As workers worry about AI, NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang says AI is ‘creating a huge number of jobs’

As for the fear that AI could take over the workforce, Jensen Huang believes American workers have nothing to fear. In a conversation with MSNBC’s Becky Quick hosted by the Milken Institute, an economic policy think tank, on Monday night, the upbeat Nvidia CEO said that AI will create industrial-scale jobs, not the harbinger of mass unemployment that so-called “AI doomers” often decry.

The talk covered a variety of topics, but a central theme was the continued economic uncertainty surrounding the AI ​​industry and whether it is a legitimate concern for Americans. At one point, Quick pointed out, “This is happening so fast. Are we seeing the biggest disruption we’ve ever seen, leading to increased inequality? And what do we do about it?”

Throughout the night, Huang expressed optimism. During the discussion, Huang asserted that “AI creates jobs,” adding, “AI is America’s best opportunity to reindustrialize itself.” Huang pointed out that the AI ​​industry is powered by a new kind of industrial factory, the kind that produces the hardware that serves as the critical infrastructure for AI businesses. (Huang’s company especially sells a lot of its hardware.) These factories will inevitably need workers, as will other blossoming AI industries.

Huang reasoned that just because certain tasks are automated doesn’t mean the entire human job will be replaced. People who believe this “mistakenly believe that the purpose of work and the tasks of work are related,” but ultimately they are not the same, he said. In other words, Huang’s argument is that even if AI takes over individual tasks within a role, the broader functions that employees perform within an organization are likely to remain.

Relatedly, Hwang criticized those who claim that AI will take over humanity or wipe out huge sectors of the economy. “My biggest concern is that we’re scaring people, all these people we’re telling these science fiction stories to the point where either AI is very unpopular in the United States or people are so afraid of AI that they don’t actually work on it,” he said.

Ironically, much of the “disastrous” rhetoric is generated by the AI ​​industry itself, with critics arguing that such hyperbole is used as a marketing gimmick designed to drum up buzz and excitement for products that fall far short of the capabilities such rhetoric suggests.

It remains to be seen what impact this will have on the overall economy in the long term. That said, reputable financial institutions and academic organizations suggest that as many as 15% of U.S. jobs will be lost over the next few years as a result of AI.