Inside King Charles’ Letter to Nvidia’s CEO at AI Ceremony

Today’s architects of modern AI infrastructure rarely receive recognition outside technology circles, but that changed in a ceremony that blended celebration with a sobering reminder about AI’s dual nature.

Nvidia Founder and CEO Jensen Huang and the company’s Chief Scientist Bill Dally received the 2025 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering from His Majesty King Charles III, awarded for their contributions to modern machine learning (ML). 

Yet the ceremony took on a new level when the King personally handed the CEO a letter about his thoughts on AI’s development.

What was in King Charles’ letter to Nvidia’s CEO?

“He said, there’s something I want to talk to you about. And he handed me a letter,” Jensen tells the BBC. 

“It was his speech on AI safety. He obviously cares very deeply about AI safety.”

The letter contains a copy of an address King Charles delivered in 2023 at the world’s first AI Summit, where he warned that the risks of AI needed to be tackled with “a sense of urgency, unity and collective strength”. 

In it, the King describes the development of advanced AI as “no less important than the discovery of electricity”.

The CEO says the King’s message walks a careful line between optimism and concern. 

“He wrote in his speech that he believed in the incredible capability of the technology to transform the UK and the world,” Jensen says.

“But he also wants to remind us that the technology could be used for good and for evil and so to make sure we do everything we can to advance AI safety.”

Simultaneously, the award highlights Jensen’s and Bill’s role in pioneering accelerated computing, driving what the citation describes as a fundamental shift across the entire computer industry. 

It’s the breakthrough now revolutionising every layer of technology, from chips and systems to algorithms and applications.

“To be recognised among the pioneers whose work has shaped the world we live in today is an extraordinary honor,” Jensen says, acknowledging the visionaries behind technologies like the internet and GPS that have transformed industries and everyday life.

He adds: “We are living through the most profound transformation in computing since the invention of the microprocessor. AI has become essential infrastructure — as vital to future progress as electricity and the internet were to previous generations.”

Meanwhile, Bill credits the foundations of AI to decades of progress in parallel computing and stream processing. 

“We continue to apply engineering methods to refine AI hardware and software so that AI can empower people to achieve even greater things,” he says.

Together, Jensen and Bill helped pioneer the accelerated computing architecture that makes modern AI possible, a platform that enables researchers to train large models, simulate physical systems and advance science at unprecedented scale and speed.

The awards, political tensions and future opportunities: Explained

Later that day, the CEO received the Professor Stephen Hawking Fellowship at the Cambridge Union, the world’s oldest debating society. 

The Cambridge Union Society and Lucy Hawking, daughter of Stephen Hawking, honour Jensen for advancing science and inspiring future generations of technologists and researchers.

“Professor Hawking’s life showed that intellect has no boundaries,” he says.

“That curiosity – pursued with humor and grace – can expand the reach of humanity. He taught us that discovery is an act of optimism. And I can think of no higher compliment than to be associated with that spirit.”

The Fellowship commends individuals who advance STEM and promote public understanding of these fields. 

Lucy Hawking presented the award before the CEO addressed the audience and joined a fireside chat with Union President Ivan Alexei Ampiah.

Earlier, Jensen and Bill attend a roundtable with Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Innovation Liz Kendall and Minister for Science, Research, Innovation and Nuclear Lord Patrick Vallance. 

The discussion, which was National Engineering Day in the UK, focused on how the country can inspire future engineers.

The roundtable builds on Nvidia’s collaboration with the UK government, universities and industry to expand AI infrastructure, research and skills – ensuring the next generation of engineers has access to the computing power that fuels discovery.

The ceremony also recognises Professors Yoshua Bengio and Geoffrey Hinton, who have publicly warned that AI poses an existential threat to humanity. 

Yet their inclusion alongside the Nvidia CEO highlights the tension within the industry. 

US President Donald Trump has urged the AI sector to make rapid rather than cautious advances in the technology, while US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has discouraged use of the word “safety” on the grounds that “it makes us sound like we’re afraid”.

Against this backdrop, Jensen sees potential for the UK. 

Large US technology firms including Nvidia are investing billions of dollars in building AI infrastructure in the UK, in the form of data centres which Jensen has called “AI factories”.

The CEO says the UK is in a good position to take advantage of what he describes as “an industrial revolution that’s happening right now.”

“It’s your opportunity to grasp,” he says.