Copyright Entrepreneur
Key Takeaways Mark Cuban is a serial entrepreneur worth $9.2 billion. Cuban’s advice for job-seekers is to work at small-to-medium-sized companies instead of large corporations, to allow their AI skills to shine. Cuban told his children to learn as much as they can about AI, especially about how to implement the technology at work. Serial entrepreneur Mark Cuban’s simple advice for job-seekers is to look for work at small companies rather than large corporations, especially if you have AI skills. Cuban, 67, believes that at a big firm, your ability to use AI is lost because everyone in the company’s well-staffed IT department knows how to use the technology. However, small-to-medium-sized companies usually “don’t have that depth” and often lack the resources and technical know-how to implement AI, Cuban told CNBC Make It earlier this week. They need help from people adept at using AI. “They are typically entrepreneurially driven and don’t have the flexibility to have people research things,” Cuban told the outlet. “Bringing on a new graduate to work on agentic AI projects is inexpensive for them and can get them immediate results.” Related: Mark Cuban Has 60 AI Apps on His Phone Working at a small or medium-sized business offers job-seekers with AI skills the opportunity to make a real impact and build their careers, according to Cuban. In a podcast episode of The Dumbest Guy In the Room, published on September 30, Cuban said that small companies “have to compete differently.” “Just like we saw with the early days of the internet, you hired young kids who were more comfortable with it, who learned it already and could come in and implement new things,” Cuban said on the podcast. Even large firms are hiring more college graduates specifically because they know how to use AI. Data analytics firm Databricks, which employs 8,000 people, is hiring three times as many recent graduates this year as last year because of their ability to use AI. Junior employees who make a “big impact” with AI are “getting paid a lot” at the firm, in some cases up to $1 million, Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi told The Wall Street Journal in August. Cuban tells his children that adopting AI is critical to companies staying in business. He has three children: Alexis, 22, Alyssa, 19, and Jake, 15. “I tell [my children], like I tell every young kid, there’s going to be two types of companies in this country: There’s going to be those who are great at AI and those who used to be in business,” Cuban said on the podcast. Related: This Is What Mark Cuban Is Telling His College-Aged Kids About Job Searching in the AI Era Cuban told his children to learn as much as they can about AI, especially about how to implement the technology at work. Most companies have yet to see returns from investing in AI. According to a report earlier this year from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 95% of companies have not yet seen a measurable return from AI investments.
