Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says PM Modi ahead of others on AI, asked him to address ministers 6 years ago

In a recent conversation with Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recollects how 6 years ago, when no one was talking about AI, PM Modi had asked him to address his cabinet about it.

In Short

• Nvidia CEO recounts PM Modi's early interest in AI 6 years ago.
• Nvidia introduces Hindi AI model to aid Indian companies.
• PM Modi suggested India manufacture its own AI, not outsource data

Nvidia CEO says that 6 years ago, when no one was talking about artificial intelligence (AI), prime minister Narendra Modi asked him to address his cabinet on AI.

"About 6 years ago, when I first met Modi Ji, he asked me to meet his cabinet and address them about artificial intelligence," Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said a few days ago. He made his comments during his recent conversation with Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani in Mumbai.

"I was so surprised," he added. "It was literally the first time any government leader had asked me to address his cabinet on this particular topic (AI)."

The Nvidia CEO says he was surprised about being asked by the prime minister to address the cabinet because "it was long before anybody was talking about artificial intelligence".

Huang also revealed that during his last visit to India, PM Modi told him something "quite profound". Modi said to him that it makes complete sense that India should manufacture its own AI, instead of outsourcing data to import intelligence.

The Nvidia CEO echoed the same thought recently in a conversation with India Today. In a question he was asked how India could avoid being relegated to a back-office role in the new world powered by AI. He said that India needed to stop providing its labour for software development done elsewhere. "Why export the labour while the software is built elsewhere? Why not manufacture the intelligence here and then export it,” said Huang.

The Nvidia CEO proposes that India should prioritise developing and exporting its own AI innovations, aiming to establish itself as a leader in AI development, rather than merely serving as a support hub, as it did during the IT boom.

"You have the data, energy, and the infrastructure. You have the critical ingredients in the country to be able to harvest the raw data, and transform it into intelligence," he said. "There are many Indians out there who will enjoy Hindi on their phone, everywhere around the world. Those token should be manufactured here (India). That intelligence should be manufactured here".

During his India visit, Nvidia's CEO has also introduced a new Hindi AI model named Nemotron-4-Mini-Hindi-4B, designed to enable Indian companies to create their own AI models.