At the Convergence AI Dallas business conference, Mark Cuban warned that “if you’re not using one of the large language models … you’re falling way behind.”
Ron Jenkins/AP
Roughly three years after the transformational artificial intelligence bot ChatGPT first commanded the world’s attention, one of Dallas’ most famous — and famously opinionated — entrepreneurs has some blunt advice for North Texas’ business community.
At an event in Irving on Tuesday, Mark Cuban warned that “if you’re not using one of the large language models … you’re falling way behind.” Cuban went on to draw an analogy between AI and other recent tech innovations, including personal computers and the internet, which also initially drew skepticism before becoming widely adopted.
Article continues below this ad
The billionaire investor even recounted being called “an idiot” after founding Broadcast.com, the internet radio streaming he took over in the late 1990s and went on to sell to Yahoo for more than $5 billion.
“There was always a group of people that were first, and always a group of people that were naysayers,” he continued. “And the people that were first typically ended up getting further ahead. I think it’s the same with AI today.”
The wealthy Shark Tank star and former Dallas Mavericks majority owner made the comments during Convergence AI Dallas, a two-day AI and business conference hosted by the Dallas Regional Chamber at the Irving Convention Center. The event sold out, with around 1,200 registered guests, Dana Jennings, a DRC executive, told The Dallas Morning News.
Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.
Add Preferred Source
The high-energy confab included multiple panels and talks — topics included AI and Y’all Street, AI’s impact on the workforce and federal government regulation — as well as promotional booths and technical demonstrations, with sponsors that ranged from Accenture and Aecom to the T.D. Jakes Foundation and SMU’s new Spears Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership.
Article continues below this ad
Now in its third year, the event’s high attendance also hinted at the growing popularity of AI. A couple years ago, recalled Dave Evans, a managing partner at Sentiero Advisors, a Dallas-based AI-focused venture capital fund, it felt impossible to walk a few feet at the event without bumping into someone he already knew.
But this year, Evans told The News, he felt like every face was new.
“It’s surprising, but it’s also awesome,” he said. “We’ve grown beyond being that more kind of cottage group of ‘AI people,’ if you will, and it’s kind of expanded out.”
‘A great democratizer’
Cuban’s talk marked the event’s keynote address. The entrepreneur was interviewed by Alex Kantrowitz, a veteran business journalist and CNBC contributor who founded Big Technology, a tech-focused newsletter.
Article continues below this ad
Early in the talk, Kantrowitz needled Cuban about a recent comment the businessman made that seemed to disparage AI’s capabilities by comparing it to “a hungover intern.” But Cuban sought to reframe that comment, clarifying he was only referring to the more narrow capabilities of AI agents, the personalized systems people can now build to interact with AI on their behalf.
“When you put together an agent … it does all the tedious work that you don’t want to do, and all the stuff that you hope to get to at some point but you just don’t have the time to get to,” Cuban said. “You can let the [human] intern stay out later, come to work later, because this agent’s going to work 24-7.”
Later in the talk, Cuban, who revealed that he has his own AI agent hooked up in his car, emphasized that he saw AI as “a great democratizer of knowledge” — with a key divergence emerging between people who were using the technology to enhance their own knowledge and productivity and those who were using it to essentially avoid doing work.
“Those people who are using AI to learn, those people who are curious and just want to keep on learning more — AI is phenomenal. You will always have an edge,” he said. “If you’re just using it so you don’t have to do the work and it’s your junk intern, you’re going to struggle.”
Article continues below this ad
By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy.
Cuban also extended the divergence idea to the corporate world, arguing that firms that don’t embrace AI were essentially condemning themselves to irrelevance. “When it’s all said and done over the next three years, there’s going to be two types of companies,” he said. “Those who are great at AI, and those who are out of business.”
“If the CEO doesn’t understand that,” Cuban said at another point, “she’s not going to be the CEO very long. And if they still keep that CEO who’s not using AI to get ahead, you tell me so I can start a company to kick their ass.”
The line drew laughs and then loud applause.