Tech billionaire Mark Cuban has shared a bold prediction for the future of employment: as artificial intelligence (AI) changes traditional office workflows, companies will train incoming employees using immersive “job simulators.” In a post on X on Thursday, former Shark Tank investor argued that traditional workplace onboarding, where junior employees gain judgment and domain knowledge by working with coworkers and hands-on experience, will soon be a thing of the past.
‘Training office workers like pilots and drivers’
To bridge the growing gap between entry-level hires and real-world experience, Cuban expects the “next great AI application” to be high-tech workplace simulation software.
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He compared the upcoming shift in corporate training to long-standing practices in aviation and motorsport.Commercial pilots routinely spend hundreds of hours in flight simulators to learn emergency protocols and flight mechanics safely on the ground. Similarly, race car drivers rely on ultra-realistic driving simulators to master track layouts, weather conditions and car mechanics without needing physical track access.“The next great AI application, driven by open source, or open weights, will be a job simulator. How employees gain experience in a future AI world is going to be far different from today. Employees won’t have as many touch points in the company to gain knowledge and experience from. That’s where judgement has historically come from. Much like race car drivers and pilots have software that is continually updated to enable them to experience as many scenarios as possible, trying to replicate what could happen IRL, smart companies will have their employees and stakeholders with the most domain knowledge create the simulator that takes them through every possible situation they could face and helps prepare them. Onboarding will have a completely different meaning.”
AI will redefine corporate onboarding, says Cuban
Cuban noted that forward-thinking organisations will soon enlist their top experts to build these simulated environments.“Smart companies will have their employees and stakeholders with the most domain knowledge create the simulator that takes them through every possible situation they could face and helps prepare them,” Cuban explained, while adding, “Onboarding will have a completely different meaning.”
