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NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang delivered an optimistic commencement address at Carnegie Mellon University on Sunday, telling graduates that despite widespread anxiety about artificial intelligence, there has never been a better moment to launch a career.
"Now it's your time to realize your dreams," Huang told the Class of 2026, "and the timing could not be more perfect."
The remarks came as public unease over AI's impact on employment continues to mount. Several major companies — including Cloudflare and Snap — have cited AI-driven efficiencies as a factor in recent layoffs, and the unemployment rate among new graduates hit a four-year high at the start of 2026. A Pew Research Center study found that roughly half of Americans feel more concerned than excited about AI's growing presence in their daily lives.
Huang, 61, pushed back against that pessimism. He argued that AI is closing the "technology divide," lowering the barrier for anyone to build something meaningful — and that this democratization will generate opportunities rather than foreclose them. "AI is not likely to replace you," he said plainly. "But someone using AI better than you might."
The Nvidia chief speaks from a vantage point few can claim. He graduated from Oregon State University with an electrical engineering degree in 1984 — just as the personal computing revolution was gathering steam — later earned a master's from Stanford, and co-founded Nvidia in 1993 on the cusp of the internet era. His net worth now stands at an estimated $186 billion.
His upbeat tone at Carnegie Mellon is part of a broader effort to reframe the public conversation around AI. Earlier this month, on the Memos to the President podcast, Huang criticized fellow tech leaders — including those who have warned of catastrophic job losses or existential risk — for fueling unnecessary alarm.
"These kinds of comments are not helpful," he said. "They're made by people who are like me — CEOs. Somehow, because they became CEOs, they adopt a God complex and, before you know it, think they know everything. We have to be careful and really ground ourselves in the facts."
His comments appear directed, at least in part, at peers such as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who warned last year that AI could eliminate up to 50% of white-collar entry-level jobs, and Elon Musk, who told Joe Rogan in February that humanity faces a "20% chance of annihilation" from the technology.
Those fears are increasingly spilling into the political arena. With midterm elections approaching, AI regulation is expected to be a defining issue — and negative public sentiment, compounded by visible job displacement and community resistance to new data centers, could shape the debate significantly.
For now, Huang is betting that the next generation sees AI as an accelerant rather than a threat. His message to Sunday's graduates was clear: the tools are unprecedented, the moment is historic, and the only question is whether they'll use them well.