For founders contemplating their next move, Kevin O’Leary has a multi-trillion dollar idea. The Shark Tank host and serial entrepreneur says that if he was launching a new company today, he would be figuring out how to apply artificial intelligence to the insurance markets.
While getting into a highly regulated industry such as insurance may not sound like the most exciting venture for a startup, O’Leary says this sector is ripe for innovation and represents the biggest opportunity for entrepreneurs to implement AI right now. Collectively in the U.S., net premiums for insurance totaled $1.7 trillion in 2024, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
“I don’t care how old you are, it’s a hell of an opportunity to go into an insurance market,” says O’Leary, who spoke with Inc. on the campus of Harvard Business School after delivering some of his trademark blunt feedback to a dozen aspiring entrepreneurs competing for a $100,000 prize in an on-campus pitch competition. “This cohort is all going to graduate into an AI-driven economy,” says O’Leary. He suggested that they think about whether they could construct an AI tool that would make the more than 5,000 insurers more efficient operators—a considerable opportunity.
Insurance companies, such as Chubb, collect and manage massive amounts of information about customers’ personal lives, health history, financial situation, past claims, and premiums. Those data sets allow insurance companies to assess and underwrite risk for individuals and businesses, calculate policy prices, manage claims, and detect fraud. Feeding those troves of high-quality data into AI models will make the process much more efficient and better, explains O’Leary.
“I prefer to see a business model that has merit of the productivity or margin enhancement that AI can provide,” he says. “That works in the insurance industry.”
Ali Donaldson
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