placement has to name those units and that stage.

- [Drones & UAS](https://www.risklytics.ai/solutions/drones/): Aircraft, and the companies that build and fly them.

  A drone company needs aviation liability, because the general liability form nearly every business carries excludes bodily injury and property damage arising from aircraft, and a drone is an aircraft. Operators add hull coverage for the airframe and payload, and tech E&O when the deliverable is data a customer acts on. Manufacturers need products liability written on an aviation products form, since the standard products coverage carries the same aircraft exclusion.
  Federal rules do not require insurance to fly commercially: 14 CFR Part 107 sets certification and operating rules and contains no insurance provision. Customers do require it. A utility, a railroad or a public agency will ask for aviation liability at limits well above what a pilot's own policy carries, and the certificate has to come from a company-level program.

- [Autonomy & Autonomous Vehicles](https://www.risklytics.ai/solutions/autonomy/): Vehicles and systems that drive themselves.

  An autonomy company needs commercial auto for the vehicles it operates on public roads, general liability with products and completed operations for the system it sells, and tech E&O for the customer whose money is lost when the system gets it wrong. Test fleets add hired and non-owned auto for the safety drivers' movements, equipment coverage for the sensor suites, and workers' compensation for the drivers and technicians. Most contracts add an umbrella.
  Where a permit regime exists, it sets the floor. California requires a manufacturer testing an autonomous vehicle on public roads to hold an instrument of insurance, a surety bond, or proof of self-insurance of $5,000,000 (California Vehicle Code section 38750(b)(3)). Other states have their own regimes or none, and the contract with a customer or a road authority does the rest.

- [Space](https://www.risklytics.ai/solutions/space/): Launch, satellites and in-orbit hardware.

  A space company needs the ordinary program first, because that is what leases, suppliers and investors ask for: general liability, property for the cleanroom and its contents, equipment coverage for flight hardware on the bench and in transit, workers' compensation, tech E&O when the deliverable is data, and directors and officers at the priced round. The space line itself arrives with the mission: pre-launch coverage once flight hardware exists, launch coverage for the flight and the first period in orbit, in-orbit coverage for the operating life, and third-party liability for harm on the ground.
  Ten of the lines we place answer the ground. The flight is different. Launch and in-orbit coverage is quoted mission by mission by a small specialist market that reads the vehicle, the orbit, the bus and the flight history of the design, and we bring that market in for the flight.

- [Defense, DoD & SBIR Contracts](https://www.risklytics.ai/solutions/defense/): Insurance a government contract asks for.

  A company with a defense contract needs the same commercial program as any hardware or AI company: general liability, workers' compensation, commercial auto if it drives, tech E&O and cyber where the deliverable is software or data, and property and equipment for the hardware. What the contract adds is a set of clauses that say when the government requires insurance, at what minimums, and how to prove it. Those clauses come from the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and they are in the contract or they are not.
  The two that matter most are FAR 52.228-5, which applies when your people work on a government installation and requires the insurance the contract schedule specifies before work begins, and FAR 52.228-7, which appears in cost-reimbursement contracts and requires workers' compensation, employer's liability, general liability and auto liability. A fixed-price SBIR award performed at your own facility often carries neither. Read Section I of the award before buying anything you may not need.


