Speaking during a tech summit hosted by the All-In Podcast and The Hill & Valley Forum [1] on July 23 in Washington, Nvidia CEO and co-founder Jensen Huang called artificial intelligence (AI) the “greatest technology equalizer of all time.”
Nvidia is the trillion-dollar company that manufactures the chips that power many of today’s major AI models.
“One hundred percent of our chip designers use AI. We are busier than ever. And the reason for that is because we have so many ideas that we want to go pursue. AI makes it possible for us to go pursue those ideas now that we’re not doing the mundane stuff,” he said.
So long as you have ideas, he said, you can pursue those ideas.
“AI in my case is creating jobs. It causes us to be able to create things that customers would like to buy. It drives more growth. It drives more jobs. All that goes together,” Huang said.
First, in calling AI a “great equalizer,” Huang believes that it levels the playing field. In the era of AI, he said “everybody’s a programmer.” You don’t need to know how to code; you can just ask AI how to create an AI and it will tell you how to do it.
Second, he envisions that for companies to be successful in the AI era, they need to operate in a two-factory model: a machine factory (focused on manufacturing physical goods) and an AI factory (focused on developing and managing AI for those goods).
And third, Huang predicted his company might produce a half-trillion dollars worth of AI supercomputers over the next four years, which will be used to grow the industry by trillions of dollars more.
While some jobs will become obsolete, he said “many” jobs will be created.
“The one thing that we know for certain is that if you’re not using AI, you’re going to lose your job to somebody who uses AI,” he said.
Entrepreneur magazine [2] reports a recent MIT study revealed that, while U.S. businesses have invested between $35 to $40 billion on internal AI projects, 95% haven’t seen a return or any measurable impact on profits.
“The research shows that AI works best with back-office tasks with a high return-on-investment (ROI), like administrative and repetitive functions,” according to the publication. “However, more than half of the funds spent on AI projects tried to use the technology for sales and marketing, two areas that the researchers say still need human involvement and have a lower ROI.”
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That doesn’t mean AI is “useless” in areas with lower usage, as Paul Hlivko wrote in Harvard Business Review [3]. Hlivko has spent three decades working with emerging tech in a variety of industries.
“It just means its value won’t come from sweeping, instant disruption, but from targeted, deliberate integration,” he said. “Betting on a short timeline and quick ROI risks wasted capital, failed automation and unnecessary workforce disruption.”
Hlivko said companies are treating AI “as if it’s a silver bullet, throwing billions at models while neglecting the harder work of integration, infrastructure and real business value.”
While AI will transform industries, he said this won’t happen at “Silicon Valley” speed. “It will happen on enterprise time: longer, slower, and with far more friction than most expect.”
AI may level the playing field to some degree, but like any form of wealth creation, you still need an idea — and some elbow grease — to profit from this technology.
So, will AI yield more millionaires? It’s already been creating billionaires at a rapid pace. Back in March, Bloomberg [4] reported 15 founders across four AI companies were worth altogether $38 billion. And those ranks were primed to swell as more startups sought glowing valuations.
CNBC [5], citing venture capital database CB Insights, reported in August that 100 private AI companies that had formed since 2023 have been valued at $1 billion or more.
Huang himself claimed on the podcast he’s “created more billionaires” on his management team than any CEO in the world. Nvidia’s CFO Colette Kress and executive vice president of worldwide field operations Jay Puri both recently joined Bloomberg’s [6] billionaires list.
So, is there still space for making money?
“Ultimately, the market will determine which companies and sectors capture AI’s value,” Hlivko said. “But one thing is certain: AI’s ubiquity will erode its exclusivity. Its impact won’t be in who owns it, but in how we use it.”
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[1]. All-In Podcast. “Winning the AI Race Part 3: Jensen Huang, Lisa Su, James Litinsky, Chase Lochmiller“
[2]. Entrepreneur. “Nearly 95% of Companies Saw Zero Return on In-House AI Investments, According to a New MIT Study: ‘Little to No Measurable Impact’”
[3]. Harvard Business Review. “The AI Revolution Won’t Happen Overnight”
[4]. Bloomberg. “The New Billionaires of the AI Boom”
[5]. CNBC. “AI is creating new billionaires at a record pace”
[6]. Bloomberg. “Nvidia’s Billionaire Ranks Expand to Include CFO, Sales Chief”
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