My 2024 NVIDIA A.I. Conference Experience
by Chief Editor, Pleshette Robertson
By way of sponsorship from California Black Media (CBM) blessing me with a ticket to attend the NVIDA GPU Technology Conference (GTC) 2024 (aka NVIDIA A.I. Conference) …OMG! As I had no idea what I was stepping into at the last minute as I almost said no to this incredible opportunity. O-kay so now get ready for a long post as I try my best to abbreviate my NVIDIA A.I. conference experience (if you didn’t know already A.I. stands for Artificial Intelligence – get with it folks or you will be left behind) …I will be dropping several new terms in this post that you should make note of! First of all San Jose is a completely CHANGED PLACE as ya’ll know I’m a native of the Bay Area right – ANYWAYS! I arrived to the San Jose Convention Center for the event on Tues-March 19th at 9:00 am (note this was a 4-day event from Mar 18-21). This place was crawling with hundreds of folks most of what looked like students along with lots of yuppies and tech junkies. I had missed the highly talked about Keynote by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang (but it’s on youtube of which I plan to watch at my leisure) where 17,000+ ppl gathered on Mon-Mar 18 at the SAP Center.
Now on Tues-May 19th was basically the BLACK-OUT DAY for US as the CBM crew (folks like myself-CEO of Sacculturalhub.com, Tanu Henry-Managing Editor for California Black Media, Larry Lee-CEO/President of Sacramento Observer, Regina Wilson-CEO/Founder of California Black Media) attended the NVIDIA conf. session on: “Bridging the AI Divide: Expanding Access and Training to Nontraditional Talents and Underserved Communities” with outstanding speakers and moderated by Louis Stewart who currently serves as the Head of Strategic Initiatives for the Developer Ecosystem at NVIDIA (if you all remember – Mr. Stewart served as the City of Sacramento’s first Chief Innovation Officer for three years (if I must say he is looking mighty good in this position – ahhhh yes Mr. Stewart was also recognized as a Black Man in Leadership in THE HUB’s special edition Summer 2015 issue).
Shout out to Lorrie Clark and Kaifa Yates – both representing Sacramento Black Chamber of Commerce bringing a large group of students to be exposed to the FUTURE OF AI and all what it has to offer.
So following the morning session we were off to lunch on our own and to roam the gigantic exhibit halls of the gazillion A.I. vendors – WOWWWW – if you had been watching my stories I’m sure you seen all of the excitement. It was a bit overwhelming – BTW – there are autonomous minibuses running around in Las Vegas, Beijing, Singapore, and many other countries. Folks A.I. is here whether we like it or not as THEY have been already working on A.I. stuff really for the last 10 years (if quiet is kept).
Our day ended with a seminar presented by BNN- the Black NVIDIAN Network with intriguing discussion on the impact of A.I. specifically with the adoption of ChatGPT in the African American community when we look at exploring the legal and ethical challenges. Just to note I learned that there is approximately 3% African Americans employed with NVIDIA. And don’t forget I stated earlier that approximately 17,000 plus attended the NVIDIA A.I. Keynote session – so you know that means it was way less than 1% of US (African Americans) who attended the NVIDIA conference. I say all that to say that it is VIP for US – African Americans (especially our young ppl) to not get left behind in the FUTURE/NEXT Generation of A.I.!!! Now that is not to say how I personally DO NOT believe in having autonomous driving REPLACE all truck drivers – I mean WHAT THE HECK THEY TRYING TO DO? Replace everyone with robots and move the elite to outer space???!!! Okay that may sound a little extreme but you know where I’m going with this!
Folks – just please keep up with what’s going on around you and what’s coming with A.I. because it’s going to affect all of US as we move forward in life. So personally I live according to God willing for me basically to WAKE UP every morning as tomorrow is never promised (as my mom always says). We can plan for the future and that’s definitely me as I’ve been a visionary and continue to be – so you best believe these BRILLIANT MINDS ahead of us are out here planning a full blown A.I. world and by Year 2030, 2050, 2150 THEY trying to predict all of these A.I. inventions but you know what I’m not sure we may see any of it no matter how much THEY think they are in control!
Anyways ya’ll go to this link to get a grab bag of really good additional notes I took that might be useful for you – share the wealth! I learned so many new terms at this conference.
Also stay tuned for the full article report on the 2024 NVIDIA A.I. Conference coming from California Black Media to be posted on Sacculturalhub.com very soon.
