On a recent episode of the “Aspire With Emma Grede” podcast, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban said that he thinks every business owner should be learning how to use AI by now, or at least “just asking it questions” — and if you aren’t, your business could be in trouble.
Grede, the co-founder of Skims and CEO of Good American, asked Cuban what he’d say to people who “don’t want any more technology” in their lives. He responded that it would be like saying no to WiFi and instead sticking to dial-up Internet service.
Related: Emma Grede Dropped Out of School at 16. Now the Skims Boss Runs a $4 Billion Empire.
“That’s like [a business] saying back in the day, ‘I don’t need to use a PC. I don’t need to use the internet. I don’t need a cell phone or WiFi,'” he said. “Those businesses died. Done.”
Cuban and Grede previously worked together on two seasons of “Shark Tank.”
When reflecting on the early days of technology, Cuban said that when he was building his business, “there was new software every day, the PCs and the networks were getting faster, and bandwidth was getting faster. And AI is the same way now.” He compared the current AI rush to the invention of the personal computer.
And according to what Grede told Fortune (that Cuban has 60 AI apps on his phone), he’s clearly at the forefront.
“We really delved into AI, [and he] gave me a new urgency around how I use AI,” Grede told the outlet. “He gave me a kick.”
On the podcast, Cuban said that if you want to be an entrepreneur, you need to start “playing” with AI to get a sense of how it works. Cuban noted that the technology can help businesses streamline everything from content creation to slide decks to financial reports.
“Learn how to prompt; it becomes like a mentor,” Cuban said. “It becomes like having an entire staff of a thousand business professors.”
“We’re in a whole new world,” he added.
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