Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang responded to criticism by Pope Leo XIV regarding AI safety and regulation, saying that the questions raised by the pontiff were necessary and important, while stressing Nvidia’s efforts to make AI a safe and positive technology for society.
“He’s asking all the right questions and he’s thinking about all the right issues,” Huang told Fortune in an interview Wednesday, when asked about the pope’s remarks. “I’m looking forward to seeing them.”
Pope Leo made the earlier comments in a press conference in late September. He told reporters concerns that AI could destroy the world are not “fake news” and should be taken seriously, in an apparent rebuke of President Donald Trump, who had told the UN General Assembly the previous week that he believed fears about AI’s dangers were a “hoax.”
The pope also directly criticized Huang, saying he was skeptical of Nvidia’s announcement about AI guardrails because Huang has argued there should be no limits and no government regulation.
Huang told CBS News earlier this month that he agreed with Trump that AI safety concerns were overblown. Nvidia has also launched a software platform that is aimed at stopping AI agents from breaching containment.
Huang told Fortune he was unsure what the pope meant, but defended Nvidia’s record. “I’m not exactly sure what was intended, but the facts are that few are doing as much in advancing AI safety in a way that helps the entire industry as we are,” he said.
He pointed to Nvidia’s open-source safety technology, its work on a framework for improving the quality of companies, and its efforts on audit, governance and standards-setting. “We are doing as much as we can, and the things that we’re doing are going to dramatically help,” he said.
Huang argued the tools would have helped in incidents that have already occurred. “We can always talk about hypothetical incidents that have not happened, but as an engineer, we should develop the technology and methodologies and practices to deal with the incidents that have happened,” he said.
He also said he had common ground with some of the pope concerns. “We all care about the same thing, which is an optimistic future where this technology has great positive impact in society while doing it with great responsibility, safety, and accountability,” Huang said.
The pope, who has warned of the dangers of AI throughout his 16-month papacy, urged the world “to promote dialogue, study, investigation” on the technology.
