'Why did you cheat?': How sharing Jensen Huang's name became blessing and a headache for AI founder

A 24-year-old software engineer and founder of an AI startup has found himself dragged into Jensen Huang's extramarital scandal because he shares the same name as the former chief executive officer of Nvidia.

Huang, the founder of AI startup Lycana, has known the former Nvidia chief since his school days and recalls admiring him as a kid, largely because of his long-standing interest in computers, technology, and building things.

According to a Business Insider report, people started noticing his name more frequently when artificial intelligence (AI) gained momentum. "Oh! Your name is exactly like that guy." Or: "Hey, give me Nvidia stock," the AI founder recalled hearing frequently.

Until that time, he had believed that sharing Huang's name was giving him a professional advantage. It made it easier for people outside his network to remember him. Even after meeting someone just once, he often finds that they recognise him and say: "It's you! The Nvidia CEO!"

The same association has also come up repeatedly during job interviews over the past four years. He said interviewers frequently greeted him with, "Oh yeah, you're the Nvidia CEO."

His identical name also became a talking point when he applied for positions at AI companies. During some interviews, recruiters would jokingly ask him, "Got any extra GPUs?"

Affair reports turn the name coincidence into an unexpected headache

However, things took a troubling turn after reports revealing Jensen Huang's extramarital affairs, including one with a woman accused of spying for China, surfaced, leaving the AI founder stunned and in disbelief.

"Holy crap, my name's going to be dragged through the mud," the AI founder said, adding that he struggled to process the subsequent developments, remarking: "I don't even know how to react to that."

The reports have also changed how he views the Nvidia CEO. While he continues to recognise Huang's professional achievements and considers his work visionary, he believes those accomplishments should not shield anyone from criticism over their personal conduct. He said his admiration for Huang had diminished and that professional success did not justify such behaviour.

Meanwhile, his friends have not missed an opportunity to tease him about the controversy. They have approached him with remarks such as, "Yo, what are you doing to my stock?" and "How many girls is it this time?" Although he does not find all the jokes particularly amusing, he said he does not take them personally.

Initially, he decided to use the unusual situation to his advantage by publishing humorous posts on LinkedIn. Acting on the belief that there's no such thing as bad publicity, he made the posts without anticipating how widely they would circulate, the report added.

'Why did you cheat?'

However, the response was mixed. While several users understood the humour, others appeared to believe that the posts came from the actual Nvidia CEO. Some even directed questions at him about the alleged infidelity, asking: Why did you cheat?

His biggest concern is that people who do not know him personally could mistake him for the Nvidia chief. He said friends had shared discussions about him circulating on Reddit and RedNote, a Chinese social media platform.

In one instance, someone took a screenshot of his LinkedIn post and shared it on RedNote, bringing his comments into discussions about Nvidia. He described this as a significant development because people unfamiliar with him had begun associating him directly with the controversy.