Jensen Huang's CMU Speech: In the AI Era, Don't Watch From the Sidelines – Build

Video title: 2026 CMU Commencement Keynote Speaker: Jensen Huang

Video author: Carnegie Mellon University

Editor: Peggy

Editor's note: In this speech to Carnegie Mellon University's Class of 2026, Huang did not simply portray AI as a technological wave. Instead, he placed it within a broader understanding of personal destiny, industry cycles, and the rebuilding of national capabilities.

Starting with his own immigrant experience, early jobs, and the failures and restarts of founding NVIDIA, he aimed to illustrate a core judgment: what truly changes a life is not a deterministic path to success, but the ability to continuously take responsibility, learn from failure, and start anew amidst uncertainty. NVIDIA's growth was built on repeated misjudgments of "how hard could it be" and subsequent reinventions.

Huang's definition of the AI revolution goes beyond a mere "tool upgrade." In his view, AI is resetting computing itself: shifting from humans writing programs and computers executing instructions, to machines understanding, reasoning, planning, and using tools. This will not only transform the software industry but also the organization of manufacturing, energy, healthcare, education, and virtually every other sector.

This is the most crucial practical implication of the speech: AI is not just creating a new computing industry; it is ushering in a new industrial era. Chip factories, data centers, power grids, energy systems, and advanced manufacturing will collectively form the next wave of technological infrastructure. For the United States, this represents an opportunity for re-industrialization. For graduates, it means their careers are starting precisely at the dawn of a new industrial cycle.

However, Huang did not shy away from the uncertainty AI brings. He acknowledged that AI will automate many tasks and cause some jobs to disappear. But he distinguishes between "tasks" and "purposes": AI can replace certain labor processes, but it cannot replace the human ability to ask questions, define goals, and take responsibility. The real risk is not AI replacing people, but people who don't know how to use AI being left behind by those who do.

As Carnegie Mellon's motto states: "My heart is in the work." In an era where intelligence is being redefined and industries reorganized, Huang's advice to graduates can be summed up in one sentence: Don't watch the future from the sidelines. Put your heart into it, and then build it with your own hands.

Below is the original speech.

President, Trustees, esteemed faculty, distinguished guests, proud parents and families, and most importantly, the graduating Class of 2026 of Carnegie Mellon University:

Thank you for this incredible honor.

Being at Carnegie Mellon is deeply meaningful to me. This is one of the greatest universities in the world, and one of the few places that truly "invents the future."

Today is a day of pride and joy, a day your dreams have come true. But this day isn't just yours. Your families, teachers, mentors, and friends have supported you every step of the way. Before we talk about the future, please thank them. This day is theirs too.

Graduates, please stand up. Stand up with me. Come on, everyone.

Especially, turn to your mothers and wish them a Happy Mother's Day. For you, this might seem like just another step; for them, it's the moment their dreams came true.

Please sit down. CMU students, just like robots – executing only one instruction at a time (laughter).

Alright, let's focus. I have something important to tell you. Seeing you graduate from one of the world's greatest institutions is also their moment. My parents have always been incredibly proud of me. My journey is their journey.

I am the result of their dreams coming true. And their dream was the American Dream.

Like many of you here, I am a first-generation immigrant. My father had a dream: to raise his family in America. When I was 9, he sent my brother and me to the United States. We ended up at a Baptist boarding school in Oneida, Kentucky. It was in a coal mining area, a small town of just a few hundred people.

Two years later, my parents left everything behind to join us in America. They arrived with almost nothing. My father was a chemical engineer, and my mother worked as a maid at a Catholic school. She woke me up at 4 AM every day to deliver newspapers. Later, my brother helped me get a job washing dishes at Denny's. To me back then, it felt like a major career promotion.

This is what I saw in America: not easy, but full of opportunity. It's not a guarantee; it's a chance. My parents came because they believed America could give their children a shot. How could we not be romantically idealistic about America?

Later, I went to Oregon State University. I met my wife, Lori, when I was 17. I was the youngest kid on campus, and we were lab partners in a sophomore engineering class. She was 19 – an "older woman." I beat out the other 250 guys in the class and won her heart. We've now been married for 40 years. We have two wonderful children, who both work at NVIDIA now.

When I was 30, I co-founded NVIDIA with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem, two brilliant computer scientists. We wanted to build a new kind of computer, one that could solve problems ordinary computers couldn't. We had absolutely no idea how to start a company, how to raise money, or how to run NVIDIA.

I just thought: How hard could it be?

As it turned out, it was very, very hard. Our very first technology didn't even work.

We almost ran out of money. Once, I had to fly to Japan and explain to SEGA's CEO that the technology we had contracted to develop for them wouldn't work. I asked him to cancel the contract we couldn't fulfill, and then I asked him to keep paying us. If we hadn't gotten that money, NVIDIA would have been finished.

It was embarrassing, humiliating – one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

And the CEO of SEGA said yes.

I learned early on that being a CEO isn't about power; it's about responsibility – the burden of keeping the company alive. I also learned that honesty and humility, even in the business world, can be met with generosity and goodwill.

We used that money to restart the company. It was in that desperate situation that we invented new approaches to chips and computer design, methods that are still used today.

For 33 years, NVIDIA has reinvented itself over and over. Each time, we asked: "How hard could it be?" And each time, we learned: "Harder than we thought."

But it was also in these experiences that we learned never to see failure as the opposite of success. Every failure is just a moment to learn, a moment to be humble, a moment to build character. The resilience forged by setbacks gives you the strength to start again.

Today, I am one of the longest-serving CEOs in the tech industry. NVIDIA, and what my 45,000 extraordinary colleagues and I have built together, is the work of my life.

