Jensen Huang: ‘The AI ​​apocalypse is an attempt to get cheap attention’

At Nvidia’s GTC conference taking place in Berlin this week, Mr. Huang affirmed that people still need to ask difficult questions about safety and jobs in the age of AI, but cannot make them up.

“Saying that human civilization will end is not helpful when looking towards an optimistic future. First of all, that is not true,” Huang said. He dismissed warnings that AI could cause humanity to go extinct, commenting that they create attention-grabbing headlines, but are “fabricated” and “cheap”.

Theo The RegisterNvidia CEO pointed out some benefits from the AI ​​data center boom. “Construction workers, plumbers, electricians, network engineers, all those great jobs are being created in the US. I think this wave has created a million jobs. Also, look at the startups that are popping up,” he said, adding that this helps spur growth and keeps people busier.

When asked about people unemployed due to AI, Jensen Huang explained that technological change always causes some jobs to disappear, while creating many others. “With artificial intelligence, of course some jobs are no longer necessary, or not as interesting as before. However, new jobs, companies and businesses become necessary. That is the nature of the world,” he said.

Theo AFPthe Nvidia boss called on the world to approach artificial intelligence with “responsible optimism”. “If you care about the future beyond your own lifetime, about the future of sustainable development, then this is the perfect time to develop AI. Don’t try to hold it back,” he said.

Last month, Jensen Huang also rejected warnings from AI researchers that this technology could cause humanity to perish in the next few years. “The year 2030 is not the end of the world, the possibility of that is 0%,” Mr. Huang told CBS Newsadding that the “apocalyptic story” is being exaggerated and those who propose this scenario have “hidden reasons” such as wanting to attract attention or serve political purposes.

When asked why the public should trust him on AI safety, given Nvidia’s interests as the world’s leading AI chipmaker, Jensen Huang said ensuring the industry develops products responsibly is in the company’s best interest. “Our success is tied to deploying safe products and services. If we don’t continue to do so, our value will decline,” he explained.

In the past two months, many technology leaders and researchers simultaneously warned about the risk of AI going out of control, threatening the survival of humanity. The debate began on September 9, when Jacob Coxon, a senior researcher at Anthropic and formerly of OpenAI, suddenly resigned.

“For the past three years, I’ve been researching pre-AI training both at Anthropic and OpenAI. Neither company is acting responsibly. They’re moving straight toward self-improving superintelligence, betting on our lives,” Coxon wrote on X, saying the pace of AI development is not slowing down and many developers believe the technology “could kill us all by the end of the decade.”

While many leaders of advanced AI laboratories such as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei or OpenAI CEO Sam Altman advocate slowing down development, US President Donald Trump and Mr. Huang oppose placing strict limits on this technology.