Huang calls fears AI will reduce jobs 'complete nonsense'

Speaking at Nvidia's GTC in Taipei, CEO Jensen Huang said, "People talk about AI reducing jobs—complete nonsense." He argued that "useful AI" has arrived and is prompting companies to hire more software engineers: "If you can hire a software engineer and you could generate $9 trillion worth of productive work, why wouldn't you want to hire more software engineers?" Huang offered figures such as "30 million software developers, representing about $3 trillion worth of GDP," and noted their salaries—"that's what they're paid—$3 trillion worth of salaries per year"—as a driver of economic growth.

It's a little unclear where Huang is getting these numbers from, though he suggested the 30 million figure was drawn from increased GitHub activity, and he said that because "the output is so incredible, people want to hire more software engineers." Critics say software engineering is not representative of the wider workforce: someone in a call centre who loses their job to AI won't necessarily transfer their skills into a tech career.

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