AI This Week (Nov 2–Nov 9, 2026): Nvidia Scandal, Korea Bets, Agent Pushes

The week's center of gravity sat at Nvidia. A US intelligence memo reportedly alleges that China's Ministry of State Security recruited Megaspeed executive Alice Huang to spy on CEO Jensen Huang; Nvidia's board opened an independent investigation overseen by independent directors and outside counsel, and Yale's Jeffrey Sonnenfeld put the outcome at "about a 50-50." Nvidia has called the pair's interactions "not unusual."

Nvidia kept building anyway: a new investment in Korean interconnect startup Point2, NVLink Fusion work with Rebellions and SK Telecom, and Dynamo recipes for four Korean open models. OpenAI reportedly raised another $11 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation, Meta rolled out Muse Voice video chat to US users alongside Spaces workspaces, and AI PACs spent millions on the midterms with mixed returns.

Policy

Megaspeed exec was recruited to spy on Nvidia CEO, according to US intelligence memo — A US intelligence memo reportedly alleges China's Ministry of State Security recruited Megaspeed executive Alice Huang to spy on Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang; Nvidia called their interactions "not unusual.".

AI PACs spent millions trying to shape Congress. Here’s how they fared. — AI industry and safety PACs spent millions influencing the 2026 midterms, with mixed results: Darlene Graham, backed with $4.8 million from American Mission and Building the Future, lost, as did candidates backed by Public First and opposed by Guardrails Alliance.

OpenAI is already trying to shape the 2028 election — OpenAI's Chris Lehane is pushing a New Deal-style AI social contract for the 2028 election, proposing five policy priorities spanning worker protections to data centers — critics say the plan assumes AI benefits that haven't materialized.

The Biggest Pro-AI Super Pac Network Didn't Really Impact the Midterms — Leading the Future, a pro-AI super PAC network launched in August 2025 with about $100 million from Silicon Valley backers, spent roughly $26 million on primaries and $10 million on safe general election races, leaving critics to say it failed to sway the midterms.

Business

NVIDIA Announces New Planned Investments in Korean Startups at the MSIT-NVIDIA AI Startup Partnership Forum — NVIDIA announced an investment in Korean AI interconnect startup Point2 at a forum co-hosted with Korea's science ministry, with planned investments in Motif Technologies, RLWRLD and Upstage following across infrastructure, models and robotics.

Is Jensen Huang’s job on the line? Yale’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld estimates it’s “about a 50-50” — Nvidia's board opened an independent investigation into CEO Jensen Huang after he disclosed infidelity, involving Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive U.S.

Statement from NVIDIA Board of Directors — NVIDIA's board is launching an independent investigation, overseen by independent directors and outside counsel, into reports that CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort.

OpenAI reportedly raises an additional $11 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation — OpenAI reportedly raised $11 billion so far in a round valuing it at $1.25 trillion, part of a larger round expected to total about $20 billion — short of a $30 billion target — while Anthropic IPO buyers reportedly eye valuations as low as $1.1 trillion versus $2 trillion expected a month ago.

Infrastructure

From Chips to Skills, NVIDIA and Korea Expand Sovereign AI Collaboration — NVIDIA and Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT expanded their sovereign AI collaboration across semiconductors, infrastructure, talent and security, opening NVLink Fusion to Korean NPU and XPU makers and pairing SK Telecom and Rebellions on sovereign infrastructure.

NVIDIA, Rebellions and SK Telecom Announce Collaboration to Advance Sovereign AI Infrastructure With NVIDIA NVLink Fusion — NVIDIA, Rebellions, and SK Telecom will use NVLink Fusion to connect Korean-designed R200 NPUs to NVIDIA's MGX rack platform for sovereign AI inference, backed by Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT.

NVIDIA Dynamo Recipes Bring Korea’s Leading Open Models to Production — NVIDIA released Dynamo-optimized deployment recipes for four Korean open models — A.X K2, K-EXAONE 2.0, Solar Open 2 and Motif-3 — tuned for B200 GPUs and delivering up to 2x performance out of the box.

Crusoe sells troubled Wyoming data center project to Google — Crusoe sold an unfinished southeastern Wyoming data center project to Google, which raised concerns about cost and timeline under Crusoe's management and plans to invest $17 billion in the campus.

Models

Korea Advances Physical AI Across Industries With NVIDIA — Korea Advances Physical AI Across Industries With NVIDIA.

Nvidia says it’s investigating CEO Jensen Huang’s relationship with possible Chinese spy — Nvidia says it’s investigating CEO Jensen Huang’s relationship with possible Chinese spy.

OpenAI released a new cybersecurity model. Is that enough? — OpenAI launched ChatGPT Cyber for offensive researchers in its Daybreak Red program, after GPT 5.6 Sol helped a hobbyist find a severe Ubuntu bug in two hours and OpenAI's own scans flagged 948 Linux kernel issues and 81 novel Firefox flaws.

Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash: Fast and cost-effective with longer clips — Google released Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash with native 15-second video generation and editing, stronger output consistency, and 30% lower pricing.

Agents

Korea’s AI Ecosystem Advances and Secures Agentic AI With NVIDIA — NVIDIA is embedding OpenShell, a sandboxed runtime with policy-based controls, into Korean partners' agentic AI work, including Hyundai Motor Group's exploration of NemoClaw blueprints and AIM Intelligence's Starfort integration.

Meta introduces Spaces, a new way to collaborate with your Muse agent — Meta launched Spaces, topic-based workspaces in its Muse agent sidebar where the agent builds trackers, planners and project boards from a chat description and keeps them updated via third-party app connections.

Airbnb says it’s launching an AI travel agent in the first half of 2027 — Airbnb will launch an AI travel agent in H1 2027 that builds a custom interface from hundreds of travel components — maps, photos, comparisons, calendars, itineraries — instead of plain chat, and handles refunds, rebooking, and safety support after booking.

Meta says US users can now video chat with their Muse AI avatar — Meta rolled out Muse Voice to all US users on Thursday, letting people call and video chat with a customizable animated Muse avatar powered by new Muse Realtime Avatar and Muse Realtime Voice models, ahead of a Tamagotchi-like wearable due before year-end.