Transcript of CNA’s Victoria Jen Interviews NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang

There’s the digital version that we call AI agents. In the future, these AI agents would also run inside a physical body, for example, a robot. So a robot is essentially a physical AI agent. And so these two examples of autonomous systems will likely be highly generalized. And very exciting.

Will AI Make Us Lazier Thinkers?

VICTORIA JEN: Could that make humans lazier thinkers? Because if everyone has a powerful assistant, then what happens to mastery?

JENSEN HUANG: Well, I think you could use history as a guide. When the personal computer came along, I think that everybody said, “Is that going to make people lazier as a result? Because so much of work is going to be— so many tasks will be automated.” And then when the internet came along, “Are people going to stop being smart because all the information’s at their fingertips?” And then before you know it, mobile cloud came along, so it’s actually in our pocket. So we don’t have to remember anything anymore. And we have so many automation capabilities.

The performance of a computer increased by a million times during this time. Do we find ourselves busier or less busy? And I think the answer is we found ourselves busier. And the reason for that is because we became more ambitious. The type of things that we could do is greater than ever.

Our students today that are graduating, they’re 100 times smarter than when I graduated. What they know, what they can do, their exposure to the world, the knowledge they have, the wisdom that they somehow imbued. All of that capability was made possible because of information technology, but it hasn’t made them any less busy. I think you and I would admit we’re busier than ever.

And so I think the same thing is going to happen to artificial intelligence. We’re in our jobs, in our lives, we have many tasks and it’s really a basket of tasks. A job is like a basket of tasks, many small components of things. That in totality brings meaning to our work. It allows us to achieve our purpose of our work.

So for example, a radiologist looks at the images, the scans of maybe ultrasounds or CT or MRIs, but that’s the task that they do. And now it’s completely AI automated, but their purpose is really to diagnose disease. Help patients get well, help them understand their disease better. So the purpose of a job is a collection of tasks, a basket of tasks. Many of those tasks will be automated.

And my sense is that as a result of automation, we can focus on the harder parts of our work and the harder parts of our work are elevated as a result. We could be more ambitious. My guess is I will probably be busier. The opposite. I just said the opposite of what most people say. And I have lived, I’m living proof of it. You are living proof of it.

AI and Job Displacement: Should We Be Worried?

VICTORIA JEN: And speaking of jobs, everyone is curious. We are seeing more and more companies cutting jobs while they’re investing heavily in AI. So on a scale of 1 to 10, how inevitable are job cuts because of AI? And what do you say to people who are afraid of losing their jobs to AI?

JENSEN HUANG: I would say to the people who are worried about losing their jobs to AI, to learn AI. You’re not going to lose your jobs to AI. You’re going to lose your job to somebody who learned AI better than you.

When the PC came along, the PC didn’t take people’s jobs. The people who didn’t learn how to use PCs were left behind. When the computers came along, the computer industry, I had the benefit of being swept along with this incredible growth of this industry. I could have, of course, rejected it and went to another field where the computers was not involved, and I could have been left behind. And so my recommendation is don’t allow yourself to be left behind by AI.

Now let’s talk about what’s going on. It is very, it’s more likely that the companies with ambition will be more productive. They will do things faster. Their company would increase in velocity. As a result, they become larger, more profitable. When they become larger and more profitable, they’ll end up hiring more people. And of course they’ll use more AI, but they’ll also hire more people.

NVIDIA today has AI all over our company. We’re hiring more people, we’re moving faster, we’re more and more ambitious. The type of things that we used to think was going to take 10 years, I now think is going to take 1 or 2 years. And so your ambition has to be elevated by the technology of the time. If you don’t engage the technology of your time, you’ll just simply be left behind. And so my recommendation is to engage it.

Now, the future, when people think about job loss and AI, what they see is that there’s only so much work in the world to do. There’s only so many stories to write, only so much code to write, only so many products to design, only so many things to enjoy. And that is completely obviously false. Our ambition, if great, then automation and AI, which is the ultimate version of automation, would elevate your company, would elevate GDP. As a result, we should be able to bring more prosperity.

The Jobs AI Will Create

VICTORIA JEN: But what kind of jobs do you envision that AI will create?

