Surrounded by robot birds, Nvidia's chief insisted on sending a message to Europe in the AI race. But not everything went according to plan, on stage.

Surrounded by robot birds, Nvidia's CEO told Europe a message in the AI race. But not everything went according to plan, on stage. Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, believes that European expertise in engineering gives the continent an advantage in the field of physical artificial intelligence and robotics, he said Wednesday, in a context where the American giant in the technology field announced the expansion of partnerships with European producers and startups. "Every company in Europe will become an AI-based company," said Huang, adding that "we will have a flourishing artificial intelligence economy here, in Europe." The statements were made in a speech on Wednesday at the GTC conference, an event dedicated to artificial intelligence, organized by Nvidia in Berlin, a conference that concludes a European tour which has already taken Huang through London, Paris, Stockholm, and Dublin, Reuters and AFP report. "No region has dedicated itself to realizing mechatronic, electronic, and mechanical systems with a level of precision and mastery comparable to that of the European region," he said. "For Europe to benefit from Artificial Intelligence (...) it is necessary for all industries to adopt AI and be successful with it," emphasized Jensen Huang. He mentioned the automotive, robotics, pharmaceutical, and financial services industries as target sectors. As a demonstration of European creativity in the field of AI, Huang shared the stage with some tiny robots shaped like birds, trained with AI, developed by the French startup Pollen Robotics in collaboration with Hugging Face, asking them to do dives. Nvidia claims to have allocated almost 10 billion dollars to the European technology ecosystem. The company has secured an early advantage in providing the processors and software necessary for the robotic "creation," which gives it commercial interest in the success of European industry. Among the partnerships announced on Wednesday, the German company Agile Robots intends to produce between 1,000 and 2,000 humanoid robots of small size next year, in collaboration with Nvidia, the general director Zhaopeng Chen stated to Reuters. Production is scheduled to begin at the end of this year. Huang stated that Europe – often left behind by the US and Asia in the AI race and without a homegrown player like a company such as Nvidia, Anthropic, or OpenAI – must ensure it plays a central role. "To be part of this AI-based economy, you don't just want to consume AI; you want to produce AI. We can do all of this right here, in Europe," he said. Separately, on Wednesday, Nvidia presented a new DSX POD design for mass-produced data center modules, which use its Vera Rubin platform. The company stated that the modules can be implemented in just two weeks, compared to six months. What happened on the stage of the conference in Berlin However, not everything went according to plan on stage. The mini-birds demonstrated that even with the power of AI, making robots follow instructions is not a task without mistakes. Three of the robots immediately collapsed when Huang asked them to pull a sleeping chick, but the fourth one needed a little extra persuasion. One of these robots seemed distracted and was turned around while Huang was finishing his speech. "Pay attention, stay focused," he told it firmly.