AI firms are hiring former intelligence operatives to help shield them from espionage, a risk thrust into the spotlight as Nvidia axed its CEO Jensen Huang following reports of two extramarital affairs, one with an alleged Chinese spy.

The giant AI firm said its rockstar founder ‌Huang would step down on Thursday, rocking the company and the wider AI industry. Huang has admitted one of the affairs. Nvidia has said it did not believe national security or company secrets were compromised. China has rejected the espionage allegations.

Former intelligence officers, recruiters and company insiders told Reuters that chip, AI and tech firms – which have boomed in the last few years on huge artificial intelligence demand – have been beefing up their security muscle.

"The AI firms have snapped up a lot of security talent," said Christopher Falkenberg, a former US Secret Service agent and now president of Insite Risk Management.

"There are some very sophisticated people out of government thinking about security for these businesses... Demand outstrips the supply of people with relevant experience."

Revelio Labs, which tracks hiring trends, said that counterintelligence hiring was a new phenomenon at frontier AI firms, with more explicit roles being posted in the last couple of years by the likes of OpenAI, Anthropic and Nvidia. Most salaries ranged from $200,000 up to around $500,000.

Catherine Marinis-Yaqub, a former CIA officer who works for strategic risk and security firm Control Risks, said companies valued counterintelligence experts for their ability to spot threats such as employees stealing trade secrets and attempts to exploit vulnerabilities, including via executives, by blackmail or coercion.

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