Mark Cuban has advised young people looking to break into the artificial intelligence sector to focus less on working for big tech companies and more on developing skills to help smaller businesses integrate AI.
Speaking in a livestreamed interview on the Technology Business Programming Network (TBPN), the billionaire entrepreneur and former Shark Tank star said there is an enormous gap in the market for “AI integrators” – people who can adapt AI tools for practical use inside corporations.
“There are 33 million companies in this country,” Cuban noted, “and only a select few have dedicated AI budgets or keep AI experts on payroll. But these companies will still need to adapt for the AI era.”
Cuban compared today’s AI opportunity to the early days of the personal computer. “When I was 24, I was walking into companies who had never seen a PC before in their lives and explaining the value,” he said. By offering customised solutions, he was able to win business and launch his career. He argued that today’s students could do the same with AI, walking into businesses and showing them how the technology could improve operations.
“This is where kids coming out of college are really gonna have a unique opportunity,” Cuban explained. Students who spend their final years learning how to customise AI models or understand tools like Sora and Veo, he said, will be able to show businesses practical ways to harness AI.
TBPN co-host John Coogan agreed, recalling how he and his co-host Jordi Hays had hired two interns not because of their resumes but because “they just built products. Instead of saying, ‘Here’s what I can do,’ they just showed us. They took a day and just built something.”
Cuban cautioned that pursuing a traditional computer science path at one of the tech giants may no longer be the best route. Instead, he urged graduates to target smaller companies with limited AI knowledge but a pressing need to stay competitive.
“Go into any other company that has no idea about AI but needs it to compete,” he said. “There’ll be more jobs than people for a long, long time.”
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Mark Cuban urges young people to focus on AI integration skills for career success