Jensen Huang Calls OpenAI ‘One Of The Most Consequential Companies In History’ – Says It Can 'Use Whatever Part' Of OpenShell It Wants

• Huang said Nvidia views AI development and AI safety as complementary efforts rather than competing priorities.
• He described himself as “a responsible optimist” and said companies need to develop AI “safely” and “responsibly” while complying with existing laws.
• The Nvidia CEO also warned against “regulatory capture” and said policymakers should avoid rules that could “suffocate the industry” while AI is still developing.

Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang called OpenAI “one of the most consequential companies in history” Monday, defending the AI startup’s importance to Nvidia while leaving the door open for it to use any part of Nvidia’s newly launched OpenShell safety platform.

“The thing that I have to decide in the case of OpenAI [is]: is OpenAI a great investment? And the answer, absolutely,” Huang said in a CNBC interview. “This is one of the most consequential companies in history.”

Huang also praised OpenAI’s leadership, saying Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Sarah Friar and Nick Turley “do a terrific job running the company,” adding that they are “incredible researchers” and that it is “a real privilege to work with them.”

NVDA stock rose as much as 3.5% in morning trade and was among the top trending tickers on Stocktwits at the time of writing, while retail sentiment trended in ‘bearish’ territory over the past day. Before markets opened, Nvidia announced its board had authorized a $150 billion increase to its share repurchase program, bringing the remaining authorization to $235 billion.

Huang Leaves OpenAI Door Open On OpenShell

The Nvidia CEO’s comments come after OpenAI was notably absent from the roughly 100 companies supporting Open Agent Safety Platform, an open-source system Nvidia designed to contain and monitor AI agents. Asked whether that meant OpenAI was not cooperating, Huang said the platform was open to the company.

“However they would like to participate is going to be super welcome,” Huang said. “They could look at the code. They could use whatever part of it they would like. They could build their own inspired by this, or they could use it.”

Jensen Huang Says AI Safety Should Not Slow Development

Huang positioned OpenShell as part of a broader effort to make increasingly autonomous AI systems safer to deploy. He has argued that AI advancement and safety should not be treated as competing goals.

“Accelerating AI and accelerating AI safety is the same idea,” he said, arguing that improvements in capability have also made AI more predictable, grounded and useful.

He also warned against “regulatory capture,” saying policymakers should avoid rules that could “suffocate the industry” while AI is still developing.

“I’m a responsible optimist,” Huang said, adding that companies must build the technology “safely” and “responsibly” while complying with existing laws and regulations.

Read also: NVDA Stock Climbs After Nvidia Approves ‘Largest Buyback Increase’ In Company History

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.