Trump and Huang unite against AI doomers in surprise on-stage call
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President Trump stands beside Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at a White House event. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang took a surprise call from President Trump onstage at the All-In Summit Monday in Los Angeles, where the two dismissed fears of an AI takeover.
Why it matters: Trump and Huang are staking out an increasingly clear rejection of AI doomerism right as some of the world's most powerful CEOs and AI experts call for slower AI development over safety concerns.
Driving the news: Huang appeared to receive a call from Trump in the middle of an All-In Podcast interview Monday, according to video footage circulating on social media.
- Huang put the president on speaker so the crowd could hear the conversation.
What they're saying: Trump and Huang shared an optimistic view of AI, highlighting its potential for economic growth and national security.
- "The robots will not be taking over," Trump told Huang. "The AI will not be taking over the rest of the world. The whole thing is a hoax," he said, referring to the recent wave of warnings about catastrophic AI risks.
- Huang told Trump: "We're going to make sure that everybody wins in the AI race of America. Every industry, every company, every state, every people."
Zoom out: Huang separately addressed the AI safety fears that erupted over the weekend, striking a more nuanced tone than Trump.
- He said warnings from whistleblowers should be taken seriously, praising Anthropic whistleblower Jacob Coxon for having "great courage" to raise his concerns about the company's AI development going too quickly.
Yes, but: Huang rejected predictions that AI could end the world as "not grounded in science."
- He said AI companies should pause or pace their work "if they feel that their company is out of control."
The big picture: Huang has repeatedly dismissed AI doomer fears, suggesting that some cybersecurity alarm around AI can help drum up business for the security industry.
- "What better way to create demand than to create a problem," Huang said at a Goldman Sachs conference in San Francisco last week, per Forbes. "Who doesn't want their market to be hysterical about their product and line up around the corner for it?"
The bottom line: Nvidia has an enormous stake in the continued success of AI as a major supplier of the chips powering advanced AI models.
Go deeper: Here's how AI could kill us all (if the worst fears come true)
