Chapel Hill (North Carolina), Sep 3: Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang says he does not need to keep working.

He simply cannot bear the thought of missing what artificial intelligence (AI) could deliver over the next decade.

“I’ve been working a long time and Surely I don’t have to work, but I don’t want to miss, I’m definitely not going to miss the next 10, 15 years,” Huang said during a fireside chat with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

For Huang, the appeal lies not only in the technology but also in the scale of the ambitions it has unleashed.

“The ambition of the industry, the ambition of my colleagues, my own ambition has really been supercharged,” he said.

Huang offered a buoyant vision of an AI-powered future in which work that once took a decade could be completed in a year, while year-long projects could be finished within a month.

“What do I expect in the next five, ten years? Things that take ten years are going to take one. Things that take one will take a month,” he added.

The Nvidia Chief said that artificial intelligence was giving ordinary people, companies and countries the ability to tackle problems on a scale previously considered unimaginable.

“It is now possible for average humans like ourselves to think that we can make an impact on a hundred trillion dollar industry,” Huang added.

He said that innovators were talking about adding between $20 trillion and $50 trillion in economic benefits worldwide.

Such ideas, he added, reflected a new level of ambition made possible by access to AI.

“No time in history have we been able to say things like that,” he said.

Huang encouraged countries to approach the technology with optimism and raise their ambitions rather than allow uncertainty to dominate the public conversation.

“This is the time when you have to feel enlightened, inspired, supercharged, lifted, because you now have this incredible technology behind you,” he said.

He compared the development of AI with earlier technological advances that initially appeared almost magical.

“Electricity once made it possible to turn on a light from far away, while modern cars and aircraft became safer as their technology improved.”

AI, Huang said, would similarly advance through engineering, mathematics, software and responsible development.

He rejected predictions that the technology would simply remove human workers.

AI would automate certain skills and tasks, he said, but people would retain the purpose, context and meaning that define their jobs.

Huang also described AI as a great equaliser because people could now communicate with computers through ordinary human language.

Lutnick picked up that theme, suggesting that the technology could place advanced knowledge within everyone’s reach.

“You now can have… A PhD in everything. That’s right. At your fingertips,” Lutnick said.

“You are that person now. Right? Everybody is that person now,” Huang responded.

Lutnick praised Huang’s optimistic assessment and called him “an American treasure”, saying Nvidia was leading the United States towards a future once confined largely to science fiction.

“Your company is leading us in a path that none of us, when we were young, ever dreamed possible,” the US Commerce Secretary said.

Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has served as its President and Chief Executive since its inception.

The company began as a specialist in graphics technology before its processors became vital to the development and operation of modern artificial intelligence systems.

Born in Taiwan, Huang moved to the United States as a child and studied electrical engineering at Oregon State University and Stanford University.

Under his leadership, Nvidia has grown into one of the world’s most valuable technology companies.

Jerusalem, Sep 2: Israel struck southern Lebanon on Wednesday after Hezbollah launched two explosive drones at Israeli troops, in the latest test of the June ceasefire.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported Israeli shelling and airstrikes on Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Arab Salim and the Ali al-Taher Ridge, as well as machine-gun fire towards Zawtar al-Sharqiyah.

The Israeli military said in a statement that Hezbollah launched the drones overnight towards its troops in the Ali al-Taher Ridge. The Israeli army shot down one drone with no casualties immediately reported, the statement said, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Israeli military said it had targetted Hezbollah infrastructure in the Nabatieh area and sites it said were used to plan and direct attacks against Israeli troops.

Israeli attacks have killed 4,353 people in Lebanon in the latest round of fighting that began in March, according to a report issued by the Lebanese Emergency Operations Center of the Ministry of Public Health on Tuesday.

A US-brokered ceasefire in June reduced fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, but Israeli strikes in Lebanon have continued. Israeli troops also remain in the territory seized during the latest war.