AI, Jobs, and the Future of Work

JENSEN HUANG: Well, look at all the jobs that are being created already. Number one, remember, I gave you the framework of AI. AI is a 5-layer cake. It needs energy. The country, the company, the region, Taiwan the island, if limited by energy, would simply be left behind. You need energy in order to enjoy this new industry.

And when you have energy, when you need it, AI is now so much market-driven initiatives, so much market-driven incentives that the amount of investment going into the energy sector is upgrading our energy grid. It’s investing in sustainable energy all by itself for the first time. All you have to do is look at the stock price of all of my partners, GE, Vernova, Mitsubishi, Siemens, everybody, anybody who’s in the power generation, energy generation industry, their stock prices are going up. They’re hiring more people. The revenues are increasing. The utilities are seeing so many opportunities to invest in their power grid.

The next layer up is chips. Every single partner of NVIDIA stock price has tripled in just a couple of years. I’m so happy to see everybody’s success. And so everything from AI chips to DRAMs to, of course, TSMC and packaging and power regulators and cooling systems and you name it, even multilayer ceramic capacitors, incredible success. And so you could see it’s of course creating a lot of jobs.

The next layer above that is infrastructure. Look at how many data centers are being built around the world, how much land being dedicated to building data centers. And so electricians and plumbers and construction workers, architects and designers and technicians and networking engineers. Just the number of jobs, hundreds of thousands just in the United States alone. And so probably millions around the world. And then just keep going up every single layer.

And then one more statistic. Last year was the single largest year of venture capital investments in human history. $100 billion in just one year went into AI-native companies. Whole bunch of jobs getting created. And so there’s absolutely every single evidence that AI’s creating jobs.

And one of my favorites is literally radiology. If you look at radiology and all the radiologists looking at workstations, looking for disease, looking for anomalies in the scans, in the last 5 years, in the last 10 years, it was predicted that it would be the first job to completely be wiped out. Well, the researcher who made that prediction was absolutely right. AI has completely revolutionized radiology. AI has integrated into radiology in every single respect. However, the number of radiologists grew, the demand for radiologists increased, and the pay of radiologists went up.

And so my point is it is very more, it’s more likely that AI will elevate your job, elevate the purpose of your job if you became expert at it. Try to engage it, don’t be afraid of it. Of course, the industry has to be really thoughtful about building AI in a safe way, in a guardrailed way, and make sure that it’s deployed in a proper way. And that the end applications, whether it’s in healthcare or transportation or manufacturing, or air travel or whatever it is that applies AI, those industries have lots of regulations already and they should reevaluate the regulations to be AI ready, to be AI prepared. And so everybody has to be part of this.

You might remember some stories of the past. So for example, when the automobile came along, of course, there was an entire industry of horses and carriages, and that industry was quite large, of course. They’d been around a long, long time, hundreds of years. And then, of course, the invention of the car, of the automobile came along. Well, because it’s so transformative, every infrastructure had to be reinvented. Number one, a whole bunch of new factories created a whole bunch of jobs. Every single road had to be enhanced. The old roads were problematic.

New social norms. For example, for a while there, it was believed that cars were killing children. Cars were somehow killing children. And what was discovered was because in the olden times, children would literally play in the streets. I still remember when I grew up, I just played in the streets. And so children would play in the streets, and of course when cars came along, many of them didn’t realize it and they got themselves injured. And so new norms, pedestrian laws, pedestrian rules, sidewalks, and so on and so forth. And so we built up all these different social infrastructure and new technologies with self-braking and so on and so forth. All of these technologies and of course social norms to know don’t run into the streets. And so all of those different conditions had to be built up to support a whole industry. Electricity was the same way, and so on and so forth. Artificial intelligence will be the same as well.

What Should Kids Study in the Age of AI?

VICTORIA JEN: And for all the parents out there, what do you suggest their kids should be studying in order to stay relevant in the age of AI?

JENSEN HUANG: I think that it won’t matter. All the things that used to matter are still things that are going to matter in the future. For example, broadcast newscasters. It will be just as important to inform people as the past, to know what questions to ask. You’ve prepared a lot of questions, but the best reporters and the best interviewers are the ones that are prepared, but you’re also staying in the moment, listening to my question and picking up on something that maybe the audience would be interested in.

And so you’re thinking about multiple things at exactly the same time, just like I’m doing right now. I’m thinking about the audience, I’m listening to the questions, I’m considering everything that’s happening in the world at the moment. And the question, the answers to my question has to be consistent with that. And so all of that is completely true still. The ability to tell a story for an audience will remain just as important in the future as it is today.

