Reports & Research

For insurers, accurate roof age data is essential. Yet, self-reported information often falls short.

Our research shows that 1 in 5 homeowners underreport roof age by an average of 8 years. These discrepancies create hidden risks that can impact underwriting, pricing, and overall portfolio performance.

How can insurers get a more accurate picture?

AI-driven insights provide 97% nationwide coverage, combining verified roof age with real-time condition data for a more comprehensive risk assessment.

Download our latest research for a breakdown of five critical insights that every insurer should know about roof age. 

Plus, get access to The Roof Age Advantage, an exclusive video that unveils how AI is setting a new standard for risk evaluation.

The California Department of Insurance (CDI) has introduced significant updates as part of its Sustainable Insurance Strategy. These new bulletins and draft regulations aim to accelerate regulatory approvals, embrace forward-looking models, and address critical reinsurance challenges.

But what do these changes mean for insurance carriers—and how can you prepare?

On January 29, 2025, we hosted a webinar, California’s Evolving Insurance Landscape: The Future of Insurance in the Golden State. 

Designed for Legal & Compliance professionals, Product Managers, Underwriters, Actuaries, and Risk & Innovation leaders, the discussion featured expert insights from:

• Michael Peterson, Deputy Commissioner of Climate & Sustainability, California Department of Insurance
• Karen Collins, VP, Property & Environmental, APCIA
• Bryan Rehor, Head of Regulatory Affairs, ZestyAI

Missed the live event but want to gain actionable insights from industry leaders at the forefront of California’s insurance evolution? Watch on demand now!

Regulatory Ready: How to Use AI Responsibly in Insurance Under the NAIC Bulletin

AI innovation is revolutionizing the insurance industry, but with these advancements come new regulatory challenges. To ensure responsible use of AI in insurance, it’s essential to stay informed about the latest regulatory frameworks.

Join us on November 13 at 11 PT / 2 ET for an exclusive webinar where we’ll break down how to navigate AI regulations under the NAIC Model Bulletin.

In this session, led by

• Kevin Gaffney, Vermont’s Commissioner of Financial Regulation and Chair of the NAIC’s Innovation & Tech Committee
• Bryan Rehor, Director of Regulatory Strategy at ZestyAI

you'll gain critical insights on how to align AI usage with evolving regulatory expectations.

 
What You’ll Learn

This webinar will provide practical takeaways that can help insurance professionals understand and comply with the latest AI standards:

• NAIC Model Bulletin Overview: Understand the core principles behind the NAIC’s AI regulation framework.
• Ensuring AI Compliance: Learn how to ensure responsible AI usage according to NAIC standards.
• Preparing for Regulatory Oversight: Get ready for closer state-level inspections and regulatory scrutiny.
• Vendor & Partner Compliance: Ensure that your partners meet regulatory requirements for transparency and fairness.
• Interactive Q&A: Take advantage of the opportunity to ask our experts about the complex world of AI and insurance compliance.

Meet the Experts

Kevin Gaffney
Vermont Commissioner of Financial Regulation

As an expert in AI regulations and the NAIC’s Model Bulletin, Commissioner Gaffney will provide key insights into how insurance companies can effectively implement responsible AI practices. His experience in overseeing state-level financial regulation will offer attendees a unique perspective on aligning AI innovation with compliance.

Bryan Rehor
Director of Regulatory Strategy at ZestyAI

Bryan Rehor will offer practical advice on maintaining AI compliance while harnessing the full potential of AI innovation. His expertise lies in guiding insurers through regulatory demands, ensuring that AI practices meet industry standards while avoiding common pitfalls.

Why You Should Attend

This webinar is tailored for professionals in insurance, particularly those in Executive, Legal, Compliance, Product Management, Underwriting, Actuarial, Risk, and Innovation roles.

Whether you’re navigating the complexities of AI regulation or preparing for the next steps in compliance, this session will provide actionable insights to help you move forward confidently.

Bonus Content

By registering for the webinar, you’ll receive our interactive guide:

“When Innovation & Regulation Meet: What Insurers Need to Know About AI and Regulatory Compliance.”

