The Week in Tech: AI’s $1 Trillion Reality Check

The AI Hype Train Hits the Brakes

The week ending November 7, 2025, may be remembered as the moment the technology industry’s artificial intelligence-fueled hype train slammed on the brakes. The narrative that has defined 2025—that AI would unlock boundless growth and productivity—collided with a harsh new reality. Global stock markets were rocked by a sharp selloff, driven by escalating concerns that the AI boom is an overvalued and unsustainable “bubble”.¹

By the end of the week, US tech companies closely tied to the artificial intelligence boom had lost more than $1 trillion in market value since the previous Friday.² The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, the primary barometer for the industry, suffered its worst weekly performance since the “April tariff selloff,” a sign of a severe reversal in investor confidence.³

This was not a random market correction. It was a rational response to a confluence of deeply troubling events that unfolded simultaneously. The rest of this report will explore in detail the three core themes that defined this week of reckoning:

1. Macroeconomic Fear: A bleak economic backdrop, defined by an ongoing 38-day U.S. government shutdown ⁵, dismal private labour data ⁶, and a historic collapse in consumer sentiment ⁷, made “growth-at-all-costs” tech stocks look dangerously exposed.
2. Unsustainable Costs: An explosive controversy at OpenAI, the industry’s standard-bearer, accidentally revealed that the cost of building next-generation AI may be so astronomically high as to be unsustainable, potentially requiring government financial support.⁸
3. The Human Price: The “efficiency” promised by AI was given a stark new name: layoffs. Tech giants Amazon ¹¹ and Salesforce ¹³ provided concrete, multi-thousand-person figures for jobs being eliminated specifically due to the implementation of new AI systems.¹²

This week, the abstract excitement about AI’s potential was overshadowed by the very real, very high price of its implementation—a price now being measured in trillions of dollars in market value, billions in questionable financing, and tens of thousands of human jobs.

“AI Bubble” Fears Drive Worst Tech Selloff in Months

The financial damage to the IT sector was swift and severe. The S&P 500 Information Technology Sector Index led the entire market lower, finishing the week down 4.2%.⁴ This was the index’s largest weekly decline since early April, when market fears spiked over President Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs.³ The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which has been the engine of the market’s 2025 rally, finished the week 3% lower, snapping a three-week winning streak.⁵

This pullback comes after a period of incredible performance. Even after this week’s sharp drop, the IT sector was still up 24.8% for the year.¹⁵ This very strength, however, was the source of the market’s anxiety, as investors worried that valuations had become dangerously disconnected from reality.

The selloff was heavily concentrated in the “Magnificent Seven” and other high-flying AI-related stocks that have been responsible for the lion’s share of the market’s gains.¹ But the pain was not distributed equally, revealing a nuanced shift in investor thinking.

A look at the performance of the largest stocks in the S&P 500 for the week (through November 6) shows investors were specifically punishing the most expensive parts of the AI trade, not just selling all tech.

This data highlights a critical development. While some reports claimed a uniform crash across the “Magnificent Seven” ¹, the weekly data shows a clear divergence. The chipmakers at the heart of the AI build-out (Nvidia, Broadcom) and the companies with the highest AI and metaverse-related spending (Meta, Microsoft) were hit the hardest.¹⁵ Meanwhile, Amazon and Alphabet—companies with massive, profitable core businesses—actually finished the week with gains. This suggests investors were not panicking, but re-evaluating. They were taking profits from the most “hyped” stocks and perhaps rotating into the “safer” megacaps that still offered AI exposure.

This re-evaluation was triggered by a classic sign of a market top: good news was treated as bad news. The selloff happened despite a round of strong tech earnings.³ This decoupling of fundamentals from market narratives was the clearest sign of “bubble” fears taking hold.

The most potent example was Palantir (PLTR). The data analytics company, a major AI favourite slumped by almost 8% on Tuesday.¹ This drop occurred the day after it had reported strong earnings and raised its revenue outlook for the year. In a healthy market, this news would have sent the stock soaring. Its fall indicated that investors are no longer trading on the fundamentals; they are trading on a single narrative: “The AI sector is overvalued.” A similar dynamic hit chipmakers Qualcomm and Arm Holdings, both of which came under pressure despite delivering better-than-expected earnings reports.⁵ When a company’s success is ignored by the market, it signals that the narrative has become more powerful than the numbers, often a prelude to a significant correction.

