One of the tech world’s most outspoken voices, Mark Cuban has always been happy to share his opinions. This candidness served him well as a judge on Shark Tank, where he spent years critiquing startup ideas.
Since leaving the show, Cuban has mostly been busy with Cost Plus Drugs, his public benefit corporation that offers medications at extremely low prices to consumers who need them. But he’s also kept busy sharing his takes on many pressing topics on social media, maintaining a presence both on X and Bluesky.
Recently, though, Cuban took the stage South by Southwest (SXSW), Austin, Texas’ yearly celebration of the convergence of tech and culture. He shared some opinions on technology, highlighting what he believes entrepreneurs should focus on.
Like many tech leaders, Cuban is closely watching the fast-growing world of artificial intelligence (AI). And he thinks he knows how it can be best utilized.
Cuban sees a significant opportunity ahead, but only for those who play it right
As someone who has spent decades building and scaling successful tech companies, Cuban knows something about how the industry evolves. And at SXSW, he didn’t hold back, laying out exactly where he believes the industry will go from here.
While addressing the cheering crowd, Cuban noted that the tech sector is shifting so fast that it can be difficult to keep up. He acknowledged that incorporating AI into an established business presents different challenges than building a new company around it.
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Nevertheless, Cuban highlighted the importance of AI and of understanding it. He advised modern entrepreneurs, both established and aspiring, to spend “every waking minute learning about AI” to properly harness its potential, stating that if he were in his teens or twenties, he would be doing exactly that.
He’s clearly still focused on learning about it, though, as Cuban added that he frequently listens to podcasts about AI.
That said, he also made it absolutely clear that while he sees it as an extremely important transformational technology, he doesn’t believe that anyone should rely on it completely. “AI is never the answer,” Cuban stated. “AI is the tool. Whatever skills you have, you can use AI to amplify them.”
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While noting the benefits that AI can provide, Cuban highlighted the expertise that chatbots can bring to users. He named AI models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude, as well as Perplexity and Google GOOGL Gemini, as examples of AI tools that can provide significant expertise.