Jensen Huang, Nvidia's chief executive officer (CEO), said artificial intelligence (AI) will lead job creation.
Huang spoke with Larry Fink, BlackRock CEO, on the 21st (local time) at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Huang stressed that the rapid expansion of AI is shifting the work of the global labor force—from skilled technical roles to startups—from "simple tasks" to "purpose"-driven work.
Huang likened AI to a "five-layer cake" made up of energy; chips and computing infrastructure; cloud data centers; models; and applications, calling it "the starting point for the next-generation large-scale computing platform transition, and the largest infrastructure buildout in human history." He added, "The platform transition is creating jobs across the economy, from energy and construction to advanced manufacturing, cloud operations, and application development," and "since AI is integrating a wide range of industries including finance, healthcare, and manufacturing, economic gains will occur at the top layer, the 'applications.'"
Huang said venture capital (VC) investment is a signal of how quickly AI is reshaping the global economy. "Last year saw a record high level of VC investment," he said, adding that "most of the capital flowed to what he described as 'AI-native corporations.'"
Huang saw these investments as directly translating into job creation. "Demand is rising for plumbers; electricians; construction workers; steelworkers; network engineers; and teams that install and operate advanced equipment."
Huang also said AI is being regarded as core infrastructure essential to nations. "Every country should treat AI like electricity or roads," he said. "They should develop their own AI, continually advance it, and make national-level intelligence part of the ecosystem." He added, "AI is the easiest software in history to use," noting that "in just two to three years, AI tools have reached nearly 1 billion people."
Huang said AI literacy is becoming a "core competency." "It is very clear that learning how to use AI—how to instruct and manage it, set guardrails, and evaluate it—is essential," he said.