The Macroeconomic Maelstrom: Shutdowns, Layoffs, and Sinking Sentiment

The tech sector’s selloff did not happen in a vacuum. It was accelerated by a “risk-off” environment created by a drumbeat of bleak macroeconomic news from a gridlocked Washington and a weakening U.S. economy.

First, the U.S. government shutdown entered its 38th day.⁵ Beyond the direct economic drag, the shutdown’s most immediate impact on markets was the creation of an information vacuum. The Bureau of Labour Statistics was forced to delay its crucial October jobs report, which was scheduled for Friday.⁵ As one analyst noted, this lack of official data left the Federal Reserve and financial markets “groping around in the dark”.⁶ This uncertainty amplified the market’s reaction to the private data that was available.

Second, with the official jobs report missing, all eyes turned to Thursday’s report from the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. It provided the week’s first major shock: U.S. employers announced 153,074 job cuts in October.⁶ This was the worst October for layoffs since 2003.⁵ This single report directly contributed to Thursday’s sharp stock market selloff, as it provided the first concrete evidence that the labour market was weakening significantly.¹⁵

Third, the week ended with a stunning blow to economic confidence. On Friday, the University of Michigan’s preliminary consumer sentiment survey for November plunged to 50.3, just shy of the all-time record low of 50.0 set in June 2022.⁷ The survey’s director, Joanne Hsu, left no doubt as to the cause, directly blaming the “federal government shutdown dragging on for over a month,” which has consumers “expressing worries about potential negative consequences for the economy”.¹⁸

The most damning figure in the entire report was the sub-index for “current economic conditions.” This metric, which measures how Americans feel about their finances right now, slumped to 52.3, a record low in the survey’s 73-year history.⁵

This data exposed a stark disconnect that helps explain the week’s volatility. The survey noted that this collapse in sentiment was “widespread throughout the population, seen across age, income, and political affiliation”.¹⁹ However, the survey director highlighted “one key exception”: “consumers with the largest tercile of stock holdings posted a notable 11% increase in sentiment”.¹⁹ This wealthy, stock-owning class was buoyed by the “wealth effect” of the AI-driven stock rally.²¹

This paints a clear and troubling picture of a “two-track” economy. A small, affluent portion of the population was feeling optimistic, benefiting from an AI stock bubble. The rest of the country, meanwhile, was experiencing record-low economic conditions. The tech selloff this week can be seen as the moment this financial market “bubble” finally collided with the “Main Street” reality.

Finally, the Federal Reserve provided no comfort. In a speech on Friday titled “AI and the Economy,” Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said that while the Fed’s policy remains “somewhat restrictive,” it “makes sense to proceed slowly” on any future rate cuts.²³ He explicitly cited the “fog” from the shutdown as a reason for caution. Regarding AI, Jefferson admitted its ultimate effect on jobs and inflation is “highly uncertain,” as it could just as easily lower costs as it could increase investment demand, pushing inflation in either direction.²³ This official uncertainty from the Fed only compounded the market’s nervous mood.

OpenAI’s $1.4 Trillion Problem: CFO Sparks Funding Firestorm

While macroeconomic fears provided the tinder, the “AI bubble” fears were truly ignited by a single, explosive corporate controversy. The week’s biggest drama came from OpenAI, the industry’s leader, which provided a “smoking gun” for investors worrying that the economics of AI are unsustainable.

