NVIDIA CEO Speaks at UK AI Event on How AI Is Changing World

NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang, NVIDIA leaders speak at CogX conference on startups, the role of AI in fighting climate change, and how AI is advancing key sectors such as healthcare.
by Brian Caulfield

Highlighting the growing importance of AI to innovation of all kinds in the U.K. and worldwide, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang spoke today at the CogX conference.

Huang was one of a trio of NVIDIA leaders appearing at the event hosted by Cognition X in King’s Cross, London, this week.

“I believe artificial intelligence will democratize technology,” Huang said during a virtual fireside chat with CogX co-founder Tabitha Goldstaub that touched on a wide range of topics, including NVIDIA’s plans to acquire Arm. “The automation of intelligence automates intelligence — it democratizes technology for everyone.”

The conversations with NVIDIA leaders at CogX come as the U.K. government has made several announcements about its AI policy environment and spending in 2021, with more expected.

“The U.K. is vibrant, with great researchers and scientists,” Huang said. “We’re at the beginning of a new revolution, made possible by AI breakthroughs; we just need to lean into it really hard because we can make great strides, great contributions.”

At the same time, NVIDIA has unveiled investments that will support the U.K.’s AI priorities, including the Cambridge-1 AI supercomputer and the acquisition of Arm.

“The U.K. has every reason to be proud of Arm and its achievements and contributions to the world,” Huang said, reiterating his intention for Arm to remain in the U.K. following the acquisition.

“We would like to combine the CPU capabilities of Arm with the artificial intelligence capability of NVIDIA to create new ideas, new innovations,” Huang added.

Also this week, Arm CEO Simon Segars and Huang spoke with global tech analyst Pat Moorhead at the SixFive Summit 2021.

Huang referred to the $100 million Cambridge-1, an AI supercomputer focused on healthcare and digital biology due to be officially dedicated next month, as “just the first” of NVIDIA’s U.K. investments.

Cambridge-1 will become part of an AI Center of Excellence in Cambridge, featuring a new Arm-based supercomputer, which will serve as a hub of collaboration for AI researchers, scientists and startups across the U.K.

And earlier this year, Huang revealed plans for Cambridge-2, a second state-of-the-art supercomputer to be built by NVIDIA in the U.K. based on Arm’s CPU architecture.

The talks featuring NVIDIA leaders explored several key themes, including research and engineering excellence, nurturing world-class startups, the role of AI in fighting climate change, and how AI is being applied to advance critical sectors such as healthcare.

In addition to Huang, Katie Kallot, head of emerging areas at NVIDIA, where she oversees ecosystem, strategic alliances and developer relations for emerging markets, segments and use cases, spoke about where the next $100 billion deep learning company will come from.

And Claire Delaunay, vice president of engineering at NVIDIA, spoke about leading impactful engineering teams. Delaunay is responsible for the Isaac robotics initiative and leads a team to bring Isaac to market for roboticists and developers worldwide.

Meanwhile, the U.K. continues to invest heavily in AI and innovation, with a new AI strategy expected this year. The government’s current industry strategy, promulgated in 2017, includes a package of up support worth as much as £0.95 billion ($1.3 billion) for the AI sector.

More recently, the Advanced Research and Invention Agency said it will allocate up to £50 million ($70 million) through 2022 for high-risk, high-reward research.