Now, it's your turn to build your dreams. And the timing couldn't be better.

My career began at the dawn of the PC revolution. Yours begins at the dawn of the AI revolution. I can't imagine a more exciting time to start your life's work.

AI started right here at Carnegie Mellon. In the last 24 hours, I've heard countless AI jokes at CMU. Carnegie Mellon is one of the true birthplaces of artificial intelligence and robotics. In the 1950s, researchers here created the Logic Theorist, widely considered the first AI computer program.

In 1979, CMU founded the Robotics Institute. This morning, I toured some robotics projects. The Robotics Institute was the first academic institution entirely dedicated to robotics.

Today, AI has begun to completely reinvent computing.

I have lived through every major computing platform shift: mainframes, PCs, the internet, mobile, and cloud computing. Each wave was built on the one before it. Each wave expanded accessibility. Each wave transformed industries and society.

But what's coming next is bigger than any of them.

Computing is undergoing a total reset. This hasn't happened since modern computing was invented. For 60 years, computing worked essentially the same way: humans wrote software, and computers executed instructions. That paradigm is over.

AI has reinvented computing. From human programming to machine learning. From software running on CPUs to neural networks running on GPUs. From executing instructions to understanding, reasoning, planning, and using tools. A new industry capable of manufacturing intelligence at scale is emerging. Because intelligence is the foundation of every industry. Every single one will be changed.

For many, AI brings uncertainty. People see AI writing software, generating images, driving cars, and they naturally ask: What will happen next? Will jobs disappear? Will people be left behind? Will this technology become too powerful? Every major technological revolution in history brought both fear and opportunity.

When societies engage with technological progress in an open, responsible, and optimistic way, we expand human potential far more than we diminish it. So, first and foremost, we must stay clear-eyed.

Artificial intelligence – the automation of understanding, reasoning, and problem-solving – is one of the most powerful technologies humanity has ever created. Like all transformative technologies before it, it brings immense promise and real peril.

The responsibility of our generation is not just to advance AI, but to advance it wisely. Scientists and engineers have a profound responsibility to push forward both AI's capabilities and AI's safety. Policymakers have a responsibility to build thoughtful guardrails, protecting society while allowing innovation, discovery, and progress to continue.

History shows that societies that retreat from technology cannot stop progress. They only forfeit their chance to shape it and benefit from it. So, the answer is not to fear the future. The answer is to guide the future wisely, build it responsibly, and ensure it benefits as many people as possible.

We shouldn't teach people to fear the future. We should engage with it optimistically, responsibly, and ambitiously. Only a small fraction of the world knows how to write software.

But now, anyone can ask an AI to help them build something useful. A shopkeeper can create a website to grow their business. A carpenter can design a kitchen, offering new services to clients. The code is written by AI.

Now, everyone is a programmer.

For the first time, the power of computing and intelligence can truly reach everyone, bridging the digital divide. Like electricity and the internet before it, AI will require trillions of dollars in infrastructure investment. This is the largest buildout of technology infrastructure in human history, and a once-in-a-generation opportunity: to re-industrialize America, to restore the nation's ability to build.

To support AI, America will build chip factories, computer factories, data centers, and advanced manufacturing facilities all across the country. AI gives America a reason and opportunity to build again. Electricians, plumbers, steelworkers, technicians, construction workers – this is your time.

AI isn't just creating a new computing industry. It is creating a new industrial era. Powering this new infrastructure requires an immense supply of energy. But it is also driving one of the largest investments in energy infrastructure in decades: modernizing the grid, expanding power generation, and accelerating sustainable energy.

Yes, AI will change every job. But the tasks of a job are not the same as the purpose of a job.

Many tasks will be automated. Some jobs will disappear. But many new jobs, and entirely new industries, will also be created.

Software coding tasks are being automated more and more. But with AI, software engineers can expand their search for solutions, tackling more ambitious problems.

Radiology image analysis is being automated more and more. But with AI, radiologists will be elevated to a new level, better diagnosing diseases and caring for patients.

AI won't replace humans; it will amplify human capability. That's why, even as AI writes more code and analyzes more scans, the demand for software engineers and radiologists continues to grow.

AI probably won't replace you. But someone who knows how to use AI better than you might.

So, a good thought experiment is: Do we want our children to be empowered by AI, or to be left behind by those who are empowered by it? No parent wants their child to fall behind.

So, let's build AI safely. And, at the same time, let's imagine an optimistic future: one our children will want to participate in and be inspired to build together.

Therefore, we can, and must, do four things simultaneously: advance the technology safely; create thoughtful policy; make AI broadly accessible; and encourage everyone to participate.

Everyone should have access to AI. Opportunity shouldn't just belong to those who can code.

Class of 2026, you are entering an extraordinary moment.

A new industry is being born. A new era of science and discovery is beginning.

AI will accelerate the expansion of human knowledge, helping us solve problems that once seemed out of reach. We have the chance to bridge the technological divide, giving billions of people true access to computing and intelligence for the first time. We have the chance to re-industrialize America, restore our ability to build, and help create a future more prosperous, more powerful, and more hopeful than the world you inherited.

No generation has ever entered the world with more powerful tools than you have, and no generation has had a greater opportunity.

We all stand at the same starting line.

This is your moment to shape what happens next. So run, don't walk.

Carnegie Mellon has a motto that I deeply love: "My heart is in the work."

So, put your heart into the work. Create something worthy of your education, worthy of your potential, and worthy of the people who believed in you long before the world did.

Congratulations, Carnegie Mellon University Class of 2026.

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