The gaffe occurred at the Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live event. OpenAI’s Chief Financial Officer, Sarah Friar, was discussing the staggering challenge of financing the company’s massive infrastructure needs.⁹ In her remarks, she suggested the company was “looking for an ecosystem of banks, private equity, maybe even governmental” partners to help pay the bills.²⁶

When pressed by an interviewer on whether she meant a federal subsidy, Friar confirmed she was referring to a potential government “backstop, the guarantee, that allows the financing to happen”.²⁶

These comments were made in the context of almost incomprehensibly large spending commitments. Reports this week detailed OpenAI’s $1.4 trillion in commitments over the next eight years.¹⁰ This includes a reported $300 billion agreement with Oracle and a $500 billion “Stargate” project with Oracle and SoftBank.⁹ This spending plan is for a company that, according to other reports, showed a net loss of over $11.5 billion last quarter alone.¹⁰

The backlash to the idea of a government “backstop” for a private company’s $1.4 trillion spending plan was instantaneous and brutal.²⁷ The comments were widely interpreted as a request for a taxpayer-funded “bailout”.¹⁰ The reaction was so severe that the White House’s AI and crypto czar, David Sacks, was forced to publicly state that there would be “no federal bailout for AI”.¹⁰

The company immediately scrambled to perform damage control. Friar took to LinkedIn to retract her statements, writing that her use of the word “backstop” had “muddied the point” and clarifying, “OpenAI is not seeking a government backstop for our infrastructure commitments”.⁹

CEO Sam Altman followed with a lengthy clarification on X (formerly Twitter), stating, “governments should not pick winners or losers, and that taxpayers should not bail out companies that make bad business decisions or otherwise lose in the market”.¹⁰

However, Altman’s clarification included a critical caveat that revealed the-truth-behind-the-gaffe. He admitted that the company has “discussed loan guarantees… as part of supporting the buildout of semiconductor fabs in the US”.¹⁰ This was an attempt to re-frame the request: OpenAI wasn’t asking for a corporate bailout, it was merely suggesting government support for a national security issue (the domestic chip supply chain).

But the damage was done. Friar’s gaffe was not just a poor choice of words; it was an accidental admission that the fundamental economics of frontier AI may not work. The market was already panicking about an “AI bubble,” which implies that valuations are unmoored from a sustainable business model.¹ Friar’s comment provided the proof.

It demonstrated that the cost of building these models is so high—$1.4 trillion ¹⁰—and the path to profitability so unclear, that private markets may be unable or unwilling to fund it alone. This single event, coming from the sector’s undisputed leader, transformed the “AI bubble” from a simple stock valuation problem into a fundamental solvency and business model crisis. It provided a concrete justification for the week’s massive market selloff.

The Human Cost of the AI Pivot: Amazon and Salesforce Detail Mass Layoffs

While investors and executives grappled with the cost of AI, the industry’s workers were confronted with the price. This week, the abstract concept of AI-driven “efficiency” was translated into concrete mass layoffs by two of the largest employers in tech.

First, Amazon announced plans to eliminate 14,000 corporate roles.¹¹ This was not a typical cost-cutting measure in response to a bad quarter; in fact, the company had just reported a 13% year-over-year sales increase.²⁹

Instead, the company explicitly “attributed the job cuts to advancements in artificial intelligence”.³¹ An internal memo from CEO Andy Jassy, confirmed by multiple outlets, linked the cuts directly to a “strategic shift to AI”.¹² The goal, Jassy wrote, was to streamline operations by “reducing managerial layers”—roles that AI is increasingly capable of automating.¹²

In a subsequent earnings call, Jassy reportedly framed the mass firing as a “cultural reset,” sending a chilling message to the remaining workforce: “if you can’t thrive in an AI-powered environment, you may no longer fit”.³² Underscoring the impersonal nature of this “reset,” some employees reported learning of their termination via early morning text messages, a method apparently designed to prevent them from arriving at the office only to find their badges no longer worked.³¹

As the Amazon news was breaking, it was reinforced by new details emerging about similar cuts at Salesforce. CEO Marc Benioff confirmed in a podcast that the company had reduced its customer support division from 9,000 to 5,000 employees—a 4,000-person cut.¹³

Benioff’s justification was brutally direct: “I’ve reduced it… because I need less heads“.¹⁴ The reason for needing fewer heads was stated just as clearly: “the benefits and efficiencies of Agentforce,” Salesforce’s AI-powered customer support platform launched in early 2025.¹⁴

These two announcements, side-by-side, represent a “mask off” moment for the tech industry. For the past two years, tech leaders—including Marc Benioff himself—have publicly insisted that AI would be a “co-pilot” or a tool for “radical augmentation,” not a job replacer.³³

