Mark Cuban: AI is a Tool, Not the Answer

At the SXSW conference in Austin, tech mogul Mark Cuban dropped some wisdom on how AI can give small businesses a competitive edge. He made it clear that AI isn't the magic bullet, but rather a helpful sidekick that can assist entrepreneurs in getting their businesses off the ground and answering questions as they go.

Cuban urged today's entrepreneurs to dive deep into AI, suggesting they should be "spending every waking minute learning about it" due to its vast potential.

"Things are changing so fast," he pointed out, noting the difference between established companies adopting AI and new startups just starting out.

"Starting a business is way easier now," Cuban said. "Remember when you needed $5,000 just to buy a PC? Now, with just a laptop and internet, you're good to go. Plus, you've got mentors at your fingertips, whether it's Perplexity, Anthropic Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini—it doesn't matter. You've got experts."

He acknowledged that AI isn't perfect, sometimes making mistakes or even "hallucinating," but he reminded the crowd that human mentors aren't infallible either.

Despite these hiccups, AI "experts" can fill in the gaps in your knowledge and help with other business tasks like research, emails, and sales calls.

But Cuban warned against becoming too dependent on AI. "AI is never the answer. AI is the tool. Whatever skills you have, you can use AI to amplify them," he emphasized.

This is especially relevant in creative industries, where AI is starting to dabble in areas like art and writing.

"Some creatives think AI will write all the scripts," Cuban noted. "But AI can't tell a good story from a bad one. You need to bring your own creativity to the table. AI can make videos, sure—I've done it myself. But they're still gonna be pretty bad."

"Whatever skills you have, AI can boost them. But if you don't use it, someone else will, and that might be the difference between staying ahead or falling behind," Cuban concluded.