Israeli military operations continue across southern Lebanon with airstrikes, ground incursions, artillery bombardments, and demolition work, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).

On Sunday, Israeli warplanes struck an area between Zawtar al-Sharqiyah and Mayfadoun at around 7 pm, and later another area between Zawtar and Arnoun, while Israeli forces carried out large explosions in Arnoun al-Shaqif and on the outskirts of Yahmar al-Shaqif, NNA said.

It added that Israeli forces conducted a machine-gun sweep from Haddatha toward the outskirts of Aita al-Jabal, while a drone hit the outskirts of Nabatieh al-Fawqa.

In response to the escalating situation, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam vowed Sunday that residents displaced from southern Lebanon would return “safely and with dignity.”

Salam said in a statement that the south should not remain an open arena for wars and conflicts decided outside Lebanon, and the state must have sole authority over decisions of war and peace in Lebanon.

Kathmandu, Sep 2: Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah on Wednesday called for stronger international attention to growing climate-related risks in the Himalayan region as the death toll from devastating floods in the Bhotekoshi River crossed 1,100.

Addressing the House of Representatives, Shah said Nepal must highlight more forcefully the disasters it is facing due to climate change.

At least 1,114 bodies swept away by last week’s floods had been recovered by 9 am Wednesday, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA). Around 3,916 people remain out of contact.

Experts said an avalanche blocked the Lengde Khola, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi River near the Nepal-China border. The accumulated water later breached the natural barrier, triggering a massive flood that swept downstream towards the Trishuli River and devastated settlements and infrastructure.

Shah said the disaster had raised questions about how such an event occurred and what it meant for Nepal’s future.

“The huge disaster, whose impacts of climate change we have suddenly experienced, has kept us working around the clock to manage the damage. At the same time, another profound question has arisen in our minds: How did this disaster come upon us?” he said.

Referring to expert assessments, Shah said the incident was a serious warning that climate change was increasing risks in the Himalayan region.

“We must make the international community aware of the disasters we are experiencing as a result of climate change. Climate change is a global challenge. Its impacts and efforts to mitigate and manage them are the shared responsibility of the global community,” he said.

Shah also defended the government’s response to questions over whether timely warnings were issued to the public.

“As soon as we received information that the flood was approaching, our security personnel were deployed to alert residents. However, they themselves went missing during the operation,” he said.

Some media reports had suggested that the Nepali government was reluctant to accept international assistance for the rescue and relief of flood victims.

Seven days after the disaster, Shah told Parliament that the government had never adopted a policy of refusing international assistance during major disasters.

“We had been coordinating with international countries from the very beginning to seek assistance as needed in the affected areas. We had also tried to expedite the process of receiving international assistance,” Shah said.

“Our friendly neighbours, India and China, had already sent technical experts. They had been conducting reconnaissance from the very first day, including on the first and second days,” he said.

Shah told Parliament that the flood was accompanied by huge amounts of mud and debris, making it impossible for even foreign rescue teams that arrived at the outset to land at the affected sites.

“After conducting reconnaissance and monitoring to determine whether they could reach the sites, they concluded that it was not immediately possible to land there. The Indian and Chinese technicians, along with Nepali technicians and the Army, could reach the sites only after conditions became suitable for them to do so,” Shah said. “This was an exceptional situation.”

The Prime Minister also said excavators could not be deployed initially because of the heavy mud and debris.

“There was no stable ground not only for excavators but also for personnel from the Army and Armed Police Force. That is why they tried to reach the sites by crawling as much as possible,” Shah said.“Rescue operations began only after stable ground was available for excavators and suitable places were available for helicopters to land.”

Shah also thanked countries and international organisations for supporting Nepal’s flood response, naming India, China, the US, the UK, Australia, Japan, South Korea, the UAE, Qatar, Switzerland, Singapore, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, as well as the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, European Union and United Nations.

Several other friendly countries and international organisations have also pledged further assistance, he said.