NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang clarified his comments about the supposed “death of programming” during Nvidia GTC 2024 in San Jose. The question he was asked had to do with whether he still thinks it doesn’t make sense for young people to take the time to explore the world of programming and programming languages, as AI will replace them in the future.

Huang’s opinion doesn’t seem to have changed much. He is still of the opinion that you don’t have to be a programmer with excellent C++ knowledge to be successful. What engineers need to succeed is to be fast.

“You just have to be a fast engineer. And who can’t be a fast engineer? When my wife talks to me, she’s a fast engineer,” he replies.

“We all have to learn how to cue artificial intelligence, but it’s no different than learning how to cue the people on your team,” he adds.

He says these skills can be vital for young people entering the job market at an opportune time.

“Artificial intelligence is a new industry – that’s why we say there’s a new industrial revolution. In the future, almost all of our computing will be generated,” he said.

Some time ago, Jensen Huang was harshly criticized for statements in which he argued that it should not and does not make sense for young people today to devote time and attention to coding because artificial intelligence will do it for them.

He said this time should be invested in developing expertise in industries such as agriculture, biology, manufacturing and education. He stresses that upskilling can be key to making progress by helping people better understand how and when to use AI programming.