That narrative is now dead. Benioff’s “I need less heads” and Jassy’s “reducing managerial layers” via AI are a complete and public reversal. This aligns with signals from Microsoft’s CEO, who indicated that future hiring would come with “more AI leverage,” meaning “fewer people expected to do more with AI-powered tools”.³⁵ CEOs are no longer sugar-coating the message. They are now openly admitting to investors that the primary business case for AI is human replacement. This new, harsher narrative of “automation” over “augmentation” is a key reason why the broader economic mood is souring ⁷ and why markets are questioning the social and economic stability of the AI-driven future.⁶

AI Goes to Court: Amazon Sues Perplexity Over “Agentic” Shopping

In a week of striking contradictions, Amazon was firing 14,000 people to clear the way for its own AI implementation while simultaneously suing an AI startup for competing with it. This move kicked off a landmark legal battle that could define the future of the internet.

Amazon filed a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court against Perplexity AI, a startup that has gained traction with its AI-powered search and browser tools.³⁶ The suit targets Perplexity’s “Comet” browser, which features an “autonomous browser agent”—an AI assistant capable of performing tasks for the user, such as making online purchases.³⁵

Amazon’s legal complaint accuses Perplexity of computer fraud and abuse.³⁶ The core of Amazon’s claim is that the Perplexity AI agent “covertly” accesses private Amazon customer accounts and “disguised automated activity as human browsing”.³⁷ Amazon argues that this violates its terms of service, “degrades the shopping experience,” and creates “privacy risks” for customers.³⁶

Perplexity’s defence was swift and aggressive. In a public blog post, it called the lawsuit a “bully tactic” by a monopolist trying to “stifle competition”.³⁶ The startup argued that its AI agent is not scraping data, but rather acting as a “user agent”—an assistant operating on the user’s behalf and with the user’s explicit permission.

Perplexity’s response cut to the heart of the issue, accusing Amazon of being afraid of a tool that truly serves the customer. The startup claimed Amazon is trying to protect its real, high-margin business model, stating, “they’re more interested in serving you ads” than in letting users shop efficiently.³⁶

The stakes of this case are enormous. It is described as “one of the first legal tests” of “agentic AI” and a fight over “who controls the next generation of the web”.³⁶

This lawsuit represents the first major battle in a new war between the “platform economy” and the emerging “agent economy.” Amazon’s business model, like Google’s, is based on being a platform. It controls the user experience (the website) and monetises that control by selling sponsored listings (ads) to third-party sellers.³⁸ An AI agent, if it is truly working for the user, is an existential threat to this model. An agent tasked with “buy me the best-rated toaster for under $50” would, by definition, ignore the sponsored ad for an inferior toaster and find the objectively best product.

The platform economy must control the user experience to serve ads. The agent economy must bypass it to serve the user. The two models are fundamentally incompatible. This lawsuit is not about “computer fraud”; that is the legal pretext. It is about whether platforms have the right to block AI agents that act on behalf of human users, and its outcome will set a major precedent for this new conflict.

Geopolitics and Tech: Regulation in Flux

While U.S. companies battled in the market and the courtroom, the global rules for technology were being rewritten in real-time by intense geopolitical pressure. This week featured two major international stories: one about the regulation of AI software and one about the supply of AI hardware.

EU “Waters Down” AI Act Under U.S. Pressure

On Friday, November 7, reports confirmed that the European Commission is “considering plans to delay” and effectively “water down” key parts of its landmark Artificial Intelligence Act.⁴⁰ The AI Act, which came into force in August 2024, is the world’s first comprehensive law regulating AI, but its provisions are being applied in stages.⁴⁰

The reason for the sudden change is “intense pressure from businesses and Donald Trump’s administration”.⁴⁰ Tech giants have been lobbying heavily against the act, and the Trump administration has backed them with a powerful “stick”: the threat of new tariffs.⁴⁰ The U.S. President recently warned he could impose tariffs on countries with tech regulations he deems “designed to harm or discriminate against American technology”.⁴⁰

Under this pressure, the EU is reportedly considering several significant concessions, which are expected to be formally proposed on November 19 ⁴⁰:

1. A one-year “grace period” for companies that breach the rules on “high-risk” AI systems.⁴⁰
2. A one-year “pause” from the laws for generative AI systems that were already on the market before the implementation date.⁴⁰
3. Delaying the imposition of fines for transparency violations until as late as August 2027.⁴⁰

Nexperia Chip Crisis Averted by “Trump-Xi Deal”

Simultaneously, a crisis in the hardware supply chain was abruptly resolved. For weeks, a major semiconductor shortage had been threatening to halt production lines at European automotive giants like Bosch and Volkswagen.⁴⁷

This crisis was man-made. The Dutch government, under significant pressure from the U.S., had seized control of Nexperia, a Netherlands-based chipmaker owned by China’s Wingtech, at the end of September.⁵² In direct retaliation, Beijing banned all exports of Nexperia’s chips, which are critical components for the auto industry.⁵⁴

This week, the crisis suddenly ended. A report on November 7 detailed a “Trump-Xi deal” reached at the APEC summit in Busan.⁵⁶ In this bilateral agreement, China agreed to lift the export ban on Nexperia. In return, the U.S. agreed to reduce certain tariffs on Chinese imports.⁵⁶

Viewed together, these two events reveal a masterful geopolitical squeeze play. The U.S. government first applied pressure on the Dutch to seize Nexperia, an action that created a chip crisis that primarily harmed the European Union’s auto industry.⁵⁴ Then, the U.S. government resolved this crisis in a direct, bilateral “Trump-Xi deal” that cut the EU out entirely, demonstrating that the U.S. effectively holds a veto over Europe’s industrial supply chain.⁵⁶

With this “carrot” (solving the Nexperia crisis), the U.S. simultaneously applied a “stick” (the threat of new tariffs) to force the EU to weaken its own sovereign AI regulations.⁴⁰ The EU is being caught in the middle, treated not as an equal partner but as a territory to be managed in the larger U.S.-China tech conflict.

Building the AI Infrastructure: The $1.17 Billion CoreWeave-Vast Data Pact

While the stock market panicked about an “AI bubble” and OpenAI’s funding model appeared to crack, the physical build-out of AI infrastructure continued at a furious pace. A massive $1.17 billion deal announced this week signals the maturation of a new, specialised ecosystem for AI.

The deal is a commercial agreement between Vast Data, a storage innovator founded in Israel, and CoreWeave, a specialised GPU cloud provider.⁵⁷

CoreWeave has emerged as one of the most significant “pure-play” AI cloud companies, building a business that competes directly with the “big three” (Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure) by focusing exclusively on renting high-end, NVIDIA GPU-accelerated computing.⁵⁹

Vast Data provides a software-based “AI Operating System” built on a novel “Disaggregated and Shared-Everything” (DASE) architecture, designed specifically to manage and access the enormous datasets required by AI models.⁵⁹

Under the $1.17 billion pact, Vast’s AI OS will now become the “primary data foundation” for CoreWeave’s entire AI cloud.⁵⁸ The companies described the partnership as creating a “new class of intelligent data architecture”.⁵⁷ This specialised system is necessary to provide “instant access to massive data sets” for continuous AI training and real-time inference—something standard cloud storage is not built to do efficiently.⁵⁷

This deal is significant because it highlights the rise of a “specialized AI stack.” The OpenAI controversy (covered in Section 3) revealed the potentially crippling cost of scaling AI when tied to traditional, legacy cloud giants like Oracle or Microsoft.⁹ CoreWeave’s entire business model is to be more performant and cost-efficient at AI workloads than these incumbents.⁵⁹

This $1.17 billion deal is not just a customer-supplier purchase; it is a deep, long-term partnership to build a purpose-built stack (CoreWeave for compute, Vast for data). This signals the maturation of a parallel AI infrastructure ecosystem, one that is built from the ground up for AI and may ultimately prove more scalable and economical. It is a serious threat to the legacy cloud providers and a sign of where smart money is still flowing, even as the “bubble” narrative takes hold.

From the Code Face: A New Top Language and an “AI Slop” Crisis

At the ground level, where developers and researchers actually work, AI’s influence this week revealed two deeply contradictory effects: it is both a powerful, productivity-enhancing tool and a powerful, ecosystem-destroying pollutant.

