Feb 4 (Reuters) – Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang dismissed fears that artificial intelligence will replace software and related tools, calling the idea “illogical”, after a significant selloff in global software stocks on Tuesday.
The selloff, partly sparked by AI developer Anthropic’s updated chatbot release last week that heightened fears of AI-driven disruption in the data and professional services industry, broadened on Wednesday, hitting software stocks in India, Japan and China.
Speaking at an artificial intelligence conference in San Francisco hosted by Cisco Systems Huang said worries that AI will make software companies less relevant are misguided and AI will continue to rely on existing software rather than rebuild basic tools from scratch.
“There’s this notion that the tool in the software industry is in decline, and will be replaced by AI … It is the most illogical thing in the world, and time will prove itself,” Huang said.
“If you were a human or robot, artificial, general robotics, would you use tools or reinvent tools? The answer, obviously, is to use tools … That’s why the latest breakthroughs in AI are about tool use, because the tools are designed to be explicit.”
Shares of Indian IT exporters slumped 6.3% on Wednesday, tracking losses in global software stocks. Tech services firm Infosys was among the biggest losers, plunging 7.3%.
China’s CSI Software Services Index also fell 3%, while in Hong Kong, shares of software company Kingdee International Software Group tumbled more than 13%.
In Japan, staffing agency Recruit Holdings and Nomura Research tumbled 9% and 8%, respectively.
(Reporting by Nilutpal Timsina and Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru, Rae Wee, Tom Westbrook and Gregor Stuart Hunter in Singapore; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Christian Schmollinger)
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