Chief executive officer of major chip maker, Nvidia, Jensen Huang has replied US President Donald Trump on its stand on calls for artificial intelligence (AI) soft-pedaling, instant that his company would not buy into the idea.
Huang made the position known while onstage at the All-In Summit on Monday in Los Angeles. The world most valuable company’s owner spoke when he got a phone call he said he couldn’t send to voicemail, that it was from President Trump.
“I’m onstage with the besties,” Huang told Trump, referring to the venture capitalists who host the podcast All-In, including tech investors Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, and White House advisers David Friedberg and David Sacks.
In a move that will spark night terrors for public relations professionals everywhere, Huang flaunted his comfort with the president by putting Trump on speaker for conference attendees to hear.
“The great thing about life is Jensen can develop the most complex computer chip in the world … but he can’t figure out how to put you on speaker,” Trump said on the phone. (Huang is likely aware of how speakerphones work; he was asking stagehands for an extra microphone so that he could project the call to the audience.)
Onstage, Huang and the All-In hosts had been discussing Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei’s call to “slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI.” SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman have publicly said they agree with Amodei while Huang’s views have diverged.
“They’re just playing right in the hands of a lot of people that don’t want to see it happen. That could be political people. It could also be China. And we’re not going to let that happen. It’s a hoax,” Trump said.
But in response, Huang said: “You’re right. We’re not going to let that happen, sir,” as the crowd broke into applause.
Trump and his allies, like Y Combinator CEO, Garry Tan, have stated their belief that the growing sentiment against data centre construction is part of an international psyop to stifle American economic growth. But the source of the public’s concern is more straightforward. Recent Gallup polling shows that seven in 10 Americans oppose the construction of data centers in their area, with more than 50 percent of respondents citing the effect of data centers on environmental resources. About 20 percent said they were concerned about cost-of-living increases and effects on their quality of life.
“We have to be a little bit careful … We have to do things and we have to do them prudently, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop an industry. So I’m with you all the way. I didn’t even know how you felt about it. I just hoped you felt the same way as me. We’re going to lead,” Trump said to Huang.