****More about NVIDIA and A.I. Terms You Need To Know****
What and who is NVIDIA? NVIDIA’s invention of the GPU in 1999 fueled the growth of the PC gaming market, redefined modern computer graphics, and revolutionized parallel computing. More recently, GPU deep learning ignited modern AI–the next era of computing — with the GPU acting as the brain of computers, robots, and self-driving cars that can perceive and understand the world.
The BNN-Black NVIDIAN Network Presents: Afrofuturism, our Community in the Era of AI
What is NVIDIA GTC 2024? American semiconductor company NVIDIA introduced its latest AI chips at the GPU Technology Conference (GTC) 2024, signaling its resolve to keep charging ahead in a race where it already is in the lead by miles, rather, trillions. Also note that we also refer to NVIDIA GTC 2024 as the “2024 NVIDIA A.I. Conference”.
Watch the NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang full keynote at GTC 2024 (03.18.2024 at the SAP Center in San Jose, CA)
DID YOU KNOW? Black Women in A.I.—Artificial Intelligence – I had the opportunity to meet and talk with the Founder – Angle Bush (“Educate, Engage, Embrace, and Empower”)
NVIDIA GTC notes companies they are partnering with: Ansys, Synopsys, Cadence, SAP Service, Snowflake, Blackwell-new GPU (platform) replacing Hopper
What is NVIDIA BioNeMo?
My RAW notes I captured from guest speakers at sessions I attended at the NVIDIA A.I. Conference on Tues-Mar 19th
- There is faith and then there is experience. Some compromises come at a cost and will need to be addressed in AI as there will be some who are in opposition to faith or different types of faith Our trajectory is not our own…we are our Ancestors dream!
- Results only as good as is the integrity of the data. Ethics is very value driven. Most ppl of African descent are driven by faith and spirituality – making us most resilient…do not underestimate your faith as the reason for your success and do not pretend it doesn’t exist!
- Utilizing AI tools to solve real solutions for e.g. climate change issues
- How inclusive are u of other individual’s ideas? Diversity here in U.S. is about gender, religion, politics but in Bangladesh it’s about an individual knowing 5 different languages very well.
- Being inclusive is having transparency…having model cards available.
- Putting managers through bias trainings …we all have bias’ and sometimes we may owe people an apology…calling people to the carpet re: bias remark or bias treatment.
- Think forward on what the company needs when writing a job description not based what you did in the position for the last 10-20 years plus.
- How to deploy AI in terms of ETHICS? Is it wrong or right to use AI as there so many gray areas – but we had calculators. AI is still so very new and constantly evolving. Some see as a threat vs an opportunity … each group, community, entity, institution, corporation will need to determine a standard code of ethics to follow and perhaps all should collaborate on what this looks like.
- AI is multidisciplinary … copyright infringement issues … AI needs all of us at the table. We must figure out how collaboration can help us be more successful in AI solutions? Having diverse thoughts and perspectives is required. We need a Black Think Tank from all walks of life in the Black community and to analyze their needs and desires. Accelerate the decision making. How to make data accessible? Connecting what you are doing is what the target audience cares about.
- AI helps us get out of the block faster …gets us past writers block!
- Write the vision and make it plain states Angel Bush. Did you know that there is Black in Robotics https://blackinrobotics.org/ … do the research and find out where we are …you do not have to wait for people to build for you…Build your own!
- Abran Maldonado states: AI is a starting point for everyone…as new innovations are coming out, it’s a restart for the industry…It is never too late to jump in!
- Kieran Blanks stated: BET ON YOURSELF …and understand your why?! We can best be advocates for ourselves and others in the industry…figure out your expertise …e.g. cybersecurity, A.I. writer, automated campaigns, power in story, remove yourself from drudgery in tasks you do not want to do…this is our gold rush…learn monetization, take a risk!
- When asked one word that describes A.I.: Exciting | Capabilities | Inclusive
- When asked what does A.I. mean to you: Legacy | Representation | Mobility
- When asked what essential skills do students need? Critical thinking, Inventive, Creative
All photos and videos from my 2024 NVIDIA A.I. conference will be posted in the Sac Hub Photo Gallery (link to be posted soon).
P.S. – BTW in April 2020 NVIDIA stock was $74.07 per share and in April 2021 it was $135.72 per share. Today – Mar 20, 2024 – NVIDIA stocks are trading at $906.75.
