AI can make anyone rich: Mark Cuban says it could turn ‘just one dude in a basement’ into a trillionaire
- Mark Cuban said artificial intelligence is only in its early stages and has the potential to create massive wealth—possibly even the world’s first trillionaire. He uses AI extensively in his own life and sees it as a powerful tool for improving productivity and creativity. Still, he acknowledged the risks and limitations of AI.
Some of the world’s largest and most successful tech companies were built at home: Steve Jobs founded Apple in the garage of his parents’ home, and Jeff Bezos also founded Amazon in his garage.
And thanks to artificial intelligence, the trend of developing blockbuster companies at home is sure to continue. Mark Cuban, the billionaire former principal owner of the Dallas Mavericks and Shark Tank star, recently said AI could help make the world’s first trillionaire.
“We haven’t seen the best or the craziest of what [AI is] going to be able to do,” Cuban told the High Performance podcast in an episode published June 29. “And not only do I think it’ll create a trillionaire, but it could be just one dude in the basement. That’s how crazy it could be.”
Take OpenAI, for example, which was formed in cofounder and president Greg Brockman’s living room in 2015. OpenAI is currently valued at $300 billion thanks to a $40 billion fund-raising deal in March. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, is worth at least $2 billion.
While that’s a far cry from AI creating the world’s first trillionaire, a September 2024 report by wealth-tracking service Informa Connect said Tesla CEO Elon Musk is on pace to become a trillionaire by 2027. Musk also has his own AI startup xAI, which has an estimated $80 billion valuation.
“There’s always something bigger and better that’s created by an innovative entrepreneur,” Cuban said. “But AI just dwarfs all that.”
How Mark Cuban uses AI
Cuban appears to firmly believe in the power of AI, and said we’re only in the “preseason” of what the technology can really do.
“As it becomes more advanced—and I’m not saying we’re going to get the Terminator— I’m not saying all of a sudden there’s going to be robots that are smarter than people, like the movie,” he told High Performance. “But we’ll find ways to make our lives better, more interesting, to work better, more effectively.”
Cuban also said he uses AI for nearly everything. He gave an example of how he uses it to track health metrics since he suffers from atrial fibrillation (“A-fib”).
He had to track when he was taking medications and working out, and used ChatGPT to help him record it. He also asked ChatGPT to let him know if there’s something he writes down that doesn’t seem right or that he should be concerned about.
“And damn if it doesn’t do it,” Cuban said. “Now you’ve got to be careful. It’s like talking to a friend who you think knows a lot about something. You’ve still got to be careful and talk to an expert, but being able to do the process and just having things identified that I might not have known to look for was insane—just insane.”
Cuban touches on one of the larger concerns when it comes to relying on AI for making important health- or life-related decisions. While ChatGPT has served as an accessible means for getting advice, and even therapy, experts have warned the technology still has limitations and makes mistakes.
To combat this, Cuban said, he challenges the AI tools he’s using with more questions and does his own research.
“There’s times when I don’t think the answer is what it should be, or I think it’s wrong. And I’ll say, ‘I don’t think you’re right. I need you to show me the evidence of how you got to this decision,’” he explained. “And it’s no different than talking to a friend or a work colleague and just calling bulls***.”
And on the hot topic of whether AI will take everyone’s jobs, Cuban said no.
“I can just go on all the s*** I’m trying with AI, and I’m not here to tell you that it’s going to replace everybody’s job. It won’t,” he predicted. “But the things that you like to do, if you’re creative, innovative, whatever it may be—or you’re just bored—it might end up being the best alternative to boredom.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com