But Cuban stresses that the payoff from AI is a function of experience, one that builds on itself over time as new technologies continue to be developed. So getting a head start allows a business to be ahead of the curve. That said, you can't solely rely on AI for everything -- even new technology misses the mark. "It's going to be wrong almost as much as it's right, but it's going to uncover things that you might not otherwise be aware of, and you can continuously train it to make it smarter," he says.

The world may be some years away from seeing the first trillionaire, but billionaire Mark Cuban has an idea about the kind of work from which they, whoever they are, will make their trillions. "I am telling you, the world's first trillionaires are going to come from somebody who masters AI and all its derivatives," the Shark Tank investor said, according to CNBC, "and applies it in ways we never thought of." Cuban made his prediction Sunday night in front of a full house at the SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas. The Dallas Mavericks owner presented a sink-or-swim scenario, where knowledge of artificial intelligence is the determining factor, and where critical thinking matters more than ever. "Whatever you are studying right now, if you are not getting up to speed on deep learning, neural networks, etc., you lose," he told the audience.