Attending GTC is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. This was my first time being able to attend GTC in person. You have to picture it like this: all the streets surrounding the venue are closed off; it feels as though half the city has transformed into an NVIDIA event. In the evenings, people gather to discuss what they’ve heard; during the day, there are countless workshops and lectures, interspersed with numerous companies—such as Lenovo, AWS, Azure, Mercedes, Coreweave, and so many others - essentially anyone and everyone involved with "AI" in any capacity. The entire GTC kicked off in a literally stadium-filled arena (20,000 people, if I recall correctly), where the audience listened spellbound to the words of Jensen Huang. The keynote began on an epic note and concluded with a melodic flourish. In between, there were sessions where attendees could engage directly with Jensen during Q&As - questions he answered with his signature humor. You spend the entire day on the move, meeting new and fascinating people, engaging in countless intriguing conversations, and - from morning till night - immersing yourself deeply in the subject matter and grappling with the future. Tomorrow at 9:00 AM, I’m scheduled for a conversation with Kris Briski from NVIDIA; that will be followed by numerous other events, and on Friday—for the very first time - I’ll be taking a slow ride to the airport in an FSD (Full Self-Driving) car. Even now, however, I can say that the entire GTC experience has been overwhelming. I still need some time to process it all and will write a full recap afterward. But what I experienced here surprised even me. It’s the *feeling* - the unique character of the event - something you’d typically associate with football matches or major sporting events: that palpable sense of euphoria and excitement. I never expected to encounter that at a tech conference, and it left a profound impression on me. By the way: I’ll be back in California in May to attend Google I/O - and, provided everything goes according to plan, I’ll also be making a stop in Beijing this April in the interim. But I'll tell you about that when the time comes.

P.S.: The truth is, too, that alongside all the professional influencers and journalists, I sometimes feel like an amateur. But hey - everyone starts small, right? :)