Whether it’s arts, the arts will be just as important. Wabi-sabi, the beauty of imperfection, will probably be even more important in the future than today. And so making movies, designing cars, and making chips will all still be as important as the past. So whatever you decide is your passion, the only one thing that you have to do is to make sure that you ask yourself, “How can AI help elevate my learning, my craft, my purpose?”

Jensen Huang on Accompanying President Trump to China

VICTORIA JEN: Now let’s talk about China. You were in Beijing with President Trump recently. Can you take us through your trip on Air Force One and the meetings on the ground? What are some of your biggest takeaways?

JENSEN HUANG: First of all, it was a great honor to represent the United States, and it was a great honor for me to accompany President Trump. He called me in the morning. He didn’t realize I wasn’t going. And he insisted that I get on the plane and go. And so I packed up in a hurry. He called me in the morning as he was leaving. And he thought I was in Washington, D.C. to jump on Air Force One, but I was in the West Coast. And so he told me, “Just meet me in Alaska.” And so I flew to Alaska, jumped on Air Force One, and went to China.

I was there with 16, I think, other CEOs, and it represents quite a large collection of great companies from consumer electronics, of course, to industrials and automotive and all the way to financials and biotech. And so it was a large, large collection of industry that was represented.

And the conversations were, one, really, really welcomed. President Xi, Premier Li Qiang were extremely welcoming, and they spoke about cooperation and a stable relationship, and that China would be an open market and even more wide open than before, encouraged investment. And then we were there to really represent the United States, support the president. And they had wonderful meetings. They were extremely cordial. The feelings were great and the pomp and circumstance and all of the festivities were quite impressive.

But that was it. That was basically it. I was there for a couple of days. We didn’t sleep for a couple of days. And then when President Trump left to go back home, I went to Old Town Beijing to enjoy some nice meals.

VICTORIA JEN: How was that?

JENSEN HUANG: It was great. It was great. People were very nice and anyhow, it was a really, really great experience.

NVIDIA, China, and the Question of Rivalry

VICTORIA JEN: But reports suggest that China hasn’t purchased any of NVIDIA’s H200 chips despite US export approval. You have also said that NVIDIA has stepped back from China as it pushes for its own chips. Could that actually eventually make China your greatest rival?

JENSEN HUANG: Well, China is going to be everybody’s greatest rival. I mean, that goes without saying because they have such an extraordinary local market that is completely uniform. Just like United States, every single state speaks English. China, every province speaks Chinese. And that’s a substantial advantage versus Europe, where every single country speaks a different language. Or countries where everybody speaks the same language, but the market’s not very big. And so these two countries, United States and China, have a substantial advantage because of that reason.

Large population, very well educated. The science, technology, and math of Chinese students is extraordinary, and they produce it at very high volumes, large volumes. Tsinghua University and many of the other universities are world-class in science and technology today. And so, one, you have to recognize the country is large, it has a uniform culture. And they have really treasured and valued science and technology. The companies are very competitive, super vibrant. Incredible companies from Alibaba to Xiaomi to Tencent, Baidu, and these amazing companies, large and also so many small companies that are so vibrant.

And so I think it goes without saying that China’s pace of innovation and its own natural resources, including its people and its culture, will almost certainly guarantee that China will compete with every industry, and they are very competitive. And so I think that goes without saying.

With respect to us, we’re not stepping back from China. I would say that the Chinese government, when we were banned from going to China through export controls, it left a vacuum that the Chinese companies were able to fill. And as a result, Huawei and many of the startup companies in China had record years. They are now growing at an incredible pace. And in our absence, even though NVIDIA’s technology is better, the available technology is the best we can get. And it’s plenty good.

And so I think my only statement was that the Chinese government is, understandably, as every government would and should, encourage and want to have conditions for their local companies to be successful. However, I also believe that NVIDIA could add an enormous amount of value to the Chinese market, and it’s good for the United States. And President Trump has been very clear that he wants American companies to succeed all over the world, just as every country should. Every country should maximize exports. Every company, every country should want their companies to succeed worldwide. And so it’s sensible that the United States would want NVIDIA to go back to and serve every single market.

