Jeffrey Fredrick retweeted
The story keeps getting crazier. To recap everything that has been reported so far:
- The US intelligence community discovered that Jensen Huang, the CEO of the largest company in the world, was sleeping with Alice Huang, a Chinese spy and an executive at Megaspeed. (FT)
- Multiple independent investigations have concluded that Megaspeed is likely a Chinese cutout, which helps Chinese companies access AI chips or circumvent export controls. (NYT and Bloomberg)
- The US intelligence community also concluded that Alice Huang’s goal was to convince Jensen to lobby the U.S. government to loosen export controls on advanced AI chips. (NYT)
- The intelligence community relayed this information to “a small group of top US government officials” earlier this year. (FT)
- Over the last year, Jensen Huang has repeatedly lobbied the U.S. government to loosen export controls on advanced chips. @BISgov has done so, not only by permitting the export of H200 chips to China, but also not enforcing export controls that would have required a license for exports of the most advanced Blackwell chips to Megaspeed and Southeast Asia.
- Although @CommerceGov leadership was presumably briefed on this information by the U.S. intelligence community, @BISgov has taken no actions to tighten controls on Megaspeed or Southeast Asia.
- Megaspeed remains a preferred cloud partner of Nvidia, and continues to receive Nvidia Blackwell chips despite employing a Chinese spy who reportedly is romantically engaged with the CEO of Nvidia.
- Tens of billions of dollars worth of AI chips have been exported to Southeast Asia this year alone, and Malaysia and Singapore are now two of the four largest importers of AI chips in the world.
What is going on here??? We need answers. The question of who gets the most advanced AI chips in the world is literally the defining strategic question of our time. And not only does it seem like the MSS may be directly influencing the debate on export controls in the United States, but also @CommerceGov is refusing to listen to the warnings of the IC on this issue. What is a POSSIBLE good explanation for why Megaspeed is still receiving chips? Why is there not a license requirement for AI chip shipments to all of Southeast Asia? This is beyond strange at this point.
The fallout from this story will be massive. Obviously, the motivations underpinning Nvidia’s policy views opposing export controls must now all be questioned. But also, how did @BISgov sit on this information and has still taken no actions? We need answers.
US intelligence agencies believe @Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had romantic relationship with alleged Chinese spy
as.ft.com/r/97c2f9f7-ad2e-44…
Jeffrey Fredrick retweeted
From today, Works in Progress is now in stock at Barnes & Nobles nationwide across America.
We're in 570 stores in 49 states*, including the flagship stores at Union Square & Fifth Avenue in NYC; Georgetown, DC; State Street, Chicago; and The Grove, Los Angeles.
We're also now in Hudson News outlets across most major US airports, and the B&Ns at San Francisco Airport.
If you tweet (or LinkedIn/Insta post) a photo of a copy of Works in Progress outside any of these stores, share the post with me or @WorksInProgMag via DM and we'll send you a free tote bag as a thank you. If you're a subscriber already, feel free to do it with own copy!
You can see a full map of Barnes & Noble stockists here, and enter your Zip code to find your nearest store.
*Sorry, Wyoming, we'll get to you!
worksinprogress.co/barnes-no…
Jeffrey Fredrick retweeted
The goal of the month nominations for December 2006 will NEVER be topped 😳
Jeffrey Fredrick retweeted
I often hear people starting a project saying, "I don't want to make money on it. I just want to break even." But staying out of the red is hard! And it requires pretty much all the same activities as making money: marketing, budgeting... May as well try to be profitable
Jeffrey Fredrick retweeted
Can you save a broken co-founder partnership over Slack? Probably not.
@jtf and I dive into "couples counseling for co-founders" and why high-stakes conflict demands high-bandwidth tools—like two people at a physical whiteboard.
Listen here:
buff.ly/lmpzakD
Jeffrey Fredrick retweeted
Toronto!! If you want to hang out with me and people who are maybe a little bit like me, and maybe even people who are a little bit like you, you should come to my upcoming Toronto Event Generator meetup at Danu Social House on November 8!!
