The narrative that some chief executives use to tie artificial intelligence to job cuts is a “lazy” one which “doesn’t make any sense”, said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Monday (May 25).

Speaking to CNA’s Victoria Jen in a wide-ranging interview, Mr Huang said that he sees an “optimistic future” with AI and that facts support his imagination of that future.

“The narrative that connects AI to job loss, for many of the CEOs that are doing it – it is just too lazy. AI has just arrived, how is it possible they’re already losing jobs?” said Mr Huang.

“How is it possible that AI became productive and useful only six months ago, and they were somehow laying people off two years ago because of AI? It doesn’t make any sense. 

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“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.”

Mr Huang was not asked about, nor did he reference any specific company.

AI-linked layoffs have been reported extensively in recent times. Last week, Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters drew flak for saying the bank was replacing “lower-value human capital” with technology, as it announced plans to cut more than 7,000 jobs over the next four years. He later apologised for his comments. 

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that social media giant Meta plans to lay off 20 per cent or more of its workforce to offset heavy spending on AI and bet on productivity gains from the technology.

CREATING JOBS

When asked what he would say to people who are worried about losing their jobs, Mr Huang said: “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 learnt 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.”

Just as technologies of the past were transformative, so too is AI, said Mr Huang. He added that it is “very likely” there will be more jobs in five years than there are today.

Conversely, as companies become more productive and profitable, this will lead them to hire more people, he told CNA.

“It’s more likely that the companies with ambition will be more productive, they will do things faster, their company will increase in velocity. As a result, they become larger, more profitable. When they become larger, more profitable, they’ll end up hiring more people,” he said.

“Of course, they’ll use more AI, but they will also hire more people.”

Using Nvidia as an example, Mr Huang pointed out how it is hiring more people, moving faster and becoming increasingly ambitious. 

“The type of things that we used to think were going to take 10 years, I now think are going to take one or two years,” he said.

“Your ambition has to be elevated by the technology of the time. If you don’t engage with the technology of your time, you will just simply be left behind, and so, my recommendation is to engage it.”

Watch excerpts of CNA’s interview with Jensen Huang on May 25 at 8pm on Asia Tonight. A 30-minute special CNA Correspondent: A Conversation with Jensen Huang will be aired on May 29 at 7.30pm. The full interview will subsequently be available on YouTube.