Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has accused the cybersecurity industry of stoking AI fears to flog products to an increasingly nervous market, and really there is nothing to worry about.
Speaking to the gathered throngs at a Goldman Sachs conference, Huang argued that the recent surge in cybersecurity warnings conveniently coincides with companies preparing new products. Nvidia has a similarly convenient interest in everyone remaining cheerful enough about AI to keep buying accelerators.
“And what better way to create demand than to create a problem?” Huang said. He has previously dismissed claims that AI will destroy humanity or wipe out huge chunks of the US workforce.
According to Axios, the comments came as debate about AI safety intensified after Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned and warned that increasingly capable systems could pose an existential threat. Huang remains firmly planted in the techno-optimist camp.
For those not in the know, Nvidia has become the biggest hardware winner from generative AI, while tighter regulation, slower investment or customers deciding they have bought enough GPUs would be considerably less entertaining for its accountants.
Huang has been equally dismissive of claims that the AI boom resembles a financial bubble fuelled partly by Nvidia investing in companies which then spend money on Nvidia hardware. Critics reckon this makes parts of the AI economy look suspiciously circular.
Huang told the Goldman crowd Nvidia’s investments were not circular because relatively small investments generated much larger returns. The audience apparently found the explanation amusing, although the cocaine nose jobs of Wall Street have historically demonstrated an impressive ability to laugh when enormous amounts of money are involved.
He acknowledged that companies can see their shares rise after Nvidia invests in them, arguing investors recognise that Nvidia has enough industry knowledge to identify promising businesses. Huang said he preferred investments that looked like a “sure thing.”
University of Michigan business professor Erik Gordon told Axios that Huang was genuinely a techno-optimist, not simply talking up Nvidia’s interests. However, Gordon reckoned Huang’s upbeat narrative was losing ground as concerns about employment, AI safety and industry spending intensified.
Huang finds himself flogging Nvidia’s hardware and confidence that the technology consuming it will neither wreck the economy nor exterminate its customers.