## Coverage lines (10)

- [General Liability](https://www.risklytics.ai/lines/liability/): Covers injuries at your business location or damage your work causes to someone else's property.
  Someone outside your company gets hurt or their property gets damaged. This pays the harm and the legal bill.
- [Professional Liability (Tech E&O)](https://www.risklytics.ai/lines/professional/): Covers you if your technology or service doesn't work as promised and causes a customer financial loss.
  Your product messes up and costs a customer money. This pays what you owe them, and the legal defense.
- [Cyber Liability](https://www.risklytics.ai/lines/cyber/): Helps pay for costs if your business is hacked or customer data is stolen.
  You get hacked or leak customer data. This pays for the cleanup and the notifications the law requires, and answers the claims that follow.
- [Directors & Officers](https://www.risklytics.ai/lines/management/): Protects company leaders if they're sued over decisions they make running the business.
  An investor or regulator sues you personally over how you ran the company. This protects your own money as well as the company's.
- [Commercial Property](https://www.risklytics.ai/lines/property/): Covers your buildings, offices and the contents inside them.
  Your office or lab burns down or gets robbed. This pays to repair the space and replace what was in it.
- [Equipment (Inland Marine)](https://www.risklytics.ai/lines/equipment/): Covers robots, rigs and gear in transit and on jobsites, wherever they work.
  A robot gets crushed or stolen anywhere outside your building. This pays to replace it.
- [Workers' Compensation](https://www.risklytics.ai/lines/workers-comp/): Covers your team if they're injured on the job. Required in most states once you have employees.
  One of your employees gets hurt on the job. This pays their medical bills and part of their wages, and the law makes you carry it.
- [Extra Limits (Umbrella)](https://www.risklytics.ai/lines/umbrella/): Extra limits above your liability policies for contracts that demand more.
  A contract demands bigger numbers than your policies carry. This stacks extra millions on top instead of rebuying everything.
- [Intellectual Property](https://www.risklytics.ai/lines/intellectual-property/): Covers the legal cost of defending your patents, trademarks and trade secrets, and of claims that you copied someone else's.
  Someone copies your invention, or accuses you of copying theirs. This pays the legal bill either way, and damages a court awards where the wording reaches them.
- [Space](https://www.risklytics.ai/lines/space/): Covers spacecraft before and during launch, once they are in orbit, and claims from anyone harmed on the ground.
  Your spacecraft is damaged before launch, lost on the way up, or stops working in orbit. This pays to replace it, and answers claims from the ground.