Jeffrey Fredrick retweeted
Hey, it's me talking about conferences on @Jtf and @douglassquirrel's podcast! soundcloud.com/troubleshooti…
Jeffrey Fredrick retweeted
reminds me of my ask a fish about the water moment
Jeffrey Fredrick retweeted
Please help me prepare for a conf talk. If you're a PM, please fill in a 5 min survey about how AI impacts your work. If you're not, I'd appreciate it very much if you could ask your PM to fill it. Extra thanks for retweets for visibility. votito.com/public/survey/?ke…
Jeffrey Fredrick retweeted
The 1st step in planning a conference: ask:
Are there a group of ppl who have a mutual interest in meeting each other?
Lots of conferences have a one-way hierarchy: everyone wants to meet the ppl above them; nobody wants to meet the ppl below them.
The best conferences...🧵
Jeffrey Fredrick retweeted
YOU LOVE TO SEE IT
Life expectancy for people with cystic fibrosis going up and up and up and uo
That's what REAL science does.
😍
Jeffrey Fredrick retweeted
So I've got some bad news,
I’m quite unhappy with much of what OpenAI does.
I am very happy that I’m allowed to say “I’m quite unhappy with much of what OpenAI does.”
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Korbak was fired ~3 weeks later. He says for safety concerns/METR talks (his job); OpenAI says mishandling sensitive info, not for speaking out.
x.com/tomekkorbak/st…
x.com/OpenAINewsroom…
Jeffrey Fredrick retweeted
Having long been aware of those tech bros who read my work as utopian porn, where they’ve taken that doesn’t exactly surprise me.
Jeffrey Fredrick retweeted
Replying to @tracewoodgrains
I think there is a wide pattern of people on the AI-unworried side who are otherwise reasonable turning fully into bad faith soldiers (I will not name names beyond your example) and that this is a very hard thing to take calmly for years and years.
Jeffrey Fredrick retweeted
Is your tech team falling for the illusion of control? 🐿️
@jtf and I chat to @testobsessed & @joeltosi. We covered 30-minute exercises you can run TODAY—from listening to non-dashboard "signals" to dissecting organizational illusions.
Listen here:
buff.ly/xUtLpb2
Jeffrey Fredrick retweeted
Sign up for a workshop with Elisabeth Hendrickson and Joel Tosi, the authors of Signals & Levers!
Agile Testing Days
Nov. 16 - 19, 2026
Potsdam, Germany
To shift a system, you have to learn how to read the signals that tell you what’s really going on, then find the right points of leverage. This is harder than it sounds. The signals that are easy to see, like metrics dashboards, are usually convenient proxies, unreliable and full of noise. The most obvious levers are often local optimizations that are likely to backfire. In this masterclass, you’ll learn how to read signals, especially the less obvious ones. You’ll use foundational system thinking tools, especially causal models, to understand and reason about the system as a whole. Finally, you’ll learn how to find the right levers: the interventions that can shift the system while avoiding unintended consequences. Along the way you’ll discover why decisions made with the best of intentions all too often backfire, how to break out of doom loops, and how even the smallest actions can have the biggest impact.
More info: itrev.io/4bL0rcf
Register: itrev.io/3Uru9wW
Jeffrey Fredrick retweeted
I love @WorksInProgMag ! So when they offered to help design an ad for me in their magazine, I jumped at the chance! I'll be seeing it in print for the first time at the @rootsofprogress conference
Jeffrey Fredrick retweeted
Heading to @rootsofprogress Conference in Berkeley Oct 9/10 at Lighthaven. I'm running four sessions in two days? Too many? Let's see!!
I love that event! I'm especially excited to do a fireside chat with their CEO @jasoncrawford, talking about conferences and why they matter

























