Jensen Huang: The Narrative of AI Destroying Jobs Is Completely Wrong
Nvidia CEO Says AI Will Automate Tasks, Not Eliminate Jobs, and Will Create New Ones
Nvidia CEO Says AI Will Automate Tasks, Not Eliminate Jobs, and Will Create New Ones
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the narrative of artificial intelligence destroying jobs is "completely wrong." Speaking at Y Combinator Startup School, as reported by Business Insider, Huang explained that AI automates individual tasks, not entire occupations, and predicted the creation of "a whole bunch of new jobs."
Huang emphasized the difference between a task and a job. "Every job will change, and there will be a whole bunch of new jobs," he said. As an example, he cited customer support workers who answer calls and handle complaints: "That task will be automated."
Last week, Uber laid off 10% of its customer support staff, citing AI technology. But Huang argues this is about eliminating a specific task, not an entire position. "The reason is that a person's job has a purpose, and that purpose involves many tasks," he explained.
Huang cited radiology, law, and software engineering as industries where AI takes over tasks yet employment still rises. He noted that reading radiological images is being automated, but radiologist jobs keep growing because "the patient backlog is incredibly high."
The same holds for programmers-tools like Claude Code and Codex now edit code, but demand for software engineers is not declining. "The amount of ideas, ambition, and aspiration is so high. If we can automate the task of programming, we could hire more software engineers to do more things," Huang said.
Huang's remarks stand in contrast to predictions from Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic. In 2025, he forecast that AI could eliminate 50% of entry-level office jobs. Amodei later softened his stance, speaking about productivity gains, but still believes job loss could be "intrinsic" to AI.
Huang offers a different perspective: "This is a classic case of productivity driving growth. Growth drives more hiring." As a concrete example, he cited legal startup Harvey. Although there were fears it would eliminate paralegal jobs, that field is growing "like crazy," Huang claimed. However, Business Insider notes that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted little or no change in the number of such jobs between 2024 and 2034.
In closing, Huang said he agrees that workers will become better and faster, which will increase the supply of jobs. His message is clear: AI will not replace people; it will take over repetitive tasks and open space for greater creativity and productivity. "The narrative of AI destroying jobs is completely wrong," he concluded.