Source: Quantum Bit

Old Huang is a doctor again.

At the latest graduation ceremony of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), this leader was awarded an honorary doctorate in science and technology and gave a speech to more than 5,800 graduates in the rain.

P.S. This is already his 7th honorary doctorate.

As a core promoter of the global AI wave, he said a quote that is destined to go viral: AI will not replace you, but those who use AI well will.

This sentence struck right at the forehead of this group of young people in the audience, as they are facing one of the most anxious job markets in recent years—the surge of the AI wave sweeping through Silicon Valley, continuous layoffs at large companies, and the difficulty of finding jobs for American graduates has reached a four-year peak.

Many young people are starting to seriously ponder: Will what I’ve learned soon become obsolete?

This sentiment can easily be felt on-site. The graduation ceremony is still lively, but beyond the excitement, the uncertainty about the future is almost written on many faces.

In the face of this anxiety that is almost permeating the entire tech industry, the man standing at the top of the AI wave gave a judgment that is exactly the opposite:

I can't imagine any era more suitable than now for starting your life career.

This sounds somewhat like motivational talk, but coming from Old Huang, it's hard not to believe him, as finding and seizing opportunities in adversity has been a true reflection of his journey.

Immigrating to the United States at the age of 9, with no English skills, and waking up at 4 am to deliver newspapers by his mother; later working while earning a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford; starting a company at the age of 30 where his first-generation product failed, nearly leading to bankruptcy. In the hardest times, he flew to Japan to apologize to the CEO of Sega, which earned him a chance for Nvidia to survive... until now, becoming the leader of a trillion-dollar empire.

So when such a person tells the class of 2026 to "So run, don’t walk," perhaps there is more than just motivational talk behind it.

Here is the full text of Huang Renxun’s speech.

Personal Struggle Story: From Dishwasher to CEO of Nvidia

(Opening Speech)

Respected president, board members, faculty, guests, proud parents, and most importantly—the graduating class of Carnegie Mellon University 2026. It is truly significant for me to stand here and receive this extraordinary honor. CMU is one of the top universities in the world and one of the few places that can truly shape the future.

Today is not only the day your dreams come true, but also the day your families, teachers, mentors, and friends' dreams come true. Before looking to the future, please express your gratitude to them. Graduates, please stand and turn to your mothers, and wish them a Happy Mother's Day. Seeing you graduate from this great institution is also a moment when their dreams come true.

Alright, please sit down.

CMU students really resemble robots—executing one instruction at a time (laughs).

My parents are also very proud of me; my journey is their journey, and I am the proof of their dreams coming true. Like many people here, I am also a first-generation immigrant. My father always dreamed of settling in the United States, so when I was 9, he sent me and my brother to America. We eventually settled in a Baptist boarding school in Oneida, Kentucky, a small mining town with only a few hundred people. It wasn't until two years later that my parents came to the United States with everything they had to reunite with us.

My father was a chemical engineer, and my mother worked as a maid at a Catholic school. She woke me up at 4 am to deliver newspapers, while my brother helped me find my first job—washing dishes at a restaurant. At that time, I felt this was a significant leap in my career. This is my view of America: not necessarily easy, but full of opportunities.

I later went to Oregon State University and met my wife Lori at the age of 17. I was the youngest kid in school, and she was a "mature woman" at 19; we were lab partners in our sophomore class. Ultimately, I beat out 250 other boys in class to win her heart. Now we have been married for 40 years, and both our children work at Nvidia.

At the age of 30, I co-founded Nvidia with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem. We wanted to create a brand new computer to solve problems that ordinary computers could not. At that time, I was only thinking: "How hard can this be?" It turned out to be extremely difficult.

Our first technology didn't work at all, and the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. I had to fly to Japan to confess to Sega's CEO that we couldn't fulfill the technical requirements of the contract and pleaded with them to still pay us; otherwise, Nvidia would go bankrupt. That was one of the most embarrassing, shameful, and difficult things I've ever done. And Sega's CEO agreed.

I learned that the essence of being a CEO is not power, but the responsibility of keeping the company alive. Humility and honesty often lead to generosity and kindness. We used that money to come back from the dead and invented a new method of chip design that is still in use today.

Over the past 33 years, Nvidia has continually redefined itself. Every time we ask, "How hard can this be?" the answer is always "harder than we imagined." But these experiences have taught us: never view failure as the opposite of success—failure is just another moment of learning, honing character, and building resilience.

Today, I have become one of the longest-serving CEOs in the tech industry. Nvidia, along with everything I’ve built with my 45,000 outstanding colleagues, is my life's work. And now, it's your turn. The timing of your entry into this world couldn't be better.

Resetting Computer Science: The Dawn of the AI Revolution

My career began at the start of the PC revolution, and yours begins with the AI revolution. I can't imagine any era more exciting than now.

In fact, many beginnings of AI come from CMU. In the past 24 hours, I have heard countless jokes about AI (laughs). But CMU is indeed one of the true birthplaces of artificial intelligence and robotics. As early as the 1950s, researchers here developed the Logic Theorist—widely regarded as the world's first AI program. In 1979, CMU established the Robotics Institute. This morning, I also visited the Robo Club, the world’s first academic institution dedicated to studying robots.

