The Insura-Preneur Podcast

AI has jumped the shark.

It is not a future technology conversation anymore. It is an acting agent, making real decisions, sometimes decisions nobody authorized. Michael Jans lays out the evidence from Q3 2026 and what it means for your agency right now.

Inside the episode:

→ A submissions vendor processing unstructured business at 87% accuracy

→ A Canadian insurer issuing real-time life insurance decisions up to $5M with no telein...

AI vendors are sending bots into carrier portals right now — using the same shared login credentials your team has always used to sign in. The carriers are the ones on the hook for whatever those bots touch, and it's already showing up as regulatory risk: New York alone has fined insurers millions of dollars over cybersecurity failures under its Part 500 rules.

In this episode of AI for the IA, Michael sits down with Alvito V...

This week, underwriting took a visible step from AI-assisted toward AI-decided, and Michael Jans breaks down four vendor moves that all point the same direction.

Sixfold's AI Underwriter describes itself as "a new kind of colleague that arrives with underwriting expertise, learns each carrier's appetite, never forgets a decision, and knows the best action on every submission" — built as human-in-the-loop with configurable aut...

Fourteen AI-in-insurance signals landed in the past 60 days, and Michael Jans reads them as two doorways an independent-agency principal can walk through this week. Colorado's AI compliance window just closed for insurers, with carriers now in active documentation mode and 11 more states watching via the NAIC 12-state pilot. ISO CG 40 47 and CG 40 48 endorsements have been carving AI-related bodily injury, property damage, and adve...

Three AI moves landed in insurance inside a two-week window: Mount launched May 22 as a new AI-agent liability carrier, Klaimee positioned as the first AI-agent E&O in early May, and Kinro launched June 21 as the first autonomous brokerage — licensed in 30 states, appointed with 15 carriers, in three weeks. The Evident AI Index just clocked agentic AI in insurer use cases moving from 1-in-20 to 1-in-4 in six months. Corgi...

Last month, State Farm flew 19,000 sales agents to Allegiant Stadium and the CEO, Jon Farney, told them their contracts were being torn up. Pink performed. Jimmy Fallon ran a sing-along. Then the bombshell. New comp. New benchmarks. A buyout window with a hard September deadline. And underneath all of it, the AI productivity math the carrier ran on its own channel.

Michael Jans calls it the most important U.S. insurance and AI stor...

Artificial Intelligence is no longer a future issue.

It's now an insurance issue.

In this episode, Michael Jans reveals a little-known development that could have major implications for commercial insurance agencies and their clients: new AI-related endorsements and exclusions that are quietly appearing in the marketplace.

You'll discover:

• What changed on January 1, 2026
• The AI endorsements most agencies haven't reviewed
• Why c...

In this episode of AI for IA, Michael Jans breaks down what may become the defining strategic divide in the independent insurance industry:

the difference between agencies that casually “experiment” with AI…

and agencies that systematically build growth, efficiency, governance, and valuation advantage around it.

Michael shares:

• Why AI adoption in the industry is still shockingly immature
• The hidden risks of ...

Most agencies think growth problems start with lead generation.

But what if the real bottleneck is hidden inside renewal servicing?

In this episode, Michael Jans sits down with Colby Tunick of Refocus AI to explore how AI is beginning to compress renewal workflows from 90 minutes to 15 — and why that shift could fundamentally change staffing, margins, retention, and valuation inside the independent agency channel.

A conversat...

Most agencies are using AI the wrong way.

Not as execution… but as assistance.

In this episode, Michael speaks with Isaiah Hall, co-founder of Circle, about a new approach:

AI that can complete insurance workflows end-to-end.

From a single client request, it can:

• Access your AMS
• Navigate carrier portals
• Retrieve documents
• Draft the response

All with human review at the final step.

The real question isn’t the...

This quarter changed everything.

In this solo episode, Michael Jans breaks down the most important AI developments from Q1 2026—and what they mean for independent insurance agencies right now.

This is not theory. This is signal.

A recent report from Bank of America Global Research identified $15 billion in commissions at risk, with AI capable of performing a meaningful portion of work currently handled by 20,000–30,000 ...

AI is no longer a tool in the insurance industry—it’s becoming the operating system.

In this episode, Michael sits down with Samuel Belanger-Lamoureux, Co-Founder of Cemiar, one of Canada’s fastest-growing insurtech firms, to explore what’s really happening beneath the surface of “AI adoption.”

What emerges is not a conversation about tools—but about a fundamental restructuring of how agenc...

In this episode, Michael Jans sits down with Mehdi Lhadj, CEO of Floapi, to explore what AI is actually doing inside insurance agencies today—not theory, not hype, but real operational impact.

We break down how agencies are:

• Turning 15-minute workflows into 30-second automations
• Reducing operational costs by up to 75%
• Automating commercial billing, renewal shopping, and client communications
• Increasing compliance while r...

AI is flooding the insurance industry.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Most agencies are using it wrong.

In this episode, Michael Jans speaks with Daniel Yoo, CEO of FinMate AI, about one of the most important strategic decisions facing agency leaders today:

👉 Should you buy AI tools… or build AI into your agency?

You’ll discover:

• Why off-the-shelf AI is easy—but limited
• When customization becomes...

AI is no longer optional in the insurance agency world.

But neither is risk.

In this solo episode, Michael Jans steps away from vendor interviews to deliver a critical message every agency principal needs to hear—right now.

Because while one side of the industry is shouting “Do it or die,” another is warning “Don’t touch it.”

And the truth?

They’re both right.

They’re just talking abo...

Most insurance agencies don’t have a technology problem.

They have a trust problem.

In this episode, Michael sits down with Steve Pieroway, author of the 2026 InsurTech Trust Index, to unpack one of the most important (and overlooked) dynamics in the industry today:

👉 Agents trust the technology…

👉 But they don’t trust the vendors selling it

And that gap is costing agencies time, money, and momentum.

Inside thi...

AI could drive 3X productivity gains in white-collar industries within 12–18 months.

That includes insurance.

Ben Horowitz — co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz — is signaling a structural shift, not incremental change.

Here’s the real issue for independent agencies:

If productivity triples…

Will you convert that capacity into growth?

Or will it eventually convert into pressure — on payroll, margi...

LinkedIn is no longer optional for commercial insurance agencies.

But most agents are using it tactically — not strategically.

In this episode, I sit down with Anthony Blatner to break down:

• Why LinkedIn is the dominant platform for commercial lines
• The right sequence: organic → direct messaging → paid ads
• Why text-only posts often outperform polished marketing graphics
• How LinkedIn newsletters quietly compound authority
...

What do a pair of socks, a red envelope, and artificial intelligence have in common?

In this refreshingly candid episode, Michael Jans returns from vacation with bold clarity and delivers a straight-shooting message to independent agency leaders: AI is here. And if you don’t have a strategy, you’re already behind.

From stories that date back to Agency Revolution’s early days to real-time warnings about cold outrea...