## Guides

- [All guides](https://www.risklytics.ai/guides/)
- [Drone insurance for manufacturers and operators](https://www.risklytics.ai/guides/drone-manufacturer-vs-operator-insurance/): Why a drone company's liability sits on an aviation form instead of standard general liability, what a manufacturer buys versus a Part 107 operator, and what the sourced pilot-level prices say about cost.
  A company that builds drones needs products-completed operations coverage on a form that does not exclude aircraft, plus non-owned aviation liability for the customers who fly what it sells. A company that operates a fleet under Part 107 needs aviation liability, typically $1M for small operators and higher when industrial clients ask, and hull coverage on each aircraft it cannot afford to lose. The plain general liability form excludes aircraft, so neither company gets there with a standard policy. The FAA sets no federal insurance requirement for commercial small-drone operations; contracts and some states and cities do.
- [Product liability for hardware startups](https://www.risklytics.ai/guides/product-liability-for-hardware-startups/): What product liability covers for a company that ships hardware, why policies written for finished goods can exclude prototypes, and what demos, contract manufacturers and enterprise buyers ask you to carry.
  Product liability for a hardware startup is the products-completed operations part of general liability: it responds to bodily injury or property damage caused by a product you sold or work you finished, after it leaves your hands. The typical enterprise ask is $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate, with the products-completed operations aggregate stated separately on the certificate. The catch for an early company is that carriers price finished goods, and a policy written that way can exclude prototypes and pre-commercial units, so the wording has to be read against what you actually ship.
- [The certificate of insurance, explained for founders](https://www.risklytics.ai/guides/certificate-of-insurance-explained/): What a certificate of insurance is, what each box means, what additional insured and waiver of subrogation actually change, how fast one issues, and what to watch for before you send it.
  A certificate of insurance is a one-page summary of the policies you carry, issued by your broker on the standard certificate form and handed to a landlord, customer, or site owner as evidence that coverage exists. It lists the lines, limits, policy numbers, and dates, and it confers no rights on its own. The rights the counterparty actually wants, additional insured status, a waiver of subrogation, primary and non-contributory wording, live in endorsements to the policy, and the certificate only reports whether they exist. When the program already carries what is asked, issuing a certificate is a short broker task.
- [Your renewal added an AI exclusion. Now what?](https://www.risklytics.ai/guides/what-to-do-when-your-renewal-adds-an-ai-exclusion/): How to read a generative or absolute AI exclusion on a renewal, the steps to take before the renewal date, what a buy-back costs, and where affirmative AI coverage comes from.
  Get the endorsement in writing before the renewal date and read three things: how it defines artificial intelligence, whether it is absolute or limited to generative AI, and which coverage parts it touches. Then ask your broker whether the carrier will remove or narrow it, and get competing terms from insurers who cover AI on purpose. Check your customer contracts' indemnities against the new gap and tell your board. A renewal with an exclusion is usually negotiable if the work starts well before the date.
- [Insurance for AI agents](https://www.risklytics.ai/guides/insurance-for-ai-agents/): How to insure an AI agent that takes actions inside customer systems: which lines respond to a wrong action at scale, what tech E&O does and does not do for agents, and what to document before you apply.
  An agent that acts inside customer systems is insured mainly through tech E&O, at $1M to $5M per claim, because the loss it causes is a customer's financial loss from a wrong action. Cyber liability at $1M or more responds when the agent is manipulated through prompt injection into leaking data or acting on an attacker's instruction. General liability rarely applies, and directors and officers coverage answers claims that leadership overstated what the agent could safely do. Whether any of it responds turns on how the form defines professional services.
- [Insurance for a pilot program at a customer site](https://www.risklytics.ai/guides/pilot-program-insurance/): What the insurance exhibit attached to a warehouse, hospital, utility or factory pilot usually asks for, what is negotiable, how long the certificate takes, and what the pilot agreement should say about the unit.
  A pilot at a customer site is insured by showing the site owner a certificate that matches their insurance exhibit. The exhibit almost always asks for general liability at $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate with the site owner as additional insured, a waiver of subrogation, primary and non-contributory wording, and workers' compensation with employers' liability for any of your people on their floor. Hospitals and utilities often add $5M through an umbrella, and tech E&O and cyber appear when data flows from their site to you. If your program already carries all of that, the certificate is a short broker task.
- [Insurance for humanoid robots](https://www.risklytics.ai/guides/humanoid-robot-insurance/): How a humanoid robot is insured: what bipedal machines in human spaces change for an underwriter, which lines respond, who holds liability when a model drives the body, and what the file needs to show.
  A humanoid robot is insured with the same lines as any machine on a customer site, with the weight shifted toward bodily injury. General liability at $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate leads, because a bipedal machine working in spaces built for people can fall on one of them. Equipment coverage follows each unit in transit and at pilots at its replacement cost, workers' compensation covers the technicians walking beside it, and tech E&O at $1M to $5M enters when the control stack is licensed rather than the body sold. Products-completed operations coverage carries the injury exposure once units are sold and someone else runs them.
