Fusing artificial intelligence with top-tier building science to protect Americans against severe weather and climate catastrophes.
May 14, 2020 | 2 min Read
The Zest
- ZestyAI will merge the research of IBHS with artificial intelligence and collaborate on tools that help policyholders and the public identify, reduce, and manage risk.
- By marrying cutting-edge building science from the lab with data science in the cloud, the collaboration will push the accuracy of next generation climate risk models even higher.
- Research by IBHS into the resilience of construction materials like roof shingles, vents, solar panels, decking materials, and landscaping to wind, hail, fire, and other climate-driven damages is crucial in developing a more comprehensive understanding of climate risk.
RICHBURG, SC, May 14, 2020 — ZestyAI, a leading AI technology company, has joined the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) to further translate science into action through the combination of practical research, extensive historical loss data, and machine learning. This alliance will allow building science testing from IBHS’s cutting-edge research center to be scaled across millions of homes and businesses using the power of artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Severe weather and climate catastrophes disrupt lives, displace families, and drive financial loss. By collaborating, the organizations expect to make significant headway in strengthening communities and the insurance industry with better climate risk insights.
Natural catastrophes are on the rise in frequency and severity. For example, annual losses from severe convective storms have more than doubled to an average $15B in the U.S. over the past decade. According to the Swiss Re Institute, four out of the five years with the largest catastrophic losses ever recorded fell within the past ten years. Similarly, the world has seen average annual losses from wildfires drastically increase to $20B in both 2017 and 2018. Traditional understanding of natural disasters has primarily focused on climatology and meteorology. Research by IBHS into the resilience of construction materials like roof shingles, vents, solar panels, decking materials, and landscaping to wind, hail, fire, and other climate-driven damages is crucial in developing a more comprehensive understanding of climate risk. New insights, driven by scaling such understanding against ZestyAI’s extensive historical loss data, will both inform future building testing and help facilitate the development and growth of AI-powered risk models for the insurance industry.
ZestyAI, with offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and Montreal, Canada, leverages artificial intelligence on unique data sources, such as aerial imagery, building permits and local weather stations to model the impact of natural disasters on real property.
“Having ZestyAI as an associate member expands the roles that IBHS can play in the insurance industry. By merging our research with artificial intelligence, we’ll be collaborating on tools that help policyholders and the public identify, reduce, and manage risk,” said Roy Wright, President and CEO of IBHS. “The majority of our members are property insurers who look to us for scientifically backed research and guidance to build stronger homes and businesses. Technology, such as artificial intelligence, is a crucial part of that equation.”
IBHS studies and evaluates residential and commercial construction materials under realistic re-creations of hazards like severe weather and wildfire. Studies into ember exposure, hailstorms, high wind, and rain have made a tangible impact on building standards and represent a wealth of important data.
“Our alliance with IBHS unlocks tremendous value for the property insurance industry,” added Attila Toth, Founder & CEO of ZestyAI. “By marrying cutting-edge building science from the lab with data science in the cloud we are creating next generation climate risk models that help insurance companies better protect the communities and businesses they serve.”
About the ZestyAI
ZestyAI leverages artificial intelligence to accurately model the impact of climate risk to each and every building in the world. We derive actionable insights from hundreds of billions of data points to improve property resiliency and to develop innovative digital insurance products. Our unique data and predictive models help protect homes and businesses from natural disasters and support thriving communities. ZestyAI was named Top 100 Most Innovative AI Company in the world by CB Insights in 2020 and Garter Cool Vendor in Insurance by Gartner Research in 2019. Visit ZestyAI for more information.
About the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS)
The IBHS mission is to conduct objective, scientific research to identify and promote effective actions that strengthen homes, businesses and communities against natural disasters and other causes of loss. Learn more about IBHS at IBHS.org.