Last Updated:
Jensen Huang was in Mumbai attending the Nvidia AI Summit India at the Jio World Convention Centre and he held a fireside discussion with Reliance Industries Limited chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during a conversation with RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani in Mumbai. Image/News18
Recalling an analogy Prime Minister Narendra Modi came up with during their previous meeting, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang said on Thursday that the prime minister told him just like India should not export flour to import bread, similarly the country should not export data to import intelligence.
Huang was in Mumbai attending the Nvidia AI Summit India at the Jio World Convention Centre and he held a fireside discussion with Reliance Industries Limited chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani.
When Nvidia CEO met PM Modi 6 years ago
“The thing that I really love, and when I met Modi ji, the first time he asked me to meet his cabinet was to, this has got to be about six years ago. He asked me to address this cabinet about Artificial Intelligence. And I was so surprised. It was literally the first time any government leader, any national leader asked me to address his cabinet on this particular topic,” Huang said.
This was long before anybody was talking about Artificial Intelligence, he recalled. “And my last visit with him, he said this, and it was really quite profound. He said…I was explaining to him the concept of AI infrastructure and why it’s essential for every nation to have their own AI infrastructure, like their own communication, their Internet infrastructure, their roads, energy. Of course. And of course, intelligence should be part of your infrastructure, and the manufacturing of intelligence should be part of your infrastructure. And he said this, he said, makes complete sense that India should manufacture its own AI. Manufacture your own AI. You should not outsource, you should not export data to import intelligence, that India should not export data to import intelligence. And he said, it’s like, Modi ji said, India should not just export flour to import bread. We should add value to the data ourselves. And the partnership that we have is to start that journey to build the underlying infrastructure so that India could have your own infrastructure. You surely have your own computer science expertise, and you also have your data, you have a giant population of users to drive that flywheel,” Huang said.
In the Reliance partnership, announced in September 2023, Nvidia will provide the computing power required for building a cloud AI infrastructure platform, while Reliance unit Jio will manage and maintain the infrastructure and oversee customer engagement.
‘PM Modi said AI has ability to elevate entire Indian population’
Huang recalled another comment by the Prime Minister. “This is the thing that he was most inspired by six years ago. He said that Artificial Intelligence has the ability to elevate the entire population of India. And the reason for that, I was talking earlier to him about the fact that there are so few people in the world who know how to program a computer. Programming is not easy. Here in India, it’s the largest population of any programmers in the world. However, still, programming is not easy,” he said.
Most people don’t know how to program Python, C++, Pascal, Fortran, or Java, but everyone knows how to program an intelligence, said Huang. “And so, the ability to program computers is available to a small population. But the ability to program AI is something that everyone can do. And if AI could be put into the hands of every citizen, it would elevate and put into the hands of everyone. This incredible capability you and I get the benefit from computers. And this computer could now benefit everybody in society. He explained that back to me,” he said.
Meeting during PM Modi’s US visit
Huang was one of 15 tech leaders who met with PM Modi during his visit to the United States this year. Speaking after the meeting in New York, the Nvidia CEO said, “This is India’s moment. You have to seize the opportunity.”
The meeting, held at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel on September 22, brought together the heads of some of the world’s biggest tech companies, including Sundar Pichai of Google, Shantanu Narayen of Adobe, and Arvind Krishna of IBM.
In the conversation, Huang highlighted the transformative potential of AI and India’s key role in this global shift.
“AI democratises computing, and this is India’s moment,” the Nvidia CEO said, stressing the importance of AI in creating new opportunities.
He mentioned that Nvidia is already working with various companies, startups, and educational institutions across India to harness this potential.
Huang praised Prime Minister Modi’s deep interest in emerging technologies, particularly AI.
“The Prime Minister is an incredible student. Every time I meet him, he wants to learn more about technology and artificial intelligence, the potential and opportunity for India, and the impact on India, society, and industry,” he said.