For China, NVIDIA’s technology competes with one layer of the five-layer cake. We compete with one layer of the five-layer cake. But don’t forget, AI is a five-layer cake. And so when NVIDIA is participating in China and serving the Chinese market as we have in the past, it supports the expansion of the other five layers. And so when you look at the market in a more holistic way, and I surely believe that the leaders will and the local markets will, when you look at it in a holistic way, NVIDIA could be of great service to that industry and we could add a lot of value to the China market as well.

And so I think when NVIDIA grows, the entire supply chain grows. When NVIDIA grows, as you see, we lift all of Taiwan with us. And so NVIDIA succeeding around the world will be great for the supply chain and it will be great for all the local markets.

Two Separate AI Ecosystems?

VICTORIA JEN: But would you say that we’re seeing the rise of two separate AI ecosystems, one led by the US and the other by China? And can they coexist?

China-US Cooperation and Taiwan’s Role in AI

JENSEN HUANG: It is possible that two AI ecosystems are created, but it’s not wise. Now, AI is obviously a very, very capable technology. It’s transformative technology, and it’s dual use. On the one hand, its incredible potential for good is unbelievable, and its demonstration and transformative capabilities for good is already demonstrated to be incredible. And I have every confidence that it will continue to do so.

On the other hand, it could also be used in all kinds of other ways. It could be used for ways that could bring harm. And so the more that the world leaders in technology, as well as in social leaders and political leaders, the more that all the leaders work together, cooperate together to advance this technology in harmony and for good, the better it will be for the future.

And so I believe that China and the United States should cooperate in AI, not just compete in AI. And it is possible to do both. I work with so many competitors today. They’re competitors of mine, but I also compete with them. On the one hand, and we cooperate greatly on the other hand, because we want what’s in the best interest of the industry. We want what’s in the best interest of the market. We want what’s best interest for society. And so therefore cooperating ensures that harmonious advance. And so I think that it is absolutely true for AI, is that on the one hand we compete, on the other hand we should absolutely cooperate.

VICTORIA JEN: And we know that Taiwan sits in the center of the global supply chain. And what kind of role do you think Taiwan plays in the AI race? And how long do you think Taiwan can maintain that advantage?

JENSEN HUANG: Well, Taiwan has the letters AI in it. And so AI is at the center of Taiwan. And the companies on this island are incredible, as you know. The companies are at the epicenter of the possibility of AI and the growth of AI, the advancement of AI.

In the last several years, several things are happening at the same time. On the one hand, supply chains have to be diversified because the world supply chain is so broad, so large, and because the computer is not just a tool for you and I anymore. The computer, what NVIDIA makes, is now a factory, an infrastructure for the world. And therefore the supply chain by nature would have to be more resilient, more diversified because it’s going to be so large. And so on the one hand, the supply chain is diversifying around the world. Fabs are being built all around the world. Chip plants, packaging plants, computer plants are being built all around the world.

On the other hand, it’s growing incredibly here in Taiwan. The energy pressure is high. The land pressure is high. And of course, Taiwan is extraordinary at manufacturing. And I hope we talk about robotics and how robotics is going to revolutionize and transform Taiwan’s ability to continue to grow at an incredible pace. No region is better prepared for the continued growth of AI than Taiwan. And I absolutely continue to expect Taiwan to grow at a very accelerated pace for many years to come.

And it’s an investment of people. Of course, at the scale that we are today, NVIDIA is a multi-hundred billion dollar company now. We’re one of the largest companies in the world and we’re growing at nearly 100% per year at the scale that we’re talking about. And so the partnerships that we have here in Taiwan, how they’ve helped me grow and support our growth is incredible. And the most important thing is the investment in people. We have a very large site here and we’re going to have a much, much larger site here soon.

NVIDIA’s Investment in Taiwan

VICTORIA JEN: Can you give us a sneak preview on the investment amount?

JENSEN HUANG: Well, it’s not just about the money. Of course, NVIDIA spends at this point hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure, and most of our spend is in Taiwan. And so we’ve invested through the most, the best form of investment, which is business, hundreds of billions of dollars into Taiwan.

And if you look at our next several years, between Grace Blackwell and Vera Rubin, we have $1 trillion of sales. $1 trillion of sales is hundreds of billions of dollars of spending equipment revenues that will come into Taiwan. It’s just an extraordinary number and the highest ever in history for Taiwan.

