Mark Cuban Says This Is the Biggest Career Blunder You Can Make Right Now

Mark Cuban isn't afraid to speak his mind about artificial intelligence and its impact on future jobs. The billionaire investor and entrepreneur views AI tooling positively, though he believes there's potential downside to the technology as well. For Cuban, it all comes down to how people are using the technology, and getting that right could be one of the smarter moves you make if you're trying to get ahead financially.

Here is what Mark Cuban thinks is the biggest career mistake you can make with AI right now, and how to avoid it.

Mark Cuban says AI is already dividing workers into winners and losers

Cuban sees the upside of AI tools, but he also sees the downsides. Speaking at the Big Technology Podcast at the Dallas Regional Chamber's Convergence AI event, he explained where he sees the division.

"I think right now we're bifurcating into two types of ways or two types of people that use AI — people who use AI so they don't have to learn anything and people who use AI so they can learn everything," Cuban said.

Having AI in your pocket gives you a supercharger, so you can learn about anything you want. Much like the internet expanded access to information, so does AI. However, people also use the technology to cut corners and do less work, which he sees as highly problematic.

You can see the split in how someone handles a task they don't fully understand. Hand it straight to a chatbot, ship whatever comes back, and the skill underneath never forms. A few months of that, and you're stuck depending on a tool you can't understand.

The biggest AI mistake Cuban says workers make

It comes down to whether or not you're using the AI to speed up your work and become more productive, or you're using it to double down on your laziness.

"If you're just using it just so you don't have to do the work and it's your drunk intern, you're going to struggle," Cuban explained.

Your brain undergoes cognitive changes when you allow LLMs to do the thinking for you. Like all things in the human body, if you don't use it, you lose it. Giving your brain demanding cognitive tasks boosts your ability, while using AI tools to do it for you reduces your brain's ability to focus and do things.

That has big implications in the business world, which is why Cuban is so vocal about the dividing line between good and bad AI usage.

Could AI make workers less capable over time?

Based on preliminary research conducted by Vivienne Ming at the Possibility Institute, yes, it's possible to experience a loss of cognitive ability through AI usage. In her view, the research indicates that people are offloading their thinking to the machine, resulting in what she calls a "substitution" of cognitive ability.

So, workers have to actively resist the temptation to take shortcuts with AI if they want to retain their thinking skills. This fits right in with what Cuban sees in the new business landscape. You have to use AI to boost your productivity without losing your brainpower.

Cuban's advice for using AI without losing your edge

Cuban's answer to the growing issue doesn't involve backing off on the tool. He wants you on it constantly, just without letting it run the thinking.

His opinion is that anyone who pairs real fluency with curiosity and judgment will always have work, because "AI doesn't know the consequences of its actions." A model will happily draft and summarize for you, making you an incredibly productive employee. Use it beyond that, and you risk losing yourself in the machine.

So, spend a week catching yourself every time you open an AI tool, and ask what it's really doing at that moment: speeding up your understanding, or letting you skip something. In a recent study on the impact of generative AI on critical thinking, the workers who kept their edge were those who verified "outputs against external sources and their own expertise," especially on work that had to be accurate, rather than taking the first answer at face value.

Bottom line

The tools themselves have never been the issue, as with any other technological advancement. It has always been workers seeking to cut corners and failing to put in the work to develop certain skills. Cuban and the researchers keep landing in the same place: lean on AI as a substitute for thinking, and you slowly trade away the skills that made you worth hiring. Moreover, you will degrade your thinking to the point that you will be less likely to be hired by a new company.

Getting AI usage right is also becoming a big issue in the workplace. Low-quality, AI-produced work, termed "workslop," makes coworkers think of you as less capable, creative, and reliable. Workers who let their skills erode to AI may also find their earning power erodes with it — fewer opportunities, slower raises, and less leverage in salary negotiations.

So take the time now to audit how you're using your tooling and whether it's making you a better or lazier employee, just as you'd check your financial health before any big decision.