Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made a sweeping case against AI regulation during an interview at Salesforce's Dreamforce conference on September 15, arguing that safety is fundamentally an engineering challenge rather than a legislative one.
"Safety is an engineering problem, not a legal one," Huang said. "We're developing software after all. It's a complicated computing system, but it's ultimately a computing system."
Huang contended that existing market forces are sufficient to prevent companies from releasing unsafe products. "If you build a product or a service and you're not confident in its functionality, capability, or safety, then don't release it," he said, adding that companies should pace themselves until they are confident in what they ship.
The Nvidia CEO characterized AI not as a new form of "alien mind" — a description used by at least one OpenAI safety researcher — but as standard hardware and software built by humans, and therefore controllable by humans within existing legal frameworks.
Huang also noted his close relationship with President Trump, suggesting he has direct access to shape policy at the highest level. His position carries significant weight: Nvidia has become the indispensable infrastructure provider for the AI industry, and Huang is widely regarded as one of the most knowledgeable figures in the field.
Critics point out that Huang's stance benefits Nvidia commercially, as regulation could slow the pace of AI deployment and reduce demand for Nvidia's hardware. They also note that well-intentioned companies regularly ship products with unintended consequences, citing the 2024 CrowdStrike outage and Meta's $18 billion social media settlement as cautionary examples.
The remarks come amid a broader debate about AI governance, with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at the All-In Summit calling for international cooperation on safety standards, including with China.