And so that’s our best form of investment. We, of course, also invest in companies here. We support them with prepayments, we support them with investment in their capital, we support them with commitments in our purchase. And then my favorite form of investment is still ultimately people, hiring a lot of engineers here and having a lot of great employees here in Taiwan.

Friendship with Morris Chang

VICTORIA JEN: And also among all the business leaders in Taiwan, I know you’re very close to Morris Chang, TSMC founder. Can you describe your friendship? And also, what have you learned from him?

JENSEN HUANG: I learn from him every time I’m with him. I was with him last night. Morris and Sophie had my parents, Lori and I, and Madison were with us as well. We were over for dinner. We had a wonderful time together.

Of course, Morris and I have a lot in common because I grew up with the support of Morris. And when I came to Taiwan for the first time after I left when I was 5 years old, I came back for the first time to see Morris. And I’ve been coming back a lot since then. And so, without TSMC and Morris, NVIDIA wouldn’t be here today. And it was the support and the friendship and the risk that they take back in the old days when we were quite small.

All of the things that, and our growth together, innovation together, and of course the creation of the AI industry that we know today together, all of that, all of our journey and all of our history are highly intertwined. In a lot of ways, I grew up with the support of Morris and the support of TSMC. We have a lot of interest in how the industry is forming. We have a lot of interest in ensuring the continued success of the industry. And of course, we have a lot of wonderful life stories to share with each other.

And he’s an incredible avid reader. And so it’s always fun to hear about his summaries of the books that he’s read. I always treasure my time with him and he’s doing great. And we always have a nice glass of whiskey together.

Growing Up and the Values That Shaped Jensen Huang

VICTORIA JEN: That’s nice. Now let’s move on to the fun part. Let’s talk about you. Born in Taiwan, lived in Thailand before moving to the US. How have those experiences shaped who you are today and the way you lead?

JENSEN HUANG: I guess we’re all the products of our parents. My father is very technical, very precise, does work perfectly, and perfect handwriting, does everything perfectly. His level of craft and precision and just the way he does everything in this life is something that I had the benefit of learning from.

And on the other hand, my mom’s obsession for details, just a deep obsession — she has a personality that can’t let anything go. And in a lot of ways, I think I’ve picked up that part of her behavior. And so I can focus on something for a very long time, like NVIDIA for 33 years. And every day I’m equally obsessed and equally intense about doing a good job. And so I think I had the benefit of growing up with a lot of those Taiwanese characteristics. They’re very much like a Taiwanese parent.

I also think that we grew up, they sacrificed a lot leaving Taiwan and left their families behind and they went to Thailand with very little and they went to the United States with nothing. And so when they went to the United States, we were basically alone. There were no friends, no family to be there with us. And because they were so modest, and we had so little, and living in the United States, going from Taiwan is very challenging because the cost of living is so much higher.

And so I think our humble life and just seeing my parents struggle and finding a place in a strange world and the risks that they took so that we can grow up in America and enjoy the American dream and have the opportunities that led to NVIDIA today and led to me today — all of those sacrifices instills a character in you. And so I’m grateful for all the sacrifices and the hard work that they made so that I could be here. And I think that that journey was really an important part.

Leadership Style: Tough Love and High Standards

VICTORIA JEN: In your company, you’re known to be a tough boss. And you’ve said that you’d rather torture people to greatness than to fire them. How exactly do you do that?

JENSEN HUANG: Well, it’s not physical torture. It’s torture the same way that Taiwanese parents torture people. A Taiwanese parent, nothing is ever good enough. Nothing is ever good enough. And you can’t go a day without some criticism. And that’s the Taiwanese way. And I’m kind of the same way. You can’t show me something without me giving you some criticism. And I guess in a lot of ways, that’s my form of torture.

I will give you my feedback always, always immediately. I’ll never save it away. Once I give you my feedback, just like a Taiwanese parent, once the feedback is given, you’re back to loving the person again. And so I’m always critical of everybody’s work so that I can help them be better. I want them to be better. I know they could be better. And that’s where it’s coming from. And maybe a lot of that is my Taiwanese parents.

VICTORIA JEN: And how do your employees respond to that?

JENSEN HUANG: Well, NVIDIA’s retention is the best in the world. We have employees that have been with me now for 33 years. And so people don’t quit easily from NVIDIA. And my job is to create an environment where all of these amazing computer scientists and engineers and supply chain experts can come to NVIDIA to do their life’s work.

