Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: AI Will Create Jobs—But Only for Those Who Use It

At a recent panel hosted by the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and California Congressman Ro Khanna addressed critical questions about artificial intelligence, covering innovation, competition, adoption, and skepticism. While concerns about AI displacing workers persist across industries, Huang rejected the notion that AI will harm the job market.

"The narratives of AI destroying jobs is not going to help America. First of all, it’s just false."

Huang highlighted that the most successful software engineers at Nvidia—now a $5 trillion company—are those who effectively integrate AI into their workflows. Despite AI tools saving time on coding, these engineers remain "busier than ever" due to increased productivity demands.

"Your [AI] agents are harassing you, micromanaging you and you’re busier than ever, and yet our company is able to do more," Huang said. "We’re doing things faster. We’re doing it at a larger scale, we’re thinking about doing things that we never imagined."

Rather than eliminating jobs, Huang sees AI as a catalyst for growth, enabling exploration of new frontiers and more efficient work. "The fact that we now have AI assistants help us, we could explore more space, do better work, do things at a greater scale, do things more cost-effectively, do things better," he explained. "And so the jobs didn’t disappear. The task was automated."

Huang praised the computing technology industry as "one of America’s national treasures," noting its role in creating high-paying jobs in manufacturing, construction, and specialized trades. "We’re creating so many manufacturing jobs in plumbing and construction, electricians, and now, you know, fine tool outfitters," he said. "Their salaries are doubling, tripling."

AI Won’t Take Your Job—But Someone Who Uses AI Will

Huang emphasized a critical distinction: "The fact of the matter is, it is unlikely most people will lose a job to AI. It is most likely that most people will lose their job to somebody who uses AI."

To prevent this, he urged widespread AI adoption, arguing that those who embrace the technology will outperform those who do not. However, despite rising adoption rates, skepticism about AI remains a significant barrier—particularly among younger generations.

Recent Gallup data reveals that Gen Z’s enthusiasm for AI has plummeted by 14 percentage points to just 22% this year. Nearly a third of workers have admitted to sabotaging their company’s AI initiatives, while another report highlights tensions between managers and employees over AI adoption policies.

"They don’t trust us," Congressman Khanna said during the panel. "Even though we invented AI, the highest skepticism of AI is in America, and why is that? Why is it that other countries are more trusting of it? Because they don’t trust the elite. They don’t trust the people in Congress. They don’t trust the president. They don’t trust the business leaders. They don’t trust the media. They feel like we have not delivered for them."

Khanna stressed the need to ensure the AI revolution benefits everyone, calling for greater transparency and trust in the technology’s development and implementation.