Jensen Huang said China isn’t spending time debating the AI apocalypse. We are, the Chinese internet says.

Jensen Huang's latest comments on China's approach to artificial intelligence are stirring debate on Chinese social media.

Speaking onstage at the All-In Summit in Los Angeles on Monday, Huang said that people in China don't talk about AI doom in the same way as people in the West.

"The narrative is much more practical. Nobody in China is saying that there's end of this, and end of that, and cataclysmic this, and doomer that," Huang said during the conversation with David Sacks.

The Nvidia CEO said he saw no purpose in engaging in this kind of apocalyptic talk.

"We're making it up. The part that is frustrating is if it was true, then we ought to talk about it and go do something about it," Huang said, instead of "worrying a bunch of people who can't do anything about it."

On Weibo, China's version of X, internet users pushed back on Huang's characterization. The message: the AI doom debate is alive, and red hot out here.

The Nvidia chief's words drew mixed responses under the hashtag "Jensen Huang says no one in China is talking about the AI apocalypse," which was viewed more than 14 million times at press time.

"To say Chinese people don't talk about an AI apocalypse is simply untrue," a tech commentator in Beijing wrote on Weibo. "Refraining from always defaulting to doomsday scenarios doesn't mean we neglect safety research to prevent that from happening. Prioritizing practical applications doesn't mean we aren't afraid of what happens if we skip rigorous safety validation."

"China is not a monolith," another Weibo user from Beijing wrote. "The impact of AI on human life is something that demands thorough reflection and discussion. Dialogue on whether we're heading toward an apocalypse or not is happening, and must continue to happen."

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Some users said they, too, were concerned about the laws governing AI superintelligence, with one user from Jiangsu writing that "regulation is urgently needed."

Others agreed with Huang that AI doomerism has received less attention in China, but said that was because the country's tech sector is focused on keeping pace with the West.