And today, AI has completely left the laboratory and is beginning to reshape the entire computing industry. I have witnessed nearly every major transformative computing platform: mainframes, PCs, the internet, mobile devices, and cloud computing. Each wave builds on the last; each makes technology more accessible and profoundly changes society. But what is about to happen next will exceed all previous scales, as computing itself is being redefined.

For the past 60 years, the fundamental model of computers has never changed: humans write software, computers execute instructions. But now, that era has ended. AI has changed the entire computing paradigm—from "human programming" to "machine learning"; from CPUs executing software to GPUs running neural networks; from "executing commands" to "understanding, reasoning, planning, and using tools."

A whole new industry is being born: large-scale manufacturing of intelligence. Because intelligence will become the infrastructure of all industries in the future.

Facing Fear and Opportunity: AI Amplifies Human Capability

Every industry will change because of this, and many people feel uneasy. They see AI writing code, generating images, and driving cars, then start to worry: Will jobs disappear? Will humans be replaced? Will technology spiral out of control?

In fact, every major technological revolution has been accompanied by similar anxieties. But history also tells us that when society embraces technology with openness, responsibility, and optimism, the extension of human capabilities often far outweighs the areas that are diminished.

Of course, we must also remain vigilant. AI is one of the most powerful technologies in human history, bringing tremendous hope while also accompanying real risks. Therefore, it is our generation's responsibility not only to advance the development of AI but to advance it in the right way. Scientists and engineers must focus on both capability and safety; policymakers need to establish reasonable rules that protect society without stifling innovation and exploration.

Because history has proven that societies that reject technology out of fear do not prevent progress; they merely miss the opportunity to shape the future and benefit from it. So, we should not teach young people to fear the future but to build the future with a sense of responsibility, optimism, and ambition.

In the past, only a very small number of people could program; now, anyone can create things with AI. The owner of a small shop can build a website by themselves; a carpenter can design kitchen plans with AI; many tasks that relied on professional engineers in the past can now be accomplished by ordinary people. Code is being generated by AI. In a sense, now everyone is becoming a programmer.

This is the first time in human history that computation and intelligence have the real opportunity to become accessible to all, thus bridging the technological gap. Just like the electricity revolution and the internet revolution, AI also requires significant infrastructure development. In the future, the U.S. will build many chip factories, supercomputer factories, data centers, and advanced manufacturing facilities. This is not just a technological revolution; it is also an opportunity for re-industrialization.

Electricians, plumbers, steelworkers, construction workers, technicians—your era is also arriving. AI is not only creating a new computing industry but also opening a new industrial age.

Of course, AI will change all jobs. Some positions will disappear, and many tasks will be automated. But "tasks" and "the meaning of jobs" are not the same thing. AI can automatically generate code, but software engineers are still essential because they can use AI to solve more complex problems; AI can assist in medical imaging analysis, but radiologists are still crucial because they are ultimately responsible for diagnosing diseases and caring for patients.

AI will not replace human missions; it will amplify human capabilities. Therefore, rather than saying "AI will replace you," it is more accurate to say that those who are more adept at using AI might replace you. Thus, the question we should really ponder is: Do we want our children to be empowered by AI; or left behind by those who already master AI? The answer is quite clear. Therefore, we need to develop AI safely and encourage more people to participate in AI.

AI should not belong solely to those who can write code; it should belong to everyone.

Conclusion: Run, Heart is in the Work

Graduates of the class of 2026, you are standing at the starting point of an extraordinary era. A new era of science and discovery is unfolding. AI will accelerate the expansion of human knowledge and help us solve problems that were previously unsolvable.

We have the opportunity to bridge the technological gap, allowing billions of people to genuinely possess the capabilities of computation and intelligence for the first time; the opportunity to drive re-industrialization and re-establish the ability to "build"; and the opportunity to create a future that is richer, stronger, and more hopeful than the world you inherit.

No generation has had more powerful tools and broader opportunities than you. And all of us are now on the same starting line. This is your moment to shape everything that happens next. So, run, don’t walk.

Finally, I want to end with a phrase from CMU that I particularly like: My heart is in the work.

So, please put your heart into your career and create the things that live up to your education, your potential, and what those who believed in you long before the world recognized you expect.

Congratulations to you. Congratulations to all graduates of CMU's class of 2026.

One More Thing

Old Huang, who only holds a master's degree, is now being fiercely awarded honorary doctorates by universities worldwide.

With this CMU's, he is almost able to have a row of them (doge).

In the current environment, this is not surprising. After the AI era, it has almost become a norm for global universities to invite tech CEOs to give graduation speeches and casually hand over a doctoral robe.

The logic behind this is not complicated. On one hand, schools want to enhance their influence by leveraging the halo of industry leaders; on the other hand, they need the most symbolically significant figures of the era to represent the "future" to which graduates are about to head.

And Old Huang is undoubtedly one of the most special among them.

After all, words spoken by someone who has journeyed from being a dishwasher to the helm of a $5 trillion empire naturally carry more weight than others.

And as a final reminder, don't forget to call him:

Dr. Huang.