How AI is transforming the art trade and art insurance

In addition to AI-powered analysis, which makes the authentication of artworks considerably more efficient, artificial intelligence also helps to model damage scenarios, facilitate risk assessments and optimise transport and logistics processes. However, there are other areas in which artificial intelligence is increasingly influencing the art trade and art insurance: valuation and documentation. These fields are of particular importance to art insurers, as the insurability of an object is directly linked to the availability of reliable valuation and documentation.

More precise market and price analyses

Recommendation algorithms, such as those that have been in use on digital art trading platforms for years, are becoming significantly more precise. A side effect of this increasing accuracy is the early identification of market trends. AI has the potential to identify which artists, media or themes are attracting increased attention, and can place these developments within a broader market context.

The basis for this is the ability to evaluate and link large volumes of historical sales data, auction results, exhibition participations and media coverage within a short timeframe. It can map market movements in a comprehensible manner, contextualise price developments and generate forecasts whilst taking various influencing factors into account. When combined with further market data, this yields more robust fair-value analyses that accelerate the valuation process. This not only makes it easier for collectors and advisors to assess realistic price levels, but also offers new potential for art insurers in determining insurance values. Its significance remains limited where reliable comparative data is lacking, such as in the case of very emerging artistic positions or rarely traded groups of works.

Improved documentation

In addition to valuation, AI also helps to close structural gaps in the documentation of artworks. Not only in the art market, but also in the context of museums and archives, cataloguing processes can be made more efficient by having AI consolidate existing information from image, text and data sources and present it in a structured format. Work details, provenance, condition reports and exhibition histories can thus be documented more quickly and consistently. This improved data situation has a direct impact on art insurance. It is often incomplete documentation that leads to uncertainties in valuation or claims settlement in the event of a loss. For insurers, this significantly increases risk transparency.

AI as a complement

For art insurance, AI thus primarily opens up new possibilities for improving valuation bases, closing gaps in documentation and making risks more transparent. Despite these advances, human expertise remains indispensable. AI can make processes more efficient. Its strength lies in supporting analytical and documentary processes, not in replacing curatorial or underwriting expertise.

Text: Dr. Louisa Krämer-Weidenhaupt, Art Expert and Underwriter at ERGO Versicherung AG