NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang's business empire relies heavily on the continued expansion of the artificial intelligence industry. Under his leadership, NVIDIA has become a core global hardware supplier, providing the underlying computational power for data centers and computer equipment that run the majority of AI systems and services. Therefore, he is naturally unconcerned about views suggesting that "AI erodes the brain, causing children to forget basic math, and even making him unable to remember his own phone number and address."
In a recent exclusive interview with The New York Times, the reporter mentioned a Chinese study to Jensen Huang: AI tools help children complete homework faster, but the study also showed that the skills homework is meant to cultivate are not truly mastered by the children, leading to rapidly declining test and exam scores. Jensen Huang acknowledged that many children using AI may indeed suffer from this lack of knowledge retention, but he is not concerned about it.
"Try asking kids to do long division now," Jensen Huang said. "Multiplication tables are nearly forgotten. Not to mention square roots—it's unthinkable. Basic math is being gradually forgotten. But does it matter? I don't think so. Not at all."
When the reporter pointed out that some skills are indispensable, Jensen Huang agreed but questioned whether basic math belongs in that category, suggesting that humans will "discover new core competencies." He then admitted that due to his long-term use of AI and other technological products, he can no longer remember his home address or phone number.
"There are too many skills that are actually irrelevant," Jensen Huang stated.
"Let me confess something first: I genuinely can't remember my home address. It's absolutely true... my wife Lori can vouch for that. A few years ago, when I went to a gas station to refuel, the attendant asked for my zip code, and I panicked on the spot—I had no idea what our zip code was. I also can't remember my phone number. I've forgotten these things, but I'm perfectly fine with that state of affairs."
Jensen Huang further stated that while AI may cause people to lose some "fine-grained mental flexibility," there is no need to worry. We will all evolve into better "systems thinkers."
I have no idea what this so-called "systems thinker" really is, and Jensen Huang's lengthy 230-word response didn't clarify it either. So I'll interpret it myself: a "systems thinker" is probably someone who is completely helpless when their phone battery dies, and can't even provide their own address or phone number when interacting with others. These people not only can't perform basic math operations, but likely couldn't even explain the logic behind a chatbot calculating "4 times 3 equals 12." I fail to see anything desirable about such a future!