Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said parents should not be obsessed with their children’s studies in the age of artificial intelligence.
“I don’t think it matters. Everything that was important in the past will be important in the future,” Huang told Singapore’s Channel NewsAsia on Monday.
Students should focus on leveraging AI to deepen their learning and improve their skills, instead of pursuing subjects that cannot withstand AI, Huang said.
The Nvidia chief cited journalism, storytelling, art, and design as examples of areas that will continue to be valuable even as AI becomes more powerful. He pointed out that good interviewers are not only well-prepared but also able to stay present, listen carefully, and react dynamically in the moment.
“The ability to tell a story to an audience will continue to be as important in the future as it is today,” Huang said.
Nvidia’s CEO also referenced the Japanese concept of “wabi-sabi,” or the beauty of imperfection, suggesting that uniquely human qualities may be more respected in an AI-saturated world.
“Whatever your passion is, the only thing you have to do is ask yourself: How can AI enhance my learning, my skill, my purpose?” he said.
Huang is the latest business leader to weigh in on how AI will reshape education and the way we work.
Earlier this month, futurist and entrepreneur Peter Diamandis told Business Insider that children will need qualities such as curiosity, purpose and adaptability to succeed in the age of AI.
Meanwhile, entrepreneur-turned-professor Scott Galloway said on the podcast The Diary of a CEO that parents should focus on helping their children develop lasting people skills like storytelling, communication and relationship building.
Huang echoed these themes, arguing that while AI will automate some parts of many jobs, it will also push people into higher-level jobs that require judgment and creativity.
“Work is like a basket of tasks,” he told CNA. “Many of those tasks will be automated, and my sense is that as a result of automation, we will be able to focus on the more difficult parts of the job.”
Hwang also raised concerns that widespread use of AI could make people less intelligent or lazy in their thinking.
Huang argued that previous waves of technology have increased human ambition, rather than diminished it, comparing it to the rise of personal computers, the Internet, and smartphones.
“Do we feel that we are busy or not so busy? I think the answer is that we feel that we are busy,” Huang said.