- [Decoding a contract's insurance requirements](https://www.risklytics.ai/guides/contract-insurance-requirements/): How to read the insurance clause in a customer contract or lease: what each required line and limit means by counterparty, what additional insured actually asks for, and what is negotiable.
  A contract's insurance clause lists the lines and limits the counterparty wants your insurer to carry, so that a claim arising from your work lands there instead of on them. The common floor is general liability at $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate, with tech E&O and cyber at $1M or more once your product touches their operations or data, and an umbrella when the ask reaches $5M. Additional insured, waiver of subrogation, and primary and non-contributory are endorsements to your policy, and each is something an underwriter prices rather than refuses. Send the clause to your broker before you sign.
- [Mid-term contracts and your coverage](https://www.risklytics.ai/guides/mid-term-contracts-coverage/): Whether a policy bought in January covers the contract you sign in June: where coverage extends automatically, where the real gaps are, and what to check before signing.
  A policy you bought in January ordinarily covers a customer you sign in June, because it insures your company's operations rather than a list of named contracts. The three exceptions are liability you take on by contract beyond what the form treats as an insured contract, work that falls outside the professional services your tech E&O describes, and requirements the new contract adds, such as higher limits or an additional insured. Send any contract that is new in size, kind or insurance clause to your broker before you sign.
- [Why robotics applications get declined](https://www.risklytics.ai/guides/why-applications-get-declined/): What a declination actually means for a robotics, drone, autonomous-vehicle or hardware company, where each segment trips the wire, and how the same company gets placed on the second try.
  Robotics, drone, autonomous-vehicle and hardware applications get declined because they reach insurers whose appetite has no room for machines, or because a generic application shows the hazard without the engineering that controls it. A decline is a statement about one carrier's box. The same company, described in an application built for machine risk and sent to insurers who want autonomy, is routinely quoted on the second submission.
- [Insurance for AI startups](https://www.risklytics.ai/guides/insurance-for-ai-startups/): What commercial insurance an AI company actually needs, which lines respond when a model or agent causes a loss, what the program costs, and where AI exclusions change the answer.
  An AI startup's program starts with technology errors and omissions, usually called tech E&O, at $1M to $5M per claim, because a model's output causing a customer a financial loss is the live exposure. Cyber liability sits beside it at $1M or more once you hold customer data in production. General liability at $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate arrives with the first lease or contract that demands a certificate, and directors and officers coverage at $1M to $3M arrives with the first priced round. Every one of those forms has to be read for an AI exclusion before it binds.
- [Insurance for robotics companies](https://www.risklytics.ai/guides/insurance-for-robotics-companies/): The lines a robotics startup needs before its first customer deployment, with typical contract limits, the segments underwriters treat differently, and where 2026 AI exclusions reach robots.
  A robotics startup needs five lines before its first customer deployment, in this order. General liability comes first, at $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate, because every site owner asks for it before the machine goes through the gate. Equipment coverage, written as inland marine, comes second, at each unit's replacement cost, followed by workers' compensation at the limits state law sets for the technicians who travel with the machine. Technology errors and omissions at $1M to $5M joins once the autonomy stack is the product, and an umbrella arrives when a contract asks above the primary, most often at $5M.
- [The startup insurance checklist](https://www.risklytics.ai/guides/startup-insurance-checklist/): Which insurance an early-stage startup needs at each milestone and each funding stage, from first lease to Series B, and what each certificate request actually means.
  A startup buys insurance when a milestone demands it, in this order: general liability at the first lease, workers' compensation at the first employee, tech E&O and cyber at the first customer contract, directors and officers coverage at the first priced round, and an umbrella when a contract asks for limits above what the primary policies carry. General liability is usually asked at $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate, tech E&O and cyber at $1M or more, and D&O at $1M to $3M for a venture-backed company. Before any of those milestones a company reasonably carries nothing.
- [AI liability, explained](https://www.risklytics.ai/guides/ai-liability-explained/): Who is liable when an AI system causes a loss: how model providers' terms push liability to deployers, which insurance lines respond, and where AI exclusions change the answer.
  When an AI system causes a loss, the claim lands on the company that deployed it. The model provider's terms disclaim responsibility for outputs, and the harmed customer's contract is with the deployer, so both documents point at the company in the middle. Tech E&O is the line that responds to that claim, cyber responds when the loss runs through a breach, and the policy wording, including any AI exclusion added since January 2026, decides whether either one pays.

