Robert Smith liked to play around at the dinner table with his kids, asking them to name the most profound tech development in human history. Was it the printing press? Smith, who is CEO of the tech-focused private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, says he was inclined to choose the transistor—an unsurprising choice for someone who became a billionaire by betting on the rise of new software. But he says his kids and other younger people, would likely choose AI since it is the most important tech to emerge in their lifetimes.
Smith shared the story at Fortune Brainstorm Tech in Aspen, using it to make a broader point: That each new era of tech builds upon the previous one, and that it’s important for companies to ensure younger people are part of this evolution. Smith says giving young people a role in the workforce not only serves to transfer knowledge, but also the spirit of optimism that has always driven tech forward.
“I would continue to encourage all of you and businesses that you operate and own to make sure you don’t destroy your intern program. That’s an important part of bringing people along and, honestly, of creating optimism and a new group of technologists and thinkers who can carry this world,” he said.
Smith’s own career is a testament to the wisdom of his advice. As a high school student in Denver, he pestered Bell Labs—one of the famous research centers of its day—for months, imploring the company to let him join an internship program reserved for college juniors and seniors. His persistence paid off as Bell Labs finally agreed to bring him on as an intern. The company was impressed by his work, later inviting him back during his summer breaks from Cornell University and, during his time at Bell, Smith developed a reliability test for semiconductors.
As the chief executive and chairman of Vista, the private equity firm he founded in 2000, Smith oversees a portfolio of roughly 90 software companies including Cloud Software Group, Avalara, and Infoblox.
In Aspen, Smith acknowledged that AI is delivering a massive disruption to the workforce, but says this doesn’t change the underlying importance of internships.
“Agents are workers, workers do tasks, some of those tasks get aggregated into jobs, and there is going to be a massive impact on jobs, no question about it. Some may say [it will be] a big loss, some may say an expansion—there’s going to be some mix till we reach different states of equilibrium, and that’s how life is,” said Smith, making the case that no matter what happens, young people must be a part of it.
During his discussion with Fortune’s Allie Garfinkle, Smith also discussed Vista’s own approach to investing in AI, including what companies deserve to exist in the coming era. He also shared anecdotes about his early encounters with Amazon CEO-to-be Andy Jassy, business strategies, and his view on Elon Musk and the massive SpaceX IPO.
More from the 25th annual Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference:
AOL cofounder Steve Case on AI—major upside, real risk, and ‘probably a net negative’ for jobs
The space economy’s next frontier is in ground infrastructure, Northwood Space CEO says