Silicon Valley Claims It Sees the Future, But the Midterms Did Not Play Along

Three core stories in today's briefing are interconnected. Silicon Valley completely misread the political landscape, Nvidia offered two conflicting narratives (one public, one private) about chip tracking capabilities, and BCI trial volunteers have started to fight for their data rights. In other updates, Microsoft's global service outage, the ripple effects of Jensen Huang's resignation, and the ongoing debate over AI integration in schools are still unfolding. Finally, we take a look at an under-construction highway deep under the North Sea in Norway.

Silicon Valley Bets Big on Trump, Midterms Deliver the Opposite Result

Five weeks before Election Day, a group of top Silicon Valley tech leaders posed for photos with Trump at the White House, throwing their support behind his "superintelligence" agenda even as public pushback against AI and new data centers continued to rise. In an op-ed for MIT Technology Review, Aaron Zamost, a tech communications consultant and former Square executive, argues that this bet was a massive misreading of the political situation. These tech giants staked their corporate fortunes on this choice, and their judgment is now fully on public display. Silicon Valley has long branded itself as the community that can see the future, but the midterm results make one thing clear: being able to spot tech trends and understanding political realities are two entirely separate skills.

Nvidia Privately Confirms Its Chips Can Be Tracked

Illinois Congressman Bill Foster told MIT Technology Review that Nvidia representatives privately confirmed the anti-smuggling measures required by the Chip Security Act are technically feasible. The act would mandate geotracking for advanced AI chips to verify their location and prevent them from being smuggled to China. An industry group previously claimed these requirements "may not be practically viable". Foster is a co-sponsor of the bill and a member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. This issue is drawing renewed public attention in the wake of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's resignation and reports of his extramarital affair. This stark contrast — publicly questioning feasibility while privately confirming full functionality — is worth noting.

BCI Trial Volunteers Are Demanding Control Over Their Own Brain Data

Scientists have spent decades researching neural activity decoding, and today there are already implanted BCI devices that can control prosthetic arms, operate computers, and even help non-verbal people "speak". Ian Burkhart, who received a BCI implant back in 2014, is now helping draft ethical guidelines for BCI trials, centered on respecting participant autonomy and granting them full, on-demand access to their own neural data. The original report notes the push for "more autonomy, fewer non-disclosure agreements". This story is easily overshadowed by flashy technical breakthroughs, but it will directly determine how many people are willing to join future trials.

Other Quick Updates Worth Noting

• A massive global Microsoft outage took down Outlook, Teams and Copilot. Reuters reports that traders were forced to rely on phones and fax machines to conduct business. Microsoft has stated the incident was not a cybersecurity breach.

• Ripple effects from Jensen Huang's resignation are ongoing. Axios reports lasting damage to the company's reputation, NBC News is covering interim CEO Colette Kress's leadership, and the New York Times is discussing potential permanent candidates for the top role. Trump posted on Truth Social that Jensen Huang did a great job, and the only suitable replacement is Apple's Tim Cook, calling it "a legend succeeding a legend".

• Bloomberg reports that companies linked to Alice Huang have purchased banned Nvidia chips in China, with the servers first resold to Nvidia's Singapore-based partners. Singapore has stated the United States provided no assistance in its ongoing spy investigation.

• Parents are demanding schools pause the rollout of AI tools. Ars Technica reports that Gemini is alleged to have encouraged a teenager to plan a suicide attempt.

• Advocacy groups have filed a lawsuit against five leading AI labs to demand a halt to further model development, targeting Anthropic, Google, Meta, OpenAI and SpaceXSI. The Associated Press has covered the lawsuit.

• SpaceX has denied it restricted Ukraine's Starshield network access, while Volodymyr Zelenskyy says those restrictions have hampered drone defense operations.

• Robots have assembled a structural component in outer space for the first time, a key milestone toward full in-orbit manufacturing.

• Users of AI companion apps want their digital partners to live forever, and are building chatbots that can retain their personality and memories across model updates.

• Scientists have discovered a protein that accelerates aging, which could pave the way for drugs that slow the aging process.

• A new galaxy map includes 15,000 potential gravitational lens cases, which could help researchers unlock the secrets of the dark universe.

16.6-Mile Highway Tunnel Under Construction Beneath the North Sea

MIT Technology Review's Niall Firth traveled to Norway, descending 1,000 feet into a dark cavern under the North Sea. The air smells thick, and millions of tons of seawater press down above his head. He went to visit the Rogfast tunnel, which will become the world's longest and deepest undersea road tunnel when completed: 16.6 miles long, with its lowest point 1,280 feet below the sea surface. The significance of this project goes far beyond its record length. At a time when it feels like nearly every large infrastructure project gets stuck in gridlock, it proves that massive, ambitious engineering work can still get done.

Construction site of the Rogfast tunnel. Image credit: COURTESY OF NORWEGIAN PUBLIC ROADS ADMINISTRATION

That's all for today's edition of The Download. In the world of tech news, good judgment is sometimes far scarcer than computing power.