## Reference

- [Glossary](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/): plain definitions of the insurance terms in a founder's policy.
- [FAQ](https://www.risklytics.ai/faq/): direct answers to the questions robotics, AI and hardware founders ask about commercial insurance.
- [AI exclusions tracker](https://www.risklytics.ai/ai-exclusions/): AI exclusions tracker, live, refreshed weekly.
- [Pricing](https://www.risklytics.ai/pricing/): how premiums and broker fees work.
- [About](https://www.risklytics.ai/about/), [Contact](https://www.risklytics.ai/contact/), [News](https://www.risklytics.ai/news/)

## Glossary terms

- [Additional insured](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/additional-insured/): A person or company added to your policy by endorsement so they can claim under it too, usually a landlord or customer whose contract asks for it.
- [Certificate of insurance](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/certificate-of-insurance/): A one-page summary issued by your broker that shows which policies you carry, their limits and dates, and who the certificate holder is.
- [Waiver of subrogation](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/waiver-of-subrogation/): An endorsement in which your insurer gives up its right to recover a paid claim from a party your contract names.
- [Primary and non-contributory](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/primary-and-non-contributory/): Wording that makes your policy pay first for a claim involving an additional insured, without asking the additional insured's own policy to share the loss.
- [Contractual liability](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/contractual-liability/): Liability you take on by agreeing to it in a contract, most often through an indemnity clause that makes you pay for a customer's losses.
- [Endorsement](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/endorsement/): A page attached to a policy that changes it: it adds coverage, removes it, names a new party, or rewrites a definition.
- [Exclusion](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/exclusion/): A clause that removes a type of loss, activity or property from what a policy responds to.
- [Binder](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/binder/): A temporary written confirmation from the insurer that coverage is in force on agreed terms while the full policy is being issued.
- [Aggregate limit](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/aggregate-limit/): The most a policy will pay for all covered claims in one policy period, however many there are.
- [Sublimit](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/sublimit/): A smaller cap inside a policy's main limit that applies to one kind of loss.
- [Retention and deductible](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/retention-vs-deductible/): The amount of a claim you pay yourself.
- [General liability](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/general-liability/): The policy that responds when your business operations or products injure someone outside the company or damage property you do not own.
- [Bodily injury](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/bodily-injury/): Physical harm, sickness or disease to a person, including death that results.
- [Products and completed operations](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/products-completed-operations/): The part of general liability that covers injury or damage caused by a product after it leaves your hands, or by work after you have finished it.
- [Product liability](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/product-liability/): Legal responsibility for injury or damage caused by a product you designed, made, sold or distributed.
- [Technology errors and omissions (tech E&O)](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/tech-eo/): Professional liability for technology companies: it responds when your product or service fails to perform and a customer suffers a financial loss.
- [First-party and third-party cyber coverage](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/cyber-first-party-vs-third-party/): First-party cyber pays your own costs after an attack, such as forensics, notification and lost income.
- [Claims-made and occurrence policies](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/claims-made-vs-occurrence/): An occurrence policy responds to incidents that happen during the policy period, whenever the claim is filed.
- [Retroactive date](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/retroactive-date/): The date on a claims-made policy before which a wrongful act is not covered, even if the claim is made during the policy period.
- [Directors and officers insurance (D&O)](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/directors-and-officers/): Management liability that protects directors, officers and the company when leadership is sued over decisions made running the business.
- [Side A, B and C](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/side-a-b-c/): The three insuring agreements in a D&O policy.
- [Umbrella and excess liability](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/umbrella-vs-excess/): Both add limits above your primary liability policies.
- [Employer's liability](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/employers-liability/): The second part of a workers' compensation policy, which covers suits by employees or their families that fall outside the state compensation system.
- [Workers' compensation](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/workers-compensation/): The state-mandated policy that pays medical costs and lost wages for employees injured on the job, in exchange for limiting their right to sue.
- [Class code](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/class-code/): A numeric category an insurer assigns to your business or to each employee role that sets the base rate for the premium.
- [Commercial auto](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/commercial-auto/): The policy that covers liability and physical damage for vehicles your business owns, leases or operates on public roads.
- [Hired and non-owned auto](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/hired-and-non-owned-auto/): Liability coverage for vehicles your business rents or that employees drive for work in their own cars.
- [Inland marine](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/inland-marine/): Property insurance for equipment that moves: in transit, at job sites, on pilots and demos.
- [Equipment floater](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/equipment-floater/): An inland marine form that covers listed equipment against physical loss wherever it is located.
- [Business interruption](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/business-interruption/): Coverage that replaces income lost and extra expenses incurred while covered physical damage is repaired.
- [Aircraft exclusion](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/aircraft-exclusion/): The clause in a standard general liability policy that removes injury or damage arising from owning, operating or entrusting an aircraft.
- [Aviation liability](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/aviation-liability/): Liability insurance written on an aviation form for injury and property damage caused by operating aircraft, including drones.
- [Hull coverage](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/hull-coverage/): Physical damage insurance on an aircraft itself, including a drone and often its payload and ground equipment.
- [Non-owned aviation liability](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/non-owned-aviation-liability/): Liability coverage for aircraft your business uses but does not own, such as drones flown by contractors or rented for a job.
- [Part 107](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/part-107/): The federal rule for commercial operation of small unmanned aircraft under 55 pounds in the United States.
- [Launch insurance](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/launch-insurance/): Coverage for loss of or damage to a spacecraft from the moment of intentional ignition through a set period after separation or in-orbit testing.
- [In-orbit insurance](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/in-orbit-insurance/): Coverage for loss of or failure of a spacecraft after launch coverage ends, usually renewed year by year.
- [Third-party liability for launch and reentry](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/third-party-liability-space/): Insurance that pays for injury and damage a licensed launch or reentry causes to people and property outside the mission.
- [Maximum probable loss](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/maximum-probable-loss/): The largest loss reasonably expected from a specific licensed launch or reentry, calculated by the licensing authority.
- [ITAR exclusion](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/itar-exclusion/): A policy clause that removes or limits coverage for products, data or services controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
- [Government-use exclusion](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/government-use-exclusion/): A clause that removes coverage for products sold to or used by a government or military customer.
- [Generative AI exclusion](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/generative-ai-exclusion/): An endorsement that removes coverage for claims arising out of generative artificial intelligence.
- [Absolute AI exclusion](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/absolute-ai-exclusion/): An 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.
- [Limited AI exclusion](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/limited-ai-exclusion/): An exclusion that removes a defined slice of AI-related claims, such as those arising out of generative AI output, while the rest of the policy keeps responding.
- [Silent AI](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/silent-ai/): AI-related risk that a policy neither expressly covers nor expressly excludes, so whether it responds depends on how general wording is read after a loss.
- [Affirmative AI coverage](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/affirmative-ai-coverage/): Policy wording or a standalone product that names AI-related losses as covered, instead of leaving them silent or excluding them.
- [Agentic AI](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/agentic-ai/): AI systems that take actions on their own toward a goal, such as sending messages, moving money or calling other software, rather than only producing text for a person to act on.
- [Admitted insurer](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/admitted-carrier/): An insurer licensed by a state to write business there, whose rates and forms are filed with that state's regulator.
- [Surplus lines](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/surplus-lines/): The market of non-admitted insurers that write risks the standard market will not, with freedom to set their own forms and rates.
- [Broker of record](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/broker-of-record/): The licensed broker an insurer recognises as representing you on a policy or a submission.
- [Loss runs](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/loss-runs/): Reports from your current and past insurers listing every claim, its status and the amounts paid or reserved over recent policy years.
- [Declination](https://www.risklytics.ai/glossary/declination/): An insurer's refusal to quote or renew a risk.