And that’s my job, to create that condition so that they could realize their dreams, just as they’ve helped me realize my dreams. And I think that that’s ultimately the purpose of leadership — to create the conditions for other people to realize their dreams, to be part of yours, of course, and to be part of something bigger, but to be able to turn what is their job, their profession, their craft, hopefully into their life’s work. And at NVIDIA, you could do that.

What Drives Jensen Huang

VICTORIA JEN: And we know that you work 7 days a week. What drives you day to day and where exactly do you get all that energy?

JENSEN HUANG: I’m exhausted all the time. What drives me? It’s several things. On the one hand, it’s as basic as I don’t want to fail and I don’t want NVIDIA to fail. And I don’t want NVIDIA to fail because we have too many people who are counting on me. And so it’s employees, it’s our partners, it’s our ecosystem partners, it’s all of my friends here in Taiwan. I want everybody to succeed.

And so there’s a burden on leaders that want everybody to flourish and to realize their dreams and to hopefully succeed with us. And that gets me out of bed every day. At the same time, there’s a hopeful, optimistic, ambitious part of me that wants to build something that makes an impact, makes a contribution. There’s a dreamer part of me that wants to create that future and hope to see it in my lifetime. And so I’m in a hurry to have it come true.

And so it’s simultaneously the burden of success and wanting other people to come along, the fear of failure that somehow because of how I was raised, because NVIDIA has enjoyed and gone through a lot of very difficult time. It was not easy to build NVIDIA. It was not easy to be here today. And all of the struggles can never leave my body. Once you’ve struggled as deeply as NVIDIA has and as I’ve had the benefit of, it becomes part of your character and it never leaves you. And so simultaneously, all of this is happening in my body and my brain. And so you can’t help but be always thinking about work.

The Future of NVIDIA’s Leadership

VICTORIA JEN: And some people have said that you still have another 30 years running NVIDIA. What do you think about that? And what kind of leader do you think should succeed you?

Legacy, Leadership, and the Future of AI

JENSEN HUANG: I would like to work as long as I can. I hope to die on the job. That would be a dream come true. And so I can’t imagine a more meaningful life. I’m surrounded by my family, my kids. Both of them work at NVIDIA, and I have the benefit of seeing them all the time, and I’m proud of them. The company’s proud of them and they love the company. And so I get to see them all the time.

Lori’s been with me for a long time, our whole life. And she’s been part of NVIDIA every step of the way. And aside from Lori, I don’t think anyone has been to every conference. And she’s been to every conference, every speech, and every moment of NVIDIA, she was there. And so I have the benefit of really meaningful work and a company with incredible people and employees that can achieve almost anything. And I’m surrounded by the love of my parents and my family that are part of this journey with me. And so I can’t imagine doing anything else, frankly. I can’t imagine doing anything else more meaningful.

With respect to the next generation, leadership is about creating the conditions for other people to be empowered. NVIDIA is giant, and yet we’re a small company. We are the world’s smallest large company. And that’s only possible because so many leaders at NVIDIA, so many people are empowered to do their work. And so I constantly explain our strategy transparently. I constantly reason about complicated situations in front of people so that they could help me double-check my reasoning patterns and my reasoning logic. And on the other hand, you’re also exposing them to how you think through complicated and ambiguous, uncertain circumstances. And so the combination of empowering people, letting them run, aligning early on what our strategies are, our guardrails are, and then reasoning in front of people really helps everybody become more successful, become more empowered.

The next generation, the next leader of NVIDIA is already working there. And it’s my job to cultivate hundreds of amazing choices. And you just never know who the right next person is. And the reason for that is because we don’t know what NVIDIA is going to be like in 30 years or 10 or 20. And we don’t know what the circumstances are in this future that artificial intelligence is helping create. And so it would be presumptuous and arguably even arrogant to think that I would know what the perfect leader is going to be in 10, 20 years. We’re just going to have to evolve until we know for certain.

But the one thing that I will tell you is that the leader for NVIDIA would have to care about the employees, the ecosystem, the partners more than they care about themselves. And a great leader is selfless and always in service of the culture of the company, the mission of the company, the people of the company, always in service of other people.

