Vidal and Alon Huri: AI Will Reshape Services, Jobs, and Israel’s Startup Edge
In a conversation during Google and Calcalist’s AI Week, Calcalist’s Elihay Vidal spoke with Alon Huri, managing partner at Team8 and co-founder of NEXT Insurance, about how AI is quietly changing everyday life and the startup landscape. Huri said he is now looking for C2B and B2SMB opportunities, especially companies built around service businesses that used to rely on human expertise, such as customs brokers and mortgage advisers. His view is that products should begin with human service, capture the data, and let AI learn until it becomes as good as, or better than, the person.
Asked whether AI will eventually replace many workers, Huri rejected dystopian predictions that it will wipe out white-collar and later blue-collar jobs. He argued that AI will change work, moving people from one role to another, just as electricity eliminated some professions while creating many more. He said AI already has major advantages in service work because it never gets tired, bored, or physically unwell, and it can keep learning from mistakes.
On what creates a real moat for startups today, Huri said the advantage is no longer just in building products, since code can be written by anyone. Instead, he pointed to go-to-market execution and regulation. Big companies such as Google and Meta have strong teams and ecosystems, but Israel, he said, is well positioned to build companies. The harder part remains selling, while entering heavily regulated markets can still provide a meaningful edge.
For young people entering the workforce, Huri recommended spending an hour a day learning AI, even outside their field, including how to use agentic systems and learn with AI. He warned that fields like medicine, law, and accounting are increasingly difficult to study and later practice in their traditional form, but said their combination with AI creates opportunities. He also urged the state to do everything possible to make new startups choose Israel, adopt Delaware-style rules, attract major data centers and scientists, and turn the country into an “AI nation” with long-term, Ben-Gurion-style vision.
