Kevin O'Leary says he made an 'AI Kevin' — and that his wife soon won't be able to tell the difference

Kevin O'Leary said that he's training "AI Kevin" to talk and act like him. Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images 2026-03-30T17:02:01.242Z Share Copy link Email Facebook WhatsApp X LinkedIn Bluesky Threads lighning bolt icon An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.

Impact Link Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. "Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary said that he's training an "AI Kevin" to talk and act like him. "My wife can still discern the difference on a screen, but in about a month she won't be able to," he said on "The Iced Coffee Hour." O'Leary said that AI still lacks creativity, referencing student essays full of "slop" and "formulaic" AI music. AI-generated summary Summaries are generated by an AI model trained on Business Insider's articles. AI may make mistakes or provide inaccurate/incomplete information. We're unable to load that answer right now. Please try again. What is "AI slop" in student essays? What are AI's current limitations? How does AI learn from human voices? How can AI improve creativity? Who else is creating AI clones? Kevin O'Leary says there are two Mr. Wonderfuls, and one isn't human. Loading audio narration... When the "Iced Coffee Hour" hosts asked O'Leary whether AI could replace him, he said that it already was. The "Shark Tank" investor said that he's training an AI version of himself, called "AI Kevin," to talk and act like him."My wife can still discern the difference on a screen, but in about a month she won't be able to," O'Leary said. "The only thing now that is the slight tell is the voice intonation." He didn't specify which AI model he was using, but referenced a new version that spends three days listening to the user's voice. In three days, O'Leary said he will cycle through everything from "wake up voice" to "coffee voice" to "drinking wine voice."The tool will then apply its learnings to the "Kevin O'Leary agent." He called the agent "incredible," and said that he was starting to use it. Every time Henry publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! Stay connected to Henry and get more of their work as it publishes. Sign up By clicking "Sign up", you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. One of the podcast hosts asked: Can AI Kevin replace Mr. Wonderful's work hours? Could it, for example, take his phone calls?O'Leary responded that the theory was "way off." He told a story of a recent early-morning bike ride, where he got an idea for how to elevate his Kobe Bryant trading card. He called LVMH's Nicole Weiss. "We just got in a group chat, and we designed this thing based on how that card looks, and which diamonds should be where," O'Leary said. "I thought to myself: Would AI ever do that? Probably not."Kevin O’Leary wore his $12,930,000 Kobe x Jordan card to the Oscars to honor Kobe…“I’ll wear that at the Oscars… Because Kobe should be back in LA” pic.twitter.com/Glo4Ptid7v— The Iced Coffee Hour (@TheICHpodcast) March 29, 2026 While AI is good at implementation, O'Leary said, the human's thinking process is so random that it is still needed for pure innovation. He listed off examples of AI's lack of creativity. O'Leary can spot "AI slop" in student essay submissions, he said, and found AI music to sound "formulaic."O'Leary joins a handful of other investors and executives building their own AI clones. In March, Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio invited his X followers to have a conversation with Digital Ray. Business Insider tested it out. Digital Ray said that he liked Taylor Swift concerts and hunting big game in Africa.