\n
<\/p>\n
Jensen Huang left Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s class of 2026 with a message that pushed back against graduation season anxiety: There\u2019s no better time than now to start a career.<\/p>\n
During a commencement speech on Sunday, the Nvidia CEO told the new grads<\/a> that \u201cthe timing could not be more perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYour career starts at the beginning of the AI revolution,\u201d he told the crowd of 5,800 undergraduate and graduate students.\u00a0<\/p>\n This sentiment landed better with Carnegie Mellon grads\u2014the university widely recognized as the birthplace of artificial intelligence and robotics\u2014than it did with others. Last Friday at the University of Central Florida, humanities department commencement speaker Gloria Caulfield, VP of strategic alliances at Tavistock Development Co., was booed<\/a> after touting AI as the \u201cnext industrial revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n The dissatisfaction with that view points to the broader anxiety that new grads are facing as AI changes entry-level hiring. A new survey<\/a> of 1,000 U.S.-based business majors by the AI agent company 11x found that 80% of graduating seniors believe AI has reduced entry-level job opportunities. However, another recent ZipRecruiter survey showed that new grads are feeling optimistic about their futures, even if they feel unprepared to enter a job market that has been reshaped and redefined by AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n In recent public speeches, Huang has maintained a spirit of optimism about young people starting their careers while the job market shape-shifts because of AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n That was no different during his commencement speech at Carnegie Mellon, during which he said that AI should not be feared, but rather utilized optimistically and responsibly. He doubled down on his belief that while AI might not displace or replace people from their jobs, someone who knows how to use AI better than them might.<\/p>\n While Huang acknowledged that AI has created uncertainty for many people, he said that \u201cevery major technological revolution in history created fear alongside opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLike every transformative technology before it, it will bring both great promise and real risks,\u201d he said. \u201cThe responsibility of our generation is not only to advance AI, but to advance it wisely.<\/p>\n \u201cHistory shows that societies that retreat from technology do not stop progress,\u201d he continued. \u201cThey only surrender the opportunity to shape it and to benefit from it. So, the answer is not to fear the future. The answer is to guide it wisely, build it responsibly, and ensure that its benefits reach as many people as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Huang also touched on the trillions of dollars and enormous amounts of energy needed to power what he calls a \u201cnew industrial era.\u201d Data centers are projected to require close to $7 trillion<\/a> in investment by 2030. This year alone, Nvidia has poured $40 billion<\/a> into investments and partnerships tied to AI infrastructure.<\/p>\n Now that anyone can ask AI to build a useful tool or product, Huang said, anyone can be a programmer. At the end of his address, the billionaire CEO told the new grads to \u201crun, don\u2019t walk,\u201d toward that democratization of capability.<\/p>\n \u201cAI will change every job,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the task and the purpose of a job are not the same. Many tasks will be automated. Some jobs will disappear. But many new jobs and entire new industries will be created.<\/p>\n \u201cAI does not replace human purpose,\u201d he added. \u201cIt amplifies human capability.\u201d<\/p>\n