The excess and surplus lines market sells itself as the place where new insurance products get born. On artificial intelligence, however, one of the world’s largest delegated underwriting platforms is on wait-and-see mode.
"As stewards of the pen of insurance carrier capital, we're not necessarily going to be a first mover on some of those points," Steve Boyd (pictured), chief executive officer of Arrowhead Intermediaries, told Insurance Business.
Boyd described Arrowhead's current position on AI as "wait and see and gathering more information."
Arrowhead Intermediaries is Brown & Brown's specialty distribution platform, formed in August 2025 to house wholesale broker Bridge Specialty Group, Arrowhead Programs and Arrowhead Specialty. The combined operation placed more than $18 billion in premium in 2024 and exceeded $20 billion in 2025, with roughly two-thirds of that transacted on a delegated basis.
Boyd is not dismissive of AI's significance. He puts AI alongside data centre buildouts and broader US infrastructure development as areas where the specialty market will increasingly be asked to build solutions. He pointed to the E&S market's record as the source of product innovation; cyber among the examples of coverage that started in the non-admitted market before building scale.
The distinction he draws is between recognizing an exposure and being willing to put a carrier's pen behind it.
Where a carrier partner believes a risk can be properly underwritten, selected and managed, Boyd said Arrowhead could develop products or fold coverage into existing policies, including general liability. But that condition has not yet been met.
Arrowhead trades with more than 400 carriers and runs some 190 programs. Within that gorup, Boyd said he sees a “dichotomy of positions” on AI exposure, “from the conservative to the opportunist and everything in between.”
The hesitation lands as the growth that carried E&S through the last cycle visibly slows.
WSIA's 2026 Midyear Stamping Office Premium and Item Report recorded $47.6 billion across the 15 stamping office states, up 2.8% year over year, against 13.2% growth in the same period of 2025. Item filings rose 16.9% to 4.28 million.
Brokers must mind that gap: Transaction volume is climbing roughly six times faster than premium, which points to rate compression rather than fading demand.
Capacity is tightening at the same time. MGAs and other delegated underwriting authority enterprises produced $108.7 billion in direct premiums in 2025, up 17.8%, but AM Best also flagged insurers applying more rigorous due diligence before extending or renewing capacity.
This is the backdrop against which a novel AI product would have to find a carrier. Notably, AM Best itself lists AI-related exposures among the growth opportunities for surplus lines, alongside cyber and parametric solutions.
AI exposure is unlikely to arrive as a tidy new line of business. It cuts across general liability, cyber, technology and professional liability, and media and IP coverage. Amid that uncertainty, there are three questions that might be worth asking:
The same applies to the data centre and infrastructure work, where the constraint is less about novel wordings than about assembling property, construction, casualty and specialty capacity at the required limits.
Looking ahead, Boyd expects the E&S market’s ability to adapt products around those changing exposures to remain central to its role. “They’re solving the needs and challenges of customers today,” he said. “Part of what we’re trying to do is be that one-stop shop for their specialized insurance needs.”