A New Top Language

First, AI as a tool: GitHub’s annual Octoverse 2025 report revealed a historic shift in software development. For the first time, TypeScript has surpassed both Python and JavaScript to become the most-used programming language on the platform (based on contributor counts in August 2025).⁶²

The report explicitly links this shift to the rise of AI-assisted coding. TypeScript, which is a “typed” version of JavaScript, “increase[s] reliability for AI-assisted coding”.⁶² Its stricter syntax acts as a set of guardrails for developers, helping them “catch LLM errors before production”.⁶⁶ While Python remains the dominant language for building and training AI models, this data shows TypeScript is rapidly becoming the language of choice for building applications with those AI models.⁶²

An “AI Slop” Crisis

Second, AI as a pollutant: On November 3, arXiv, the essential preprint server for scientific research (especially in AI and computer science), announced a drastic new policy: it will no longer accept computer science review articles and position papers.⁶⁷

The reason, according to the platform, is that it is being “spammed” by a “tide of AI slop”.⁶⁷ Generative AI has made it trivially easy for “researchers” to “churn out” low-effort, low-quality papers that are “little more than annotated bibliographies” with no substantial discussion or novel insights.⁶⁷ The pollution became so bad that arXiv was forced to ban entire categories of papers just to “free the moderators to look at more substantive submissions”.⁶⁷

These two stories, emerging in the same week, perfectly capture the dual reality of AI in 2025. The GitHub report shows AI as a productivity tool so powerful it is fundamentally changing the professional landscape of software development for the better. The arXiv report shows AI as a pollution tool so powerful it is degrading the signal-to-noise ratio in scientific research, forcing a core institution to wall off entire sections of its platform. The industry is being forced to adapt to both realities at once.

Cybersecurity & Corporate Quick Hits

Beyond the week’s dominant themes, several other key events shaped the IT landscape.

Chip Wars: Intel Loses Key AI Executive to AMD

In the fierce war for talent, AMD scored a major victory against its rival. Saurabh Kulkarni, Intel’s vice president of data centre AI product management, resigned from the company to join AMD.⁶⁸ This is a significant blow to Intel, as Kulkarni was in charge of the company’s AI systems and GPU product management team.⁶⁹ The move is a sign of AMD’s growing momentum, as it is seen to be “rapidly progressing ahead of Intel” in the race to build a credible alternative to Nvidia’s market dominance.⁶⁹

Cybersecurity: Industrial Control Systems at Risk

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an unusually high number of alerts related to Industrial Control Systems (ICS). CISA released a flurry of nine ICS advisories over just two days (November 4 and November 6).⁷⁰

These advisories warned of critical vulnerabilities not just in business software, but in the physical systems that run manufacturing, energy, and other critical infrastructure. Affected vendors included Fuji Electric, Delta Electronics, ABB, Advantech, and Hitachi Energy.⁷⁰ The flaws could allow an attacker to crash a device or even execute remote code, posing a physical safety risk.⁷²

Separately, ransomware groups remained active. The Qilin group claimed a major attack on Habib Bank AG Zurich, alleging the theft of 2.5 terabytes of data.⁷⁴ In Japan, the RansomHouse group claimed responsibility for an attack on the retailer Askul.⁷⁴

Meta’s $30 Billion Debt Round

On Monday, Meta Platforms (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) announced it had completed a $30 billion senior notes offering.⁷⁵ This massive debt issuance, while its official purpose was not stated ⁷⁵, is widely seen as a “war chest” for Meta’s AI ambitions. The company is known to be “invest[ing] aggressively” to build its own AI infrastructure, including developing custom AI chips and data centres⁷⁶ This $30 billion in capital will allow Meta to accelerate those efforts and reduce its costly dependence on third-party chip suppliers like Nvidia.⁷⁶

Conclusion: The End of the AI Honeymoon

The week ending November 7, 2025, will likely be remembered as the end of the AI industry’s honeymoon. The unbridled optimism and “growth-at-all-costs” mentality that defined the last two years finally and painfully collided with the stark realities of economics, workforce displacement, and geopolitical hardball.

The week’s events systematically dismantled the AI hype narrative.

• A brutal market correction, which erased $1 trillion in value from AI-linked stocks, proved that