From @DoctorDitko a while back...
Possibly, in the sense that I am deeply suspicious of software that reports back to its makers. Granted, Nvidia has more excuses than most to report back. The GeForce Experience can be quite helpful, especially to new users who haven't been tweaking games/gfx settings for many years.
Still, the modern drivers in a default install include:
The display driver itself.
PhysX support.
An auto-updater.
Reporting on all games installed, including downloading special settings for many games.
A streaming server that automatically records the last 20 seconds of gameplay, just in case you want to stream or save it.
A screenshot utility with various options to upload to many different services.
Telemetry that reports which games you play and for how long, hardware details, and game settings.
A javascript engine.
Software to support the Nvidia Shield wireless controller.
Various hotkeys to invoke the above services on command.
If you use all these background services and utilities, you may be glad of them. Personally, my data cap won't allow me to stream, etc. I don't need to waste my limited throughput on telemetry (or ads, helpful tips on settings, or helping anyone "improve their customer experience.") so I have no need for most of the above. I use the aforementioned NVSlimmer to trim it back to:
Display driver
PhysX