The Symposium on the Impact of Technological Developments on Insurance Law, jointly organised by the Turkish Insurance Association (TSB) and Altınbaş University, brought representatives of academia together with professionals from the insurance industry. The event also stood out as the first large-scale academic gathering of the Centre for Insurance and Commercial Law Research, founded in December 2025, and created a platform to evaluate how rapid technological change is reshaping insurance law.
Throughout the symposium, participants focused on the legal effects of artificial intelligence, big data, digitalisation, cyber risks and emerging insurance models. Discussions explored how these developments are transforming both the operational structure of the sector and the legal framework that governs it.
Technology Is Redefining the Scope of Insurance
In his opening remarks, TSB Chairman Ahmet Yaşar stated that technological progress has fundamentally altered the insurance ecosystem as well as the legal rules surrounding it. He explained that the industry is no longer limited to compensating losses after they occur; instead, it is increasingly evolving toward a model of preventive insurance that identifies risks in advance, generates alerts and supports precautionary action before damage arises.
Yaşar underlined that several issues now require renewed legal attention, including liability for decisions made by artificial intelligence, supervision of algorithmic systems, the use of large-scale data, embedded insurance applications, smart contracts and cyber threats. According to him, technological innovation and legal certainty must progress together so that the sector can adapt safely and effectively to this new landscape.
Embedded Insurance and Legal Research for the Future
Addressing the opportunities created by innovation, Yaşar noted that embedded insurance could play a major role in expanding insurance penetration and narrowing the protection gap. He also emphasised that the Insurance and Commercial Law Research Centre, established through the partnership of TSB and Altınbaş University, is expected to strengthen scientific study in this field by connecting academic knowledge with sectoral practice.
He added that the centre aims to produce research that may serve as a future reference point for legislation, judicial decisions and industry applications. This vision reflects a long-term effort to guide the development of insurance law in parallel with technological transformation.
Altınbaş University Rector Prof. Dr Cemal İbiş highlighted the value of university-industry cooperation in advancing technology-oriented legal scholarship. Meanwhile, Faculty of Law Dean Prof. Dr Sevtap Yokuş Veznedaroğlu stressed that insurance law must generate effective responses to the new categories of risk created by artificial intelligence, data protection concerns and digitalisation.
