During his keynote at Nvidia GTC 2024, CEO Jensen Huang, the rockstar of AI, had to remind everyone that it wasn’t a concert, although the arena exuded an energy that almost made it feel like one.
“I hope you realize this is not a concert; you have arrived at a developers’ conference. There will be a lot of science, algorithms, computer architecture, and mathematics,” exclaimed the NVIDIA chief with a grin as he began his keynote, acknowledging the continuous comparison made between NVIDIA and Taylor Swift regarding their influence on the US economy.
Huang even joked that he hadn’t prepared for the presentation by rehearsing it on a treadmill, a reference to Swift’s training regime for her Eras tour. “As I was simulating how this keynote was going to turn out, somebody did say that another performer did her performance completely on a treadmill so that she could be in shape to deliver it with full energy. I didn’t do that (sic),” he said.
Addressing a crowd packed with CEOs, developers, AI enthusiasts, and entrepreneurs, Huang stood in front of a 40-foot tall, 8K screen, the size of a tennis court, displaying images. As many as 11,000 GTC attendees gathered in-person – and many tens of thousands more online. Meanwhile, the record for Swift’s biggest show on the Eras tour so far was in Pittsburgh, with 73,117 fans attending it.
“I would pay thousands of dollars to attend Jensen Huang’s live talk and listen to Taylor Swift’s songs at home,” wrote a user on X. Another one posted, “Move over Taylor Swift, Jensen Huang can have a sellout arena too.”
Huang’s keynote stood out from the typical announcement-heavy format. It was infused with drama, music, animation, and moments of awkward silence followed by applause, interspersed with Huang’s attempted jokes that sometimes landed and sometimes didn’t.
A Visual Treat
Huang’s session kicked off with a stunning introduction by AI artist Refik Anadol, who displayed a massive real-time AI data sculpture bursting with vibrant greens, blues, yellows, and reds. The colors swirled and danced across the screen, creating a breathtaking spectacle that had everyone in the room mesmerised.
“One of the coolest things about NVIDIA GTC was seeing Refik’s generative AI art on stage… Wish I’d been there to see it IRL!!! #GTC24,” wrote a user on X.
“What you’re about to enjoy is the world’s first concert where everything is homemade. Everything is homemade. You’re about to watch some home videos, so sit back and enjoy,” quipped Huang as he played a simulated video (not animated), stitching together elements from various NVIDIA products including Isaac Sim, Omniverse, Earth-2, NIM, and more.
“What we’re going to show you today is a simulation, not an animation. It’s beautiful because it’s physics – the world is beautiful. It’s amazing because it’s animated with robotics, with artificial intelligence. What you’re about to see all day is completely generated, completely simulated in Omniverse,” asserted Huang.
Flurry of Announcements
The star of the show was the announcement of the Blackwell GPU, touted as the ‘world’s biggest GPU’. Huang not only disproved Moore’s Law but also showcased the various domains NVIDIA is impacting, including healthcare and humanoid robotics.
He highlighted NVIDIA’s expanding partnerships with leading tech companies. The display of an exhaustive list of NVIDIA partners could hardly fit the screen. The standout moment was when Huang casually leaked the parameter count of GPT-4, saying, “The latest OpenAI model comprises approximately 1.8 trillion parameters.”
Best for the Last
The show was not over yet. While announcing GR00T, a foundational model for humanoids, Huang posed with nine humanoids, approximately the same size as himself.
As he wrapped up his keynote, he was accompanied by the Orange and infamous Green BDX robots from Disney Research, which kept interrupting and disrupting the flow of his presentation, giving a comic touch.
The keynote ended with a bang, showcasing an animated video of a rocket ship taking a detour through NVIDIA Technologies with an animated Jensen Huang as the pilot.
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