Synopsis
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has urged India to move faster in the artificial intelligence race and build a strong domestic AI economy by leveraging its established IT sector. Speaking at the G20 Innovation Ministerial, Huang also called for practical AI regulation focused on actual harm, while stressing that technology companies must prioritise safety as AI systems become more capable.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has urged India to accelerate its adoption and development of artificial intelligence, saying the country has a strong opportunity to build a domestic AI economy by leveraging its decades-old information technology industry. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the G20 Innovation Ministerial, Huang said the rapid pace of AI development meant countries could not afford to move slowly.
“AI is moving fast, so every country has to move faster,” Huang told IANS.
India has a strong starting point
Huang described India as one of the world's leading IT powers and said the emergence of AI represented the start of a new technology platform. For India, he said, this could create an opportunity to build on the expertise and infrastructure developed by its existing technology sector.
“India is one of the world's leading IT industries, and this is the beginning of a new IT platform,” Huang told IANS.
He also recalled an earlier interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he had discussed AI with him about a decade ago. Now, Huang said, he was keen to see Indian companies and start-ups turn that early interest into businesses, products and technologies.
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“I’m really anxious to see and very excited to see the local companies and the local startups starting in India, starting to take advantage of the technology,” he said. According to Huang, the next step is for these businesses not only to use AI but also contribute to its development and help create a local ecosystem around the technology.
AI is becoming economic infrastructure
Huang said AI should no longer be viewed simply as another emerging technology. It is increasingly becoming part of the infrastructure needed to build modern economies. He pointed to the US approach, where companies are working across the AI technology stack, but said other countries did not necessarily have to replicate the entire system. Instead, nations could choose the technologies and components that best suited their own requirements.
The US, he said, wanted other G20 nations to adopt AI and use it to develop their own AI economies. For India, that could mean an opportunity to combine its existing software and IT capabilities with AI computing, applications and start-ups.
Nvidia CEO cautions against over-regulation
Huang also weighed in on one of the biggest debates surrounding AI: how governments should regulate the technology. His advice was to focus on real-world risks rather than harms that may never occur.
“The advice that I would have is to regulate practical and actual harm and not regulate theoretical and hypothetical harm,” he said.
Huang argued that AI remains in its formative phase and that regulation should allow the technology to develop while ensuring that genuine risks are addressed. He also said technological progress itself could help make AI systems safer.
Drawing a comparison with automobiles, Huang noted that cars have become significantly safer over the past century as engineering and technology improved. The same principle, he suggested, should apply to AI.
AI systems are improving, Huang says
Huang said the quality and reliability of AI systems had improved substantially over the past two years. According to him, newer systems are producing fewer hallucinations, becoming more grounded in factual information and showing stronger abilities to handle practical problems.
“We need to keep moving in that direction,” he said. But he stressed that improving AI capabilities should go hand in hand with safety.
Technology companies, he said, have a responsibility to ensure that the systems they develop are safe even as the industry races to build more powerful models. “Every single company has to take it upon themselves to develop the technology safely,” Huang said.
No discussion on additional semiconductor tariffs
Huang was also asked whether he had discussed the possibility of additional US tariffs on semiconductors during the G20 ministerial. He said there had been no such discussion with the US official. “I had no conversation related to that,” he said.
Why Nvidia matters in the AI race
Nvidia was founded in 1993 and initially became known for graphics processing units, or GPUs, used primarily in computers and gaming.
The company's role changed dramatically with the rise of AI. Its chips became a key part of the computing infrastructure used to train and run advanced AI systems, helping Nvidia emerge as one of the most important companies in the global AI boom.
Huang, who co-founded Nvidia and has led the company since its creation, has consequently become a prominent voice on the future of AI, from computing infrastructure and business opportunities to regulation and safety.
His message to India was straightforward: the AI race is moving quickly, and the country needs to move with it.