This resource will deepen your understanding of how to stay compliant while leveraging the power of AI in your insurance operations.

 
Don’t miss out!
Register for the webinar and ensure your spot in this exclusive event.

Facing Unprecedented Climate Challenges

The insurance industry is facing unprecedented challenges as natural catastrophic events like convective storms and wildfires become more frequent and severe. Traditional risk models, which often rely on broad territory-based segmentation, are struggling to keep up with these dynamic environmental threats. This has led to significant financial losses for insurers, who are now seeking more accurate and proactive methods to predict and manage climate risk.

AI Adoption in Property and Casualty Insurance

To shed light on the adoption of these cutting-edge techniques, ZestyAI conducted a survey of over 200 executives in the Property and Casualty (P&C) insurance sector. The survey reveals which AI-based models are gaining traction, what features insurers prioritize, and how transparency and regulatory concerns are shaping the industry. It also highlights the specific risks that are top of mind for carriers today.

AI Transforming Risk Assessment Models

The industry is turning to AI-based risk assessment models that offer a new level of precision. Companies like ZestyAI are leading the charge, providing tools that enable insurers to assess risk on a property-by-property basis, considering both individual property features and their interaction with surrounding environmental factors. These advanced models are transforming the way insurers underwrite policies, optimize portfolios, and align coverage with actual needs.

Dive deeper into our findings and explore the full report by clicking below.

Access the Report
 

The Rising Threat of Severe Convective Storms

The past few decades have seen a dramatic rise in the frequency and intensity of severe convective storms, resulting in significant financial repercussions for the insurance industry. In the last year alone, insured losses from severe convective storms reached an astounding $60 billion, marking an average annual growth rate of over 11% over the past twenty years. This alarming trend means a new approach is needed to manage and mitigate the escalating risks associated with severe weather events.

In the last year alone, insured losses from severe convective storms reached an astounding $60B, marking an average annual growth rate of over 11% over the past twenty years.

The traditional methods of risk assessment and management are no longer sufficient to cope with the increasing unpredictability and severity of these weather events. As the risk evolves, so must the solutions. Changing risks call for innovative solutions that leverage advanced technology and data analytics to enhance the accuracy and effectiveness of risk modeling.

A New Approach

ZestyAI’s Z-HAIL and Z-WIND models are specifically designed to address the challenges posed by severe convective storms. In a new retroactive case study, we explore the performance of these models on a carrier’s book of business over the prior five years, highlighting their effectiveness in delivering comprehensive coverage and precise risk segmentation.

Key findings from the case study include:

Comprehensive Coverage with High Accuracy

One of the standout results from the case study is the exceptional hit rate of 99.7% achieved by Z-HAIL and Z-WIND. This shows the models were able to accurately identify and assess the risk of severe convective storms for nearly all the properties in the carrier's portfolio.

Strong Risk Segmentation

The models demonstrated remarkable capability in risk segmentation, with Z-HAIL generating a lift of 62X and Z-WIND achieving a lift of 9.7X. This means that the models were able to effectively differentiate between high-risk and low-risk properties, even within small geographic areas such as a single zip code. Accurate risk segmentation allows insurers to tailor their policies and pricing strategies more precisely, leading to better management of their risk exposure.

Improved Combined Ratio

Implementing Z-HAIL and Z-WIND would significantly enhance a carrier’s combined ratio, calculated to be approximately 4 points in the first year. This improvement can be attributed to the models’ ability to optimize underwriting, rating, and the application of deductibles and Actual Cash Value (ACV) endorsement strategies. By accurately assessing the risk and applying appropriate measures, insurers can reduce their loss ratios and improve overall profitability.

The Need for Innovative Solutions

As severe convective storms continue to pose significant challenges to the insurance industry, adopting innovative solutions like ZestyAI’s severe convective storm models can help insurers better manage this escalating risk.

These models provide comprehensive coverage, accurate risk segmentation, and improved financial performance. By embracing advanced technology and data-driven analytics, insurers can navigate the complexities of severe weather events and safeguard their portfolios against future losses.

To learn more about the detailed findings and benefits

Download the full case study.

Are rising storm costs and inaccurate roof assessments impacting your bottom line?

Now available to stream, The Science of Roof Risk master class will equip you with the latest strategies and techniques to master roof risk assessment.

• Enhance your roof risk assessment by 60X
• Improve your combined ratio
• Reduce storm-related roof claims
• Strengthen new business selection

What we cover:

Your presenters, Ross Martin (VP, Risk Analytics) and Sam Fetchero (Head of Marketing) will share with you:

• The Problem of the Roof:  Uncover the underlying factors driving rising storm losses and why traditional risk assessment methods fall short.
• The Science Behind Predicting Losses: Explore key factors impacting  roof risk and loss prediction, including roof age, condition, complexity, and peril-specific models.
• Accuracy-focused Risk Models: Discover advanced modeling techniques that enhance predictive accuracy.
• Understanding Storm Climatology: Learn how storm climatology impacts roof risk and how to integrate these insights into your risk assessment strategies.
• Real-World Results: Witness a comparative analysis of these predictive factors using actual carrier data. Understand the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.
• Priorities of Leading P&C Insurers: 
  See what your peers asked with valuable insights to take back to your team.

Who Should Watch?

This video is ideal for Executives, Product Managers, Actuaries, Underwriters, and CAT Modelers committed to enhancing their roof risk assessment capabilities. 

Bonus Guide

As a bonus for watching, you'll receive a downloadable study on the latest roof risk assessment strategies: Preparing for the Storm: The Insurers Guide to Roof Risk.

Access Now

We’re excited to share that, for the second year in a row, ZestyAI has been named one of America’s best startup employers by Forbes. This recognition highlights our commitment to fostering an exceptional workplace culture while fostering a healthier insurance market. 

What It Means to Be a Top Startup Employer

Forbes, in partnership with research firms, evaluated over 20,000 U.S. startups based on three key factors: employer reputation, employee satisfaction, and business growth. Only 500 companies made the final cut, and we’re incredibly proud to be among them.

At ZestyAI, we believe that fostering a collaborative and supportive work environment isn’t just beneficial for our team—it’s essential to our mission. By enabling insurers to make more precise, data-driven decisions, we help drive resilience across communities, ultimately benefiting the homeowners and business owners they serve.

A Remote-First, People-First Culture

As a fully remote company, ZestyAI gives team members the flexibility to design a work-life balance that fits their needs. We go beyond traditional benefits by offering an unlimited time-off policy, which includes vacation and mental health days to support well-being and prevent burnout.

For team members across North America, our local hubs bring “Zesties” together for in-person events and networking, fostering connection and collaboration.

“Culture is not just a buzzword at ZestyAI—it’s the glue that holds our team together,” said Attila Toth, Founder and CEO of ZestyAI.

“Like a great sports team, we believe that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Our commitment to collaboration and well-being empowers us to deliver exceptional results.”

Industry Recognition

This honor joins a list of awards celebrating our work. ZestyAI has also been recognized by Inc. 5000 as one of America’s fastest-growing private companies, included in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, and named to the CB Insights Insurtech 50. We have also received an AI Breakthrough Award for Machine Learning and a PropertyCasualty360 Insurance Luminary award for Risk Management Innovation.

Interested in joining us? Check out our careers page!

ZestyAI, the leading provider of AI-powered property and climate risk analytics, today announced a strategic partnership with NEXT Insurance, a top commercial insurer specializing in small to medium-sized businesses.

Under this agreement, NEXT will adopt ZestyAI’s Z-PROPERTY™ and Z-FIRE™ models to enhance its underwriting processes with precise, property-level risk insights. Z-PROPERTY uses high-resolution aerial imagery and AI-powered analytics to assess roof condition, structural risks, and environmental hazards, helping insurers make more informed underwriting decisions.

Z-FIRE, adopted by over one-third of California’s insurance market, delivers highly accurate wildfire risk assessments based on 2,000+ historical wildfires, satellite imagery, and topographic data, ensuring that premiums reflect true wildfire exposure.

Lance Poole, Head of AI Underwriting at NEXT Insurance, said:

“ZestyAI’s peril-based risk models stood out for their ability to provide precise, actionable insights at scale, perfectly complementing our mission to help entrepreneurs thrive. This partnership strengthens our underwriting capabilities by delivering advanced data analytics that allows us to offer a faster, fully digital purchasing experience while maintaining best-in-class underwriting. By streamlining workflows and enhancing decision-making, we’re able to create innovative, tailored insurance solutions that meet the unique needs of small business owners, all while staying true to our commitment to simplicity and excellence."

Attila Toth, CEO of ZestyAI said:

"At ZestyAI, we are committed to bringing the power of AI-driven risk intelligence to the insurance industry. NEXT Insurance is redefining small business insurance with a fully digital experience, and we are proud to support that vision by providing precise, property-specific risk insights. With Z-PROPERTY and Z-FIRE, NEXT can enhance underwriting efficiency, optimize risk selection, and ultimately deliver smarter, more tailored coverage to small business owners across the country."

ZestyAI today announced its partnership with Safepoint Holdings, a regional property insurance group operating Safepoint, Cajun, and Manatee. Together, these platforms manage over 200,000 policyholders across Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama.

By leveraging ZestyAI’s advanced risk platform, Safepoint Holdings can analyze a high volume of properties with precision, enhancing underwriting accuracy and improving access to coverage for homeowners. Additionally, Safepoint Holdings is strengthening its loss cost control program by utilizing ZestyAI’s property insights to better predict and manage risk.

The partnership also enables Safepoint Holdings to optimize its inspection strategy, reducing costs and streamlining operations through high-resolution aerial imagery.

David Flitman, CEO of Safepoint Holdings. said:

“ZestyAI’s property insights have set a new benchmark for accuracy and innovation. The flexibility of their solutions and the ability to evaluate large insured portfolios in a matter of days provide tremendous value to us. This partnership will allow us to better serve our policyholders by proactively managing risk while making our operations more efficient.”

ZestyAI’s Advanced Risk Solutions Adopted by Safepoint:

• Z-PROPERTY Digital Roof™: Analyzes key drivers of roof-related risk—including material, shape, pitch, and condition—using AI-powered 3D modeling of high-resolution aerial imagery. These insights improve Safepoint’s risk selection process and optimize inspections by identifying properties requiring on-site evaluations, ensuring underwriting and renewals are both accurate and efficient.
• Z-PROPERTY Location Insights: Delivers detailed, property-specific risk insights for over 150 million properties across the U.S. Combining computer vision, machine learning, and high-resolution imagery,
  Location Insights provides critical risk insights on overhanging vegetation, lot debris, and more, enabling Safepoint uncover hidden risks, streamline workflows, and better align premiums to risk.
• Roof Age: Combines over 20 years of historical aerial imagery with verified building permit data to determine the accurate age of a roof with 92%+ accuracy. By eliminating reliance on self-reported or incomplete data, Safepoint can enhance pricing precision, reduce claims exposure, and make informed decisions about eligibility and coverage.

“By integrating our solutions, Safepoint Holdings can make better risk decisions, reduce costs, and expand coverage in states with high climate risk like Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama,” said Attila Toth, Founder and CEO of ZestyAI. “We’re excited to support Safepoint Holdings with the insights they need to serve their policyholders.”

This partnership comes at a pivotal time as Safepoint Holdings focuses on expanding its portfolio. With ZestyAI’s property-specific data, Safepoint Holdings can scale efficiently while maintaining reliable, cost-effective coverage for its policyholders. Safepoint Holdings operates with a combined policyholder surplus of approximately $150 million, with Safepoint Insurance Co. holding $70 million.

ZestyAI, the leader in AI-powered climate and property risk analytics, announced that Z-FIRE™, its advanced wildfire risk model, is filing-ready in California.

Z-FIRE can continue to be filed for rate segmentation and underwriting without further review under the Pre-Application Required Information Determination (PRID) process, which is currently focused on models that determine a catastrophe load factor.

Z-FIRE was last included in an approved California rate filing in 2024.

Z-FIRE leverages AI-driven analysis of over 2,000 historical wildfires, integrating satellite and aerial imagery, topography, and property-level characteristics to provide precise risk assessments. This approach is rooted in decades of science and experimentation by researchers, including the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS).

With coverage spanning nearly 100% of U.S. properties, Z-FIRE is already trusted by more than one-third of California’s insurance market, including the California FAIR Plan, the state's insurer of last resort, to refine underwriting, enhance risk segmentation, and ensure that premiums accurately reflect the true wildfire exposure and vulnerability of each individual structure.

"For years, leading insurers have trusted ZestyAI to manage wildfire exposure in California and refine pricing segmentation with precision," said Attila Toth, Founder and CEO of ZestyAI. "Now, insurers can continue to confidently integrate it into their rate filings."

They can trust that Z-FIRE meets the highest actuarial and scientific standards, ensuring transparency and reliability for regulators, carriers, and policyholders alike.

ZestyAI continuously validates Z-FIRE’s performance through post-event analyses, assessing how well its risk designations align with real-world fire impacts.

Following the recent Los Angeles wildfires, preliminary analysis indicates that Z-FIRE’s highest-risk ratings closely correspond with the hardest-hit areas, with 94% and 87% of the areas affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires rated as high or very high risk by the model.

The model also captured how property-specific characteristics influenced damage patterns, even within the same fire perimeter, reinforcing the importance of granular, structure-level insights in wildfire risk assessment. Z-FIRE’s data also reveals more than 1.5 million structures in California face a high or very high risk of being within a wildfire perimeter.

With granular, property-specific insights, Z-FIRE allows insurers to move beyond binary "insure or drop" decisions. Instead, they can work with policyholders to reduce vulnerability—whether through defensible space measures, fire-resistant roofing, or other mitigation efforts.

Since its adoption, Z-FIRE has helped insurers confidently write hundreds of thousands of policies that might have otherwise been non-renewed or declined. By incorporating vegetation density, roof materials, and structural characteristics, the model enhances risk segmentation, reduces volatility, and strengthens market stability.

ZestyAI has engaged with the California Department of Insurance (CDI) over the years, including discussions during the early regulatory considerations of Z-FIRE. After an independent actuarial review in 2020, multiple carrier rate and underwriting filings leveraging Z-FIRE have been approved by the CDI. Moreover, ZestyAI participated in seven CDI workshops in 2023-24 and co-hosted a January 2025 webinar on the new regulatory framework.

Artificial intelligence is reshaping the P&C insurance industry, offering new ways to streamline underwriting, enhance risk management, and navigate evolving regulations.

But as AI adoption accelerates, insurers must ensure they’re using these technologies effectively—balancing innovation with compliance.

Our latest guide explores the most impactful AI applications in insurance, including:

• AI-powered underwriting and predictive analytics
• How regulators are shaping the future of AI in insurance
• Best practices for integrating AI while ensuring fairness and transparency

As AI-driven tools become the new standard, insurers who adapt early will gain a competitive edge.

Download our free guide to leverage these innovations while staying aligned with evolving regulations.

For insurers, accurate roof age data is essential. Yet, self-reported information often falls short.

Our research shows that 1 in 5 homeowners underreport roof age by an average of 8 years. These discrepancies create hidden risks that can impact underwriting, pricing, and overall portfolio performance.

How can insurers get a more accurate picture?

AI-driven insights provide 97% nationwide coverage, combining verified roof age with real-time condition data for a more comprehensive risk assessment.

Download our latest research for a breakdown of five critical insights that every insurer should know about roof age. 

Plus, get access to The Roof Age Advantage, an exclusive video that unveils how AI is setting a new standard for risk evaluation.