Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban is sounding the alarm on the traditional tech industry, claiming that the era of rigid Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is over as artificial intelligence (AI) shifts the value from building tools to personalizing them.
The Death Of Rigid Software
In a viral interview on the Technology Brothers (TBPN) podcast, Cuban delivered a sobering forecast for the multi-billion-dollar software sector. He argued that the era of “static” tools—where businesses must bend their workflows to fit a software's limitations—is rapidly ending.
"Software is dead because everything's going to be customized to your unique utilization," Cuban stated, citing a shift where AI models mold themselves around specific business needs in real time.
He noted that even industry titans like Microsoft Corp.(NASDAQ:MSFT) are recognizing this shift toward “unique usage” over general-purpose platforms.
The ETFs tracking the software stocks in the U.S. have underperformed so far in 2026. iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF(BATS:IGV) dropped 19.34%, and State Street SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF(NYSE:XSW) declined 17.56%.
Mark Cuban just pronounced software dead, and the implications will destroy industries before most people understand what happened.
Cuban: "Software is dead because everything's going to be customized to your unique utilization."
While the death of traditional SaaS might threaten legacy tech firms, Cuban sees a massive opening for the next generation of workers.
He believes the “alpha” no longer lies in creating the next big AI model, but in translating that power for the 33 million small-to-medium-sized businesses in the U.S. that lack the budget for dedicated AI departments.
Cuban's advice to students is blunt: focus on application over creation. "Learn all you can about AI, but learn more on how to implement them in companies," he urged.
He emphasized that being able to walk into a legacy business—like a retail shoe store—and showing them how to customize a model for their specific operations is where the future of employment lies.
A New Career Frontier
As AI tools like OpenAI's Sora and Alphabet Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google Veo continue to evolve, Cuban predicts that the “Technical Translator” will become the most essential role in the economy.
By closing the bridge between complex data and real-world problems, young professionals can modernize business economics faster than ever before.
"That is every single job that's going to be available for kids coming out of school," Cuban concluded, "because every single company needs that."
Mark Cuban (@mcuban) on the next big job students should focus on.
Most companies don't know how to implement AI, especially small businesses.
"There is nothing intuitive for a company to integrate AI."
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