Whether you’re an entry-level employee or a CEO, you probably need to understand the internet and mobile technology to succeed. Next on that list, says Mark Cuban: artificial intelligence.
On a recent episode of “The Colin Cowherd Podcast,” hosted by Fox Sports anchor Colin Cowherd, the billionaire – whose first venture was a computer consulting service – said artificial intelligence is already beginning to take over the business world. Soon, it’ll become as essential to businesses as personal laptops and smartphones, he said.
“There’s two types of companies: those who are great at AI and everybody else,” Cuban said. “And you don’t necessarily have to be great at AI to start a company, but at some point, you’re going to have to understand it. It’s just like the early days of PCs. You didn’t have to be good at PCs, but it helped. Then networks, then the internet, then mobile.”
Cuban’s comments echoed a talk he gave at the 2017 SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas, when he asserted that the world’s first trillionaire would be an AI entrepreneur. He’s also committed millions of dollars to the Mark Cuban Foundation’s Intro to AI Bootcamps program, which he founded in 2019 to teach young people about AI for free.
The bootcamps program aims to increase AI literacy among underserved high school students, at least partially in the name of maintaining global competitiveness. Last year, Cuban noted on Twitter that five of the world’s largest companies – Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft – all similarly prioritized AI.
“The companies that have harnessed AI the best are the companies dominating,” Cuban wrote. “It’s the foundation of how I invest in stocks these days.”
If you want to see an effective AI in action, Cuban said on the podcast, look no further than TikTok. The platform’s mastery of artificial intelligence is why so many users – including Cuban and his children – are hooked, he noted.
“The brilliance of TikTok – it’s all artificial intelligence,” Cuban said. “[It] uses AI to present the things you’re interested in.”
Cuban, who also owns the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, said TikTok-like platforms even have the capacity to save industries by tailoring content to individual users’ interests and attention spans.
“If my son and I like Luka Doncic’s dunks, NBA stuff and dogs, [we’re] going to get a stream of that,” Cuban said. “That’s the future of sports media, because we’re not going to get our 16-year-old or 12-year-old or 15-year-old to sit for a full game.”
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