## Frequently asked questions

### What insurance does a robotics startup need before its first customer deployment?

General liability with the customer named as additional insured, equipment coverage for the units that leave your building, and workers' compensation for the people who install them. Tech E&O follows once the customer relies on the machine's output, and a hospital or utility site often adds an umbrella. The pilot agreement's insurance exhibit sets the limits, so read it before you quote a start date.

### What insurance does an AI startup need first?

Tech E&O is the anchor, because a model's output causing a customer a financial loss is the live exposure. Cyber sits beside it once you hold customer data in production. General liability arrives with the first lease or contract that asks for a certificate, and D&O with the first priced round. Each form needs reading for an AI exclusion before it binds.

### Do pre-revenue startups need insurance?

Usually yes, because the triggers are documents, not revenue. A lease asks for general liability, a first hire brings workers' compensation in most states, and a term sheet can make D&O a closing condition. A prototype on a bench needs less than a machine at a customer site, so buy in the order your contracts ask.

### What insurance does a seed-stage startup actually need?

Whatever your signed documents require, and little else. For most seed companies that means general liability for the lease, workers' compensation once you have employees, and D&O if investors take board seats. Tech E&O and cyber come with the first enterprise customer. Hardware companies add equipment coverage the first time a unit leaves the building.

### When should a startup buy D&O insurance?

At or before the first priced round. Term sheets often make it a closing condition, and incoming board members expect it before they take the seat. D&O is claims-made, so buying before a dispute starts matters more than the exact month.

### How fast can I get a certificate of insurance?

Once a policy or binder is in force and carries the endorsements your contract asks for, issuing a certificate is a short broker task. The delay comes when the contract asks for something the policy lacks, such as a waiver of subrogation, because the insurer has to add it first. Send the insurance exhibit early and that step moves out of the way.

### What is a certificate of insurance?

A one-page summary your broker issues showing which policies you carry, their limits and dates, and who holds the certificate. It proves coverage exists and changes nothing about it. Additional insured status and waivers come from endorsements on the policy, which the certificate only reports.

### What does additional insured mean?

It means a landlord or customer has been added to your policy by endorsement and can claim under it for suits arising from your work. If your robot injures someone on their floor and they are sued, they can send the suit to your insurer. The endorsement creates the right, and a ticked box on a certificate does not.

### What is a waiver of subrogation?

An endorsement in which your insurer gives up its right to recover a paid claim from a party your contract names. Customers ask for it on general liability, workers' compensation and auto so your insurer cannot pay your loss and then sue them. It has to be on the policy before the certificate can show it.

### What does primary and non-contributory mean?

Your policy pays first for a claim involving the additional insured, and your insurer cannot ask the customer's own policy to share the loss. Customers and landlords ask for it so claims your work causes stay off their insurance record. It is usually granted by endorsement when a written contract requires it.

### Can I negotiate the insurance requirements in a contract?

Yes, and procurement expects it more often than founders assume. Limits, the lines required, and indemnity language that reaches beyond what any policy pays are all common points to move. Ask before you sign, because a promise your policy cannot keep leaves you in breach of the contract.

