Jensen Huang says software engineers prefer building AI agents over writing Python code

Jensen Huang says his engineers would rather build agents than write code

The Nvidia chief frames the shift as a promotion for his staff, and as more evidence that AI is creating jobs rather than cutting them. Nvidia's software engineers are writing less code than ever, and according to their chief executive, that is exactly how they like it. Jensen Huang said this week that his engineers have grown to prefer building AI agents over writing Python, a change he casts as a promotion rather than a threat. "These agentic systems are new skills, and now we have a lot of software engineers building agents," Huang said in an interview published by the company on Wednesday. "If you ask me, every one of my software engineers prefers to be building agents than to be writing Python code." It is a message he has been sharpening for months, from a Carnegie Mellon commencement to the Computex stage. The distinction he draws is between coding as a task and engineering as a craft. In his telling, the typing part of the job, the mundane work of turning an idea into syntax, is now something an agent can shoulder. "You're taking all the mundane work, and you're trying to get this agent to do it," he said. "That requires imagination, that requires creativity, a lot of technology." Instead of churning out lines of Python, his engineers now spend their days building agents, writing benchmarks, and designing the guardrails that keep those systems in check. An AI agent breaks a large goal into a sequence of smaller steps, each handled in turn, so that the software can plan and act rather than simply answer a single prompt. Huang, who cofounded Nvidia in 1993, has become one of the loudest advocates for putting AI assistants to work inside companies. He has repeatedly floated a future in which Nvidia deploys agents across every division to lift productivity, an ambition that sits comfortably alongside selling the chips and platforms that run them. That commercial logic is never far from the surface. Nvidia has spent the past year positioning itself as the infrastructure beneath the agent economy, and a workforce that builds agents is also a workforce that consumes ever more compute. 'A whole bunch of jobs' Where Huang parts company with several of his peers is on what all of this means for employment. He rejected the increasingly common warning that AI will hollow out white-collar work, arguing that the technology is generating roles rather than erasing them. "The amount of work that we have to do to bring AI into the world is really quite incredible," he said. "So it's creating a whole bunch of jobs. And, my software engineers love this." The optimism sets him apart from Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei and Amazon boss Andy Jassy, both of whom have cautioned that AI could wipe out swathes of entry-level and administrative jobs. Huang has consistently dismissed that framing, even as other firms report that agent progress is slower than the hype suggests. "This is the part that people don't realize about AI. The first thing that AI is doing right now is creating an enormous number of jobs," he said in a television interview in May. "AI creates jobs. AI is the United States's best opportunity to re-industrialize ourselves." Whether that holds across the wider economy is a separate question from what is happening inside Nvidia, where the engineers Huang describes are still very much employed. His claim is narrower and harder to argue with, that giving skilled people better tools makes much of the drudgery disappear. For now, the pitch lands as much with investors as with staff. A company whose own engineers reach for agents by default is a persuasive advertisement for the hardware Nvidia sells, and Huang knows it. The real test will be whether his enthusiasm survives contact with the messier parts of software work, where judgment, debugging, and accountability still rest with people. Building an agent, after all, is its own kind of coding.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Says Software Engineers Would Rather Build AI Agents Than Write Python Code - NVI

Nvidia Engineers Shift To AI Agent Development On Wednesday, in an interview published by Nvidia, Huang said the rise of "agentic systems" is creating a new category of technical skills. "These agentic systems are new skills and now we have a lot of software engineers building agents," Huang said. He added, "If you ask me, every one of my software engineers prefers to be building agents than to be writing Python code." The Nvidia CEO said AI is reducing the amount of manual coding engineers perform, allowing them to focus on designing AI systems, creating benchmarks and developing safety measures known as guardrails. "You're taking all the mundane work, and you're trying to get this agent to do it," Huang said. He added, "That requires imagination, that requires creativity, a lot of technology. I think that's spot on." Huang has repeatedly promoted AI assistants in the workplace and said Nvidia plans to expand the use of AI agents across its divisions to improve productivity. AI Agents Reshape Software And Infrastructure The company cited stronger-than-expected AI infrastructure demand and raised its long-term growth outlook. AWS introduced new AI products and expanded partnerships, including access to OpenAI models, as Garman predicted that "everything is going to be remade" by AI. Microsoft focused on expanding its AI infrastructure and developing AI systems for productivity, coding and cybersecurity, as its AI business surpassed $37 billion in annual recurring revenue. Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Photo courtesy: jamesonwu1972 On Shutterstock.com Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.