Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says it doesn’t matter that kids are forgetting basic math because of AI. In a new interview with The New York Times, he dismissed the concern, saying basic arithmetic skills are becoming obsolete and that he himself has lost his own address and phone number.
“Try to get a kid to do long division right now,” said Huang. “The multiplication table is starting to be forgotten. Doing square roots, my goodness. Basic math is being forgotten. Does it matter? I donât think it does. I donât think it does.”
The Chinese Research Behind The Interview
The conversation began with research out of China showing that AI tools help kids get homework done faster. But the same research found that the skills those exercises were meant to teach weren’t sticking. As a result, students’ performance on quizzes and tests was degrading rapidly.
Huang agreed that this lack of retention was likely happening to many kids using AI. But he wasn’t worried about it.
“There are a lot of skills that donât matter,” said Huang.
Huang’s Confession About His Own Address
When the interviewer noted that some skills must still matter, Huang conceded but wondered if basic math was one of them. He suggested we’ll discover new ones.
He then admitted that his own use of AI and other tech has made him forget details most people take for granted.
“My first confession: I actually donât know my address. Itâs completely true…[my wife] Lori will tell you. One day I had to pump gasâit was a few years ago. They needed my ZIP code, and I panicked. I didnât know my ZIP code. I donât know my telephone number. I forget these things. I can live with it.”
What Huang Says AI Will Change
Huang acknowledged that AI might lead to people losing some “finer intellectual dexterity.” But he insisted that’s fine, because we’re all going to become better at thinking in terms of systems.
The interviewer responded with a shrug: “I donât know what that means.”
Why This Matters More Than He Thinks
The problem isn’t just that Huang can’t remember his address or phone number. It’s that he treats the loss of basic math skills as trivial while his company’s hardware is tied to the AI systems that may be causing it.
If kids stop learning arithmetic because AI does it for them, they won’t understand how their chatbots arrive at answers. They won’t be able to explain why 4 x 3 equals 12. They’ll lose the ability to check a calculation by hand.
That’s a practical skill failure, not an abstract one.
The Systems Thinker Question
Huang’s proposed replacement for lost skills is thinking in terms of systems. But the practical question is simple: what happens when your phone dies and you need to give someone your address?
A person who can’t recall a ZIP code is someone who can’t navigate a situation where technology fails.
A Timeline Of The Conversation
| Topic | Detail |
|---|---|
| Chinese research | AI homework tools speed tasks but quiz scores fall |
| Huang’s position | Basic math doesn’t matter, retention is declining |
| Address confession | Doesn’t know home address, ZIP code, phone number |
| Systems thinking | Proposed as replacement for lost skills |
Huang’s argument rests on the assumption that AI will replace everything humans can’t do. But the skills he’s dismissing are about computation — the kind of reasoning that underlies a chatbot’s answer to a simple multiplication problem.
His own admission — that he doesn’t know his address or phone number — is evidence of what happens when people rely on external memory.
The exasperation is real.
Source material: “Nvidia CEO Doesn’t Care That Kids Are Forgetting Basic Math Because Of AI: ‘I Actually Don’t Know My Address’,” Kotaku.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.