US Investor Kevin O’Leary: AI Essential for Customer Acquisition Cost Reduction and US Competitiveness
In an interview with Cointelegraph, investor and television personality Kevin O’Leary has stated that artificial intelligence (AI) significantly reduces the cost of acquiring new customers and that any company ignoring AI does not merit investment.
Speaking on the rising costs of customer acquisition, O’Leary asserted that “new-customer acquisition, primarily done through content creation and multimedia marketing, has been ‘the highest cost increase in the last 36 months.'” He reported that the cost of creating this content has “more than quadrupled” in some cases, reaching up to a 10x increase.
O’Leary highlighted AI’s efficiency, stating the technology has decreased content production costs by up to 65%. “My first question is, who is running your AI program? What stacks are you on? What tools are you using, and who is doing your social media?” he remarked.
Geopolitical Importance and US Leadership in AI
Beyond business benefits, O’Leary emphasized the geographical significance of AI and called for the US to maintain its leadership. He referred to the ongoing AI competition between the US and China, comparing it to a technological “cold war.”
“It’s the old analogy from the gold days hundreds of years ago. The guys who made the most money with the least risk sold the jeans and the picks and shovels,” O’Leary explained in reference to owning the infrastructure underpinning AI, such as the chips itself and the software.
Investment in Bitzero
As a shareholder in Bitzero, a Bitcoin mining and high-performance computing company operating data centers across Norway, Finland, and North Dakota, O’Leary sees its infrastructure-based model as strategically advantageous, more resilient and profitable than engaging directly with the “customer growth” businesses AI and Bitcoin serve.
AI Chip Export Controls Limit US Competition
In interpreting recent US export controls on advanced AI chips and the broader sanctions strategy, O’Leary stated such actions paradoxically hinder the US goal of leadership. Limiting access to AI chips produced by US companies allows competing nations to develop competing architectures, accelerating alternative approaches to AI development.
“By limiting the use of AI chips built by US companies through sanctions and punitive trade policies, it allows competing nations to have their chipsets and architectures proliferate, and steer AI development,” O’Leary summed up.
