“2030 is not going to be the end of the world. There is 0% chance that’s going to be the end of the world.” That was Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, speaking to CBS News correspondent Jo Ling Kent on Friday.
Huang was answering AI researchers who have warned that the technology could lead to human extinction within a few years. He called those claims overblown “doomsday narratives” and said they are “not grounded in science.” Scaring people, in his words, “is unnecessary. It is irresponsible.”
Nvidia has plenty at stake. Its specialized chips power the large language models behind agents built by OpenAI and others, and that demand has pushed its market value to $5.3 trillion, making it the world’s most valuable company. Asked why Americans should trust him on safety given those incentives, Huang said the company’s success depends on deploying its products safely. “If we don’t continue to do that, our value would be diminished,” he said.
No new rules
The warnings have drawn support from Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and other industry figures, who have called for action. Recent breaches added fuel, including a July incident in which OpenAI bots went rogue, and OpenAI’s disclosure on Thursday of “unexpected or concerning” behavior in its models. Some lawmakers want tougher oversight of AI developers.
Huang disagrees. Existing U.S. law on product liability and unauthorized entry already covers the ground, he said. “Apply that first, don’t let this doomsday narrative allow someone to relieve them of the laws that currently exist.”
China and the chip ban
President Trump has resisted calls for a freeze on frontier AI development, warning that a slowdown could hand China an edge. Nvidia sits in the middle of that contest. Last December Trump allowed it to begin selling to “approved customers” in China, but the U.S. still bars sales of its most advanced chips there.
Huang thinks American technology should benefit the U.S. first, yet he objects to government bans on selling it to China. “Every single chip company should go and serve the world, compete for the world,” he said. He will attend a White House dinner on Sept. 24 where Trump hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping, and he wants to talk with Xi about global standards for AI. Some areas, such as national security and defense, are off limits for American AI firms working with China, he noted.
Data centers and taxes
On the public backlash against data centers, Huang was blunt. “I would say we’re sorry we didn’t come talk to you sooner,” he said of communities where voters are pushing back. The industry needs to engage residents “long before we set up the data centers.” He argued that data centers have become more energy-efficient and use less water, and that they can help “bring back building and manufacturing again.”
Bloomberg’s index puts his net worth at $182 billion, eighth in the world. California voters will decide this fall on a one-time 5% tax on residents worth $1 billion or more. Other billionaires there have criticized it. Huang has not. “The fact that I can afford to pay $8 billion in taxes over five years is a privilege,” he said. “I’m not afraid of paying taxes. I’m just afraid of being poor.”
He called himself “the ultimate American dream.” The idea for Nvidia came to him while he was washing dishes at Denny’s. “I was just really, really focused on doing dishes like no dishwasher ever did dishes,” he said.