### What will a customer site ask us to show before the machine goes in?

A certificate of general liability naming the site owner as additional insured, usually at $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate, and workers' compensation with a waiver of subrogation for your technicians. Hospitals and utilities often ask for higher limits through an umbrella, and enterprise sites add tech E&O and cyber when the machine touches their systems.

### A hospital wants $5M limits for a pilot. Is that normal?

It is a common ask on hospital templates written for clinical vendors. The usual answer is an umbrella over a $1M primary general liability policy instead of a larger primary. The professional liability line and limit are often the negotiable part, so ask whether the template fits a machine before you price it.

### Does my general liability policy cover new contracts I sign mid-term?

It depends on whether the endorsements are blanket or scheduled. A blanket additional insured endorsement picks up any party your written contract requires, while a scheduled one needs the new name added. New locations, new states and new kinds of work can also need a change before the policy matches what you signed.

### Who is liable if a robot injures someone on a customer site?

Everyone in the chain can be named: the company that built the robot, the integrator, the operator and sometimes the site owner. Contracts then move the loss between them through indemnity clauses. Your general liability and its products and completed operations coverage are the policies that answer your share, subject to their wording.

### Does general liability cover damage my robot causes at a customer site?

Damage your operations cause to property you do not own is what general liability is built for, once the insurer knows the machine is there. The questions to settle are whether the form contemplates autonomous operation and whether an AI exclusion has been attached. Damage to the robot itself belongs to equipment coverage.

### What is inland marine insurance, and why is it the robotics line?

It is property insurance for equipment that moves, named after the cargo insurance it grew from. A property policy covers contents at your own address, while inland marine follows scheduled units in transit, at pilot sites and at demos. That is how a robot fleet actually operates.

### Is our hardware protected while it ships to a customer?

Transit is a core part of what equipment coverage answers, once each unit is listed with a real value. A crated robot lost between your dock and the pilot site is the claim this line exists for. Read the theft and unattended-equipment wording, because units left on a customer site overnight are where forms differ.

### Does insurance cover a prototype or a demo unit?

Some general liability forms exclude products that are not yet commercially sold, which leaves demo units and pilot hardware in an awkward spot. Tell the insurer what is in the field and in what state of development. Equipment coverage can protect the unit itself if it is scheduled, whatever its commercial status.

### Can a claim be denied because the machine was running autonomously?

It can, if the policy assumed a person at the controls or carries an exclusion that reaches the autonomy stack. That is why the application has to describe autonomous operation plainly and the form has to be read for it. A policy placed with the operation disclosed is far harder to argue over later.

### Why was my robotics company declined for insurance?

Usually because the submission went to an insurer without appetite for machines around people, or the application had no fields for what the machine does. A declination records one insurer's view of one submission. The same operation, described with its operating envelope, testing record and contracts, often gets quoted by insurers who want the risk.

### Are robotics companies insurable at all?

Yes. Robotics companies buy the same lines other operating companies buy, placed with insurers that write machine risk and presented so the underwriter can see how the machine works. What changes is how much the wording and the presentation matter.

### What is an AI exclusion?

An endorsement that removes coverage for claims involving artificial intelligence. Limited versions remove a defined slice, such as losses arising from generative AI output, and absolute versions remove anything related to AI in any way. Our tracker lists the filed forms with a dated source for each.

### What are the standard generative AI exclusions for general liability?

The insurance industry's standard-forms bureau released generative AI exclusion endorsements for general liability and for products and completed operations, effective January 2026 (Independent Agent magazine, 2025-10-21). Insurers adopt them by filing state by state, so whether one is on your policy depends on your insurer and your renewal.

### Does my policy already have a generative AI exclusion?

Check the endorsement schedule on the declarations page of each policy and compare it with last year's. Look for any title mentioning artificial intelligence, generative AI or automated systems, and read the definition inside it. If you find one on a policy your product depends on, raise it before the renewal binds.

### What is silent AI coverage?

It is AI risk a policy neither names as covered nor excludes, so whether it responds depends on how general wording is read after a loss. Most policies bought before 2025 are silent. Insurers are now closing that ambiguity with exclusions on one side and affirmative endorsements on the other.

### What is affirmative AI coverage, and who sells it?

It is wording or a standalone policy that names AI-related losses as covered. In 2026 it appeared as endorsements to cyber and E&O and as dedicated AI liability products, usually at modest limits and with triggers that differ by product. We do not name insurers here, and wording governs every one of them.

