What Can Insurance Brokers Learn from Shopify’s CEO About AI?

What if, before hiring someone new, you had to prove that AI couldn’t do the job?

That’s not a hypothetical question. It’s one of the ideas shared by Tobias Lütke, Shopify’s CEO, in a memo on leadership and company culture that went viral. And among all his reflections on artificial intelligence, one stood out to us.

Because the question isn’t just what AI can do. It’s also: what are people spending their time on that truly deserves their time?

What is Shopify, and what does it have to do with insurance brokers?

Shopify is one of the world’s leading e-commerce platforms, helping millions of businesses sell and operate online. So you might be wondering: what does any of this have to do with an insurance brokerage?

Lütke’s memo is interesting not just because of what it says about a technology company, but because of what it reveals about how work itself is changing.

The central idea is that AI should no longer be treated as an experimental tool or something reserved for certain teams. It should become part of the way people work. Before asking for more time, more resources, or even more people to solve a problem, teams should first ask what part of that work AI can already handle.

Insurance brokers operate in a very different industry from Shopify. But the underlying idea is highly transferable. The challenge isn’t simply to use AI to do the same work with a new tool. It’s to rethink which tasks truly require human time and which could be automated or accelerated.

The role of AI in insurance brokerages: not replacing people, but freeing up time

An insurance brokerage is not a software company. Its value lies in customer knowledge, advice, trust, and professional judgement. But that doesn’t mean every task performed within a brokerage necessarily requires a person.

Reading documents, searching for information in a policy, drafting a response, or following up on tasks are all necessary activities. But they don’t all require the same level of experience, judgement, or human interaction.

That’s where AI can start to change how an insurance brokerage operates: by automating or accelerating repetitive work so teams can focus on the areas where they add the most value.

How can insurance brokers use artificial intelligence?

At Foliume, we see that the brokerages getting the most value from AI often start by identifying where repetitive work is taking up the most time and which processes can be simplified or automated without removing human oversight.

Some practical examples of how AI can be applied in an insurance brokerage include:

Analysing policies and documents

AI can quickly extract relevant information such as coverages, exclusions, dates, or conditions, making it easier for brokers to find the information they need.

Preparing customer communications

AI can help generate email and message drafts adapted to each customer’s context, reducing the time needed to prepare routine communications.

Automating follow-ups and renewals

Reminders, renewals, and pending documentation are examples of processes that can be organised and automated to reduce manual work for the team.

Identifying cross-selling opportunities

AI can analyse available customer and portfolio information to identify potential needs and cross-selling opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed.

These are just some examples of how artificial intelligence can become part of an insurance brokerage’s day-to-day operations. The key is to first identify where manual work is concentrated and then determine which processes could be handled more efficiently.

The question insurance brokers should be asking about AI

Perhaps the question was never whether AI will replace people.

The more interesting question is: are we spending our time on the things our customers actually choose us for?

AI can read a policy, identify an opportunity, or draft a response. But trust, judgement, and the relationship a brokerage builds with its customers remain human.

That may be one of the most important lessons Shopify’s CEO’s message has for insurance brokerages: it’s not about having fewer people. It’s about giving people more time to focus on the things that truly create value.