Thursday the 20th of November

G’day folks,

It’s Wednesday the 20th of November, and while Nvidia’s blockbuster earnings have temporarily quieted fears of an AI bubble, regulatory battles are heating up as the Trump administration moves to block state-level AI regulations, sparking bipartisan pushback.

Meanwhile, Silicon Valley’s biggest players continue to place massive bets on AI infrastructure, with Luma AI securing $900 million in Saudi-backed funding and OpenAI rolling out group chats globally as it transforms ChatGPT from a solo assistant into a collaborative platform.

Let’s get into it.

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In a Nutshell

• Nvidia Silences Bubble Critics: Nvidia beat earnings expectations with $57 billion in Q3 revenue and a forecast of $65 billion for Q4, while CEO Jensen Huang dismissed “AI bubble” concerns and revealed the company has $500 billion in chip orders lined up for 2025-2026.

• Trump Moves to Block State AI Laws: President Trump has drafted an executive order to preempt state AI regulations, drawing fierce opposition from both Democratic lawmakers and Republican governors like Ron DeSantis who called it “federal government overreach.”

• AI Job Cuts Hit 50,000: Tech companies have cited artificial intelligence in 48,414 U.S. job cuts this year, with 31,000 announced in October alone, as firms increasingly embrace AI to eliminate staff and freeze hiring.

Top Stories

💰 Nvidia’s $500 Billion Forecast Eases Bubble Fears

Nvidia delivered a resounding answer to skeptics worried about an AI bubble, reporting fiscal Q3 earnings that crushed Wall Street expectations and issuing bullish guidance for the months ahead. The chipmaker posted $57 billion in revenue—beating estimates of $54.9 billion—and forecast $65 billion for the current quarter, representing 65% year-over-year growth.

The details:

• CEO Jensen Huang directly addressed bubble concerns on the earnings call, arguing that three distinct use cases—traditional software on GPUs, new AI applications, and autonomous “agentic AI”—are all driving infrastructure investment.

• Huang confirmed the company is on track to deliver $500 billion worth of AI chips in 2025 and 2026, with CFO Colette Kress noting that recent deals with Anthropic and Saudi Arabia weren’t even included in that figure.

• China sales proved “insignificant” at just $50 million for the H20 chip during the quarter, far below analyst projections of up to $50 billion annually, after “sizable purchase orders never materialized.”

Why it matters: Nvidia’s blowout results and massive order backlog suggest the AI infrastructure boom has staying power despite mounting concerns about return on investment. The company’s dominance in AI chips means its performance serves as a bellwether for the entire technology sector’s AI spending plans. CNBC

🎨 Google Launches Nano Banana Pro Powered by Gemini 3

Google rolled out Nano Banana Pro on Thursday, its latest image generation and editing model built on the newly released Gemini 3 Pro, bringing studio-quality creative capabilities to consumers, professionals, and developers. The launch follows Tuesday’s Gemini 3 announcement, which has contributed to Alphabet stock reaching record highs this week, with shares up 4% on Thursday.

The details:

• Nano Banana Pro can generate accurate text directly in images across multiple languages with sophisticated fonts and calligraphy, create infographics from code snippets or resumes, and maintain consistency across up to 14 input images or five people in a single composition.

• The model offers professional-grade controls including camera angle adjustments, lighting transformation (day to night), depth of field changes, color grading, and outputs at 2K or 4K resolution—versus the original Nano Banana’s 1024px cap.

• Google is rolling out the model across its ecosystem: limited free access in the Gemini app (which gained 13 million users in four days when the original launched), integration into Google Ads for advertisers, availability in Workspace tools like Slides and Vids, and deployment through Gemini API for developers.

Why it matters: Nano Banana Pro represents Google’s aggressive push to catch up with OpenAI in the generative AI race, leveraging Gemini 3’s enhanced reasoning and world knowledge to create context-rich visuals rather than just pretty pictures. With the Gemini app reaching 650 million monthly active users compared to ChatGPT’s 800 million weekly users, Google is betting that superior creative tools will close the gap.

The company is also addressing AI transparency concerns by embedding all generated images with its imperceptible SynthID watermark and introducing a verification feature that lets users check if any image was made by Google AI. CNBC

⚖️ Trump Faces Bipartisan Backlash on AI Regulation Rollback

President Donald Trump has drafted an executive order that would block states from enforcing AI regulations, sparking fierce opposition from tech safety advocates and lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle. The draft order directs the attorney general to establish an AI Litigation Task Force to challenge state AI laws and replace them with more lenient federal policy.

The details:

• The order mirrors arguments from some in the tech industry, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, that navigating a “patchwork” of state laws slows innovation and hurts U.S. competitiveness.

• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called the move “federal government overreach” and a “subsidy to Big Tech,” while Democratic Senator Ed Markey accused Trump of siding “with his billionaire Big Tech buddies.”

• Hundreds of organizations—including tech employee unions, consumer protection nonprofits, and educational institutions—signed letters opposing the preemption push, citing AI safety risks.

Why it matters: With Congress unable to pass comprehensive federal AI legislation, states like California have moved to fill the void with regulations addressing deepfakes, algorithmic discrimination, and other AI risks. Trump’s proposal would strip states of this authority at a time when concerns about AI safety—from self-harm linked to chatbots to privacy violations—are escalating. The bipartisan pushback suggests the administration may face an uphill battle. CNN

Quick Hits

• ChatGPT Goes Social: OpenAI launched group chats globally across all ChatGPT plans, allowing up to 20 people to collaborate with each other and the AI in shared conversations for trip planning, document co-writing, and decision-making. TechCrunch

• DeepMind Expands to Singapore: Google DeepMind announced a new AI research lab in Singapore—its first in Southeast Asia—to advance Gemini and frontier AI capabilities with a focus on linguistic and cultural inclusivity for the Asia-Pacific region. Google

• AI Drives Mass Layoffs: Companies attributed nearly 50,000 U.S. job cuts to AI this year, with 31,000 announced in October alone, as executives increasingly cite automation and “agentic AI” as reasons to reduce headcount and freeze hiring. Los Angeles Times

That’s all for today,

See you tomorrow. Tom