It is very likely that this leader will be in an era, a time where intelligence is a commodity. That the ability to write code, solve problems, even scientific discovery is arguably completely automated. The one thing that we value so much in my generation, which is knowledge and technical skills and problem solving, the sciences, technologies, the maths, all of that is likely going to be a commodity. And so therefore, what remains is ambition and character, imagination, and the empathy and generosity and kindness, the soft skills that defines a person beyond their intelligence. And so I think those things will likely become quite important.

And I would say may very well be the greatest asset of any leader, which is the desire of everyone around them to see them succeed. There are people that you just wish them to be more successful because they’re kind to other people and they’re generous to other people, and you just want to see them succeed. And there are people who are successful and you would hope to see them fail. And so I think that the future leaders are going to be the ones that somehow embody the characters, the intangibles that leads other people to want them to succeed and be led and to be part of.

AI and the Future of Jobs

VICTORIA JEN: I see. I hope you don’t mind me going back to the question about job cuts. How would you say that job cuts are inevitable because of AI?

JENSEN HUANG: It is very likely there will be more jobs in 5 years than there are today. Many more jobs. Some jobs will be different, some jobs will be gone, and many new jobs will have emerged. And I can say that with almost certainty.

And the reason for that is this: the GDP of the world has been growing at about 2% per year, for 150 years. For 150 years where there was the Industrial Revolution with electricity, information technology, transportation, steam, manufacturing equipment, all the way to personal computers and internet and cell phones and so on and so forth, and artificial intelligence, it’s been on a solid 2% per year. And it’s incredible.

My belief is that all of those technologies at the time were transformative. Of course they were. How you and I live our lives today and how 150 years ago people lived their lives, the industries, the companies, completely different. And yet 2% per year, the number of jobs that have been created in the last 150 years, incredible. The number of jobs that will be created in the next 150 years is going to be utterly incredible. Of course, some jobs will be very different.

Let’s imagine that prosperity. AI has the opportunity to close the technology divide like no technology ever has. For example, you are a better user of computers today as a news reporter than at any time in history because you can program the computer to do whatever. If you want your own website, if you want your own broadcast, you can. Just ask the AI to help you create it. You’re now a programmer just like I am a programmer. And so for the first time, AI has closed the technology divide. We have the opportunity to bring everybody along in this new technology revolution. That’s a very big deal.

The second, of course, AI will likely change the shape of the services industry, the manufacturing industry, and also very importantly, the consumption industry, the entertainment industry. It is more likely that people are going to consume more because we’re more prosperous. And because we’re going to consume more, it is very likely that the leisure industry and the creation of content will enjoy more because we’ll have more time to enjoy the content that you create. And hopefully we’ll have the opportunity to travel more so that people are traveling around the world learning about different cultures and we can close the culture divides.

And so there’s an optimistic future that I imagine and facts would support my imagination of that future. And I think the narrative that connects AI to job loss, for many of the CEOs that are doing it, it is just too lazy. It’s just too lazy. AI has just arrived. How is it possible they’re already losing jobs? How is it possible that AI became productive and useful only 6 months ago and they were somehow laying people off 2 years ago because of AI? It doesn’t make any sense. It was just a way for them to sound smart. And I really hate that.

I think we’re scaring people and that’s irresponsible. I think we should tell a balanced story, a balanced narrative about the potential of this technology, the importance of advancing it safely, security, guardrailed with necessary social, political, government, industrial policies to ensure that it advances safely. On the other hand, tell a story that’s optimistic so that people want to be part of it. We want the young people of this generation to engage it.

And so here’s my simple test for all the audience. What are you advising your children to do? Are you advising them to engage AI or to reject AI and be left behind? Are you advising them to use AI to elevate their learning, to elevate their profession when they can? Or are you telling them, don’t use this technology and let other people use it?

I have no question in my mind that every single parent is saying, “You have to learn about this technology, use it wisely, but use it to elevate yourself.” If that is what they’re advising their children, for what reason are they not advising it for other people?

And so I see a future that’s optimistic. I see a future that has more abundance, abundance of intelligence, abundance of labor, abundance of goods. It’s going to therefore create opportunities for us to consume more. So if you were a connoisseur of fashion, you’re going to have a lot more opportunity to consume that.

VICTORIA JEN: Thank you so much, Jensen. I really enjoyed your conversation.

JENSEN HUANG: Thank you very much, Victoria.

VICTORIA JEN: Thank you.

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