'First Time Any Government Leader...': Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Praises PM Modi's AI Vision

Mumbai: Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang has said he was amazed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi confidence when he asked him to speak about Artificial Intelligence (AI) to his Cabinet six years ago, saying it was literally the first time any government leader had asked him to speak about AI.

Speaking to billionaire industrialist and Reliance Group Chairman Mukesh Ambani , Jensen Huang said, “This was about six years ago when PM Modi asked me to address his cabinet about artificial intelligence and I was so surprised… it was literally the first time any government leader, national leaders asked me to address his cabinet on this particular topic, long before anybody was talking about this technology intelligence.”

Recalling the incident, Huang said, "my last visit with him (PM Modi)… it was really profound and I explained to him the concept of AI and why the AI infrastructure was essential. He (PM Modi) said that India should manufacture its own AI. It should not outsource, export data to import intelligence. India should not export data to import intelligence”.

NVIDIA, Reliance Industries announces strategic partnership

Earlier today, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang and Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced a strategic partnership to build state-of-the-art AI infrastructure in India at the NVIDIA Summit in Mumbai. 

The collaboration aims to accelerate India's transformation into a global AI powerhouse by leveraging the nation's vast talent pool and burgeoning digital infrastructure.

Welcoming Huang to Mumbai, Ambani highlighted India's unique position with a youthful population eager to embrace new technologies.

"We are among the only countries where the average age of 1.4 billion people is below 35," he noted.

Ambani emphasised that India's aspirations, combined with the visionary leadership of the Indian Prime Minister, have set the stage for a digital revolution. "We are at the doorstep of the new intelligence age," he said.

Huang praised India's rapid digitalisation and its potential in the AI sector. "Very few countries have this amazing natural resource called IT and computer science expertise," he said.

Huang also spoke about the future of AI and how he sees things shaping up in the future.

A short chat with Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar , who had entered the room minutes before the start of the event, helped break the monotony which can be set in through a nerdy talk. Jokes flew on each other's age, martial arts, common roots in Thailand, future releases for the actor and also the true impact of Artificial Intelligence on jobs, as he sees it.

Answering Kumar's specific poser, Huang said AI will not impact jobs directly but the one who does not use the tools to improve his work efficiency will surely be impacted by the one who does. The crowd, which had started trickling in two hours prior to the scheduled time could not agree more.