### Does tech E&O cover losses caused by an AI model's output?

Tech E&O is the line meant to respond when your technology's work causes a customer a financial loss, and a model's output is your technology's work. Whether a specific policy responds depends on how it defines professional services and whether an AI exclusion is attached. Both get read before the policy binds.

### Does cyber insurance cover a prompt-injection attack or a model leaking data?

It depends on how the policy defines a security event, and most of those definitions were written before language models existed. A prompt injection that exposes customer data may fit the definition, or it may be argued as a product failure that belongs to tech E&O. Read both forms together.

### Is the model provider ever liable for what their model does?

Rarely in practice for the company that deployed it. Model providers' terms of service push liability to whoever built the product on the model, and your customer's contract is with you. The lab that trained the model is usually not a party to that contract, so the claim stops with the company in the middle.

### Which insurers have filed AI exclusions?

Many. A reinsurer's research note counted more than sixty insurer groups filing to adopt AI exclusions, with more than eighty percent of filings approved (2026-08-26). Our AI exclusions tracker lists the forms and filings row by row, each with its primary source and date.

### Does the FAA require insurance for Part 107 operations?

No. The federal rule for commercial small drone operations sets pilot and operating requirements and does not require insurance (14 CFR Part 107, accessed 2026-09-12). The requirement arrives through customers, venues and municipalities, which commonly ask for aviation liability before a flight.

### Why does my general liability policy exclude drones?

The standard general liability form excludes injury and damage arising from aircraft, and a drone is an aircraft. Operators buy aviation liability instead, or an endorsement that brings small unmanned aircraft back into general liability. Manufacturers face a separate question about products they sold that fly.

### What insurance does California require to test autonomous vehicles?

California requires evidence of $5M in insurance, a surety bond or self-insurance before a manufacturer tests autonomous vehicles on public roads (California DMV, accessed 2026-09-12). Other states set their own rules, and many have none specific to autonomy. The claim itself can land on auto or product liability, so both need reading.

### What does space insurance cover, and do we need it before a launch date?

It follows the spacecraft through pre-launch, launch and in-orbit operation, with third-party liability alongside. Ground and transit exposure starts as soon as flight hardware exists. Liability is the piece with a deadline, because launch providers and licensing ask for it before the slot is confirmed.

### What insurance does an SBIR, STTR or AFWERX contract require?

It depends on the contract and where the work happens. Research awards performed at your own site often carry light insurance requirements, while work on a government installation brings federal minimums for general liability, auto and workers' compensation into the contract. Read the insurance clauses at award, because the certificate is due before work starts.

### Does our policy have an ITAR or government-use exclusion?

Check the endorsement schedule for clauses naming export controls, defense articles or government and military use. They are common on liability forms written for commercial markets. A company with controlled technology or a first defense contract should disclose it on the application and read for both before signing.

### How much does insurance cost for an AI or robotics startup?

Published survey medians give a floor, not a quote. A venture-focused startup insurer's survey reported median annual premiums of $180 for general liability, $3,700 for E&O, $2,900 for cyber and $6,300 for D&O (2026-05-21). Machines in the field, autonomy and higher contract limits move a company well away from those medians, so we do not publish a number of our own.

### What do we pay a broker?

Nothing beyond your premium. The insurer pays our commission out of the premium, the same commission built into a policy whether or not a broker places it. A licensed broker reads the forms before binding and stays on your file after.

### What happens after we submit an application?

We check the filled application with you, present it to insurers who write your kind of operation, and read each quote's wording before recommending one. You accept a quote, the insurer binds coverage, and certificates can be issued against the binder. Timing depends on the lines and on how unusual the operation is, and we give you updates until it binds.


## Entity facts

- Name: Risklytics (legal entity Risklytics, Inc.; doing business as Risklytics Insurance Services)
- Type: commercial insurance brokerage (licensed insurance producer)
- Area served: United States
- Headquarters: San Francisco, California
- Founders: Sam Gold, Alex Risio
- Website: https://www.risklytics.ai/
- Application: https://app.risklytics.ai/
- Contact: hello@risklytics.ai
- Profiles: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/risklytics, https://www.linkedin.com/company/risklytics, https://x.com/Risklytics
- Risklytics describes coverage in general terms; nothing on the site is a quote or an offer of insurance, and policy wording, underwriting and availability govern every placement.