Help wanted: AI firms court ex-spies as Nvidia drama spotlights security risks

AMSTERDAM – AI firms are hiring former intelligence operatives to help shield them from espionage, a risk thrust into the spotlight as Nvidia grapples with reports of two extramarital affairs involving CEO Jensen Huang, one with an alleged Chinese spy.Huang resigned on Nov 12, ending his 33-year run at the helm of the AI giant he co-founded.Chief financial officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO while keeping her finance role, and the Nvidia board will consider internal and external candidates for a permanent replacement.Former intelligence officers, recruiters and company insiders said 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,” he said.Revelio Labs, which tracks hiring trends, said counter-intelligence hiring is 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 range from US$200,000 (S$257,000) up to around US$500,000.Catherine Marinis-Yaqub, a former CIA officer who works for strategic risk and security firm Control Risks, said companies value counter-intelligence 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.She helps executives spot threats that can look like chance encounters at gyms or coffee shops, which could be spies trying to befriend, blackmail or recruit them.“They’re just becoming more aware of it. They still have a long way to go,” she said.Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia CEO on Nov 12 following reports of him having extramarital affairs. PHOTO: REUTERSFrom intelligence to industryThe AI companies have brought in some big guns.OpenAI appointed former National Security Agency director Paul Nakasone to its board and safety and security committee in June 2024. It is now hiring a senior global security investigator. The ad lists counter-intelligence as a key skill.OpenAI fired an engineer in October after finding a recording device hidden behind a television in an executive conference room. The engineer accused of planting it pleaded not guilty on Nov 6 to illegally intercepting communications.Rival Anthropic added former CIA deputy director David Cohen and former NSA cybersecurity director Dave Luber to the national security advisory council it launched in August 2025.Anthropic is seeking a threat-intelligence security engineer to track sophisticated adversaries. Its advertisement describes the company as “one of the most interesting targets in the world for nation-state and advanced criminal actors”.The pay – well above the public sector – reflects the relative scarcity of talent, said Kathy Lavinder, founder of specialist recruiter SI Placement. She said top corporate security chiefs can earn US$1 million to US$4 million a year, depending on stock awards.ASML, Europe’s most valuable listed company, has built up its defences as its chip-printing technology has become a prize in the US-China tech rivalry.In the last few years, it has set up an Intelligence Fusion Centre and is currently advertising for an intelligence officer based in Taiwan, where ASML’s top customer, TSMC, makes chips for Nvidia.The ad reads like a job for a character from a John le Carre spy novel, tasked with rooting out “insider threats”, including espionage, sabotage and terrorism. Applicants need at least 10 years of counter-intelligence experience.ASML declined to comment on its security arrangements. Public filings show its broader security workforce has grown rapidly in the last decade. It hired Sebastian Reyn, former deputy director of Dutch military intelligence, in 2024.ASML is “one of the more sophisticated companies on security risk, because it is constantly targeted”, said Hans Horan, an analyst at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies.Who watches the boss?Former ASML security chief Aernout Reijmer, who left the firm in September 2025 and now heads cybersecurity collaboration business CyberAlloy, said security chiefs’ top priority has been the need to counter AI-driven hacking and the need to protect data as their own firms adopt AI.That can leave less time – and less focus from boardrooms – to consider the risk of an executive falling prey to a spy, which at times is dismissed as far-fetched.“I know many companies, I’d say 90%, completely ignore that risk, because the James Bond theme starts playing in people’s heads straight away,” he said.He added that the biggest tech firms and banks usually have decent defences in place, with big AI firms now obvious targets given the global “geopolitical race”.Lavinder, the recruiter, added that even a well-staffed team cannot always avoid issues or dictate the boss’ private life.“Security teams don’t have a veto,” she said. “Executives will do what executives want to do.” REUTERS