Huang tells Trump by phone: 'We're not going to let' AI slow down
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang took a call from President Trump onstage at a summit and agreed with him that AI development should not slow down, dismissing public concerns about data centers as manufactured opposition.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was speaking onstage at the All-In Summit in Los Angeles on Monday when he received a phone call from President Donald Trump and put it on speaker for the audience to hear. The call interrupted a discussion Huang was having with the All-In podcast hosts about Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's public call to slow the pace of AI capability development. That view has also been echoed publicly by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, though Huang has taken a different position.
On the call, Trump argued that calls to slow AI progress serve the interests of people who don't want to see American success in the field — whether political opponents or, he suggested, China. He called such calls a "hoax" and said it would not be allowed to happen. Huang agreed, telling Trump "we're not going to let that happen," prompting applause from the crowd.
Data center concerns
Trump and allies including Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan have suggested that growing public opposition to data center construction is part of a coordinated effort to undermine U.S. economic growth. However, recent Gallup polling points to more straightforward explanations: seven in 10 Americans oppose data center construction in their area, with more than half citing concerns about environmental resources and about 20% citing cost-of-living increases and quality-of-life effects.
Trump acknowledged during the call that the industry needs to proceed carefully and prudently, but stressed this did not mean halting growth. He said he was aligned with Huang's approach and expressed confidence the U.S. would continue to lead in AI.
