The recent spate of accidents associated with the highly successful augmented reality game ‘Pokémon Go’ has provided a taste of the risks that these technologies can bring. In this article we discuss the various applications of augmented and virtual reality, and the emerging risks to health, personal and corporate data security and privacy, and organizational reputations.

Insurance companies have a big opportunity to build relevant products to help customers safeguard against these risks. But they need to move fast, as players from inside and outside of the sector are also eyeing this emerging market.