Nvidia, a notable graphics processing unit (GPU) manufacturer, has recently expressed its criticism towards cryptocurrency. Company executive Michael Kagan has stated that crypto adds nothing beneficial to society when compared to the trends of AI chatbots like ChatGPT. Kagan’s expressed his discontentment that he would rather put Nvidia’s GPU power to something far more societally beneficial, such as the current AI boom.
Nvidia has previously attempted to lower the amount of crypto enthusiasts buying the company’s GPUs by limiting the ability of the graphics cards to mine cryptocurrency. Last year, Ethereum blockchain reduced the power consumption by nearly 99.9% with its proof-of-stake system, due to the large amount of criticism concerning the massive carbon footprint by crypto farming.
Company CEO Jensen Huang, said at the company’s annual conference that AI would “reinvent nearly every industry” and make use of Nvidia’s powerful cards.
Michael Kagan is chief technology officer of Nvidia and a former employee at Mellanox. At the company, he noted the money made by the high-frequency trading industry, though he expressed that this is not a good direction to go in. Kagan believes that crypto offers no surefire benefit and he should rather put the power of the cards toward something “good for humanity”.
Nvidia is a global leader in manufacturing GPUs for the gaming, AI, and automotive markets. It has a long history of technological innovation and its cards have been used in a variety of applications, including streaming and gaming. Recently, the company has shifted its focus to AI and the potential applications that this technology has in the industry, while still making its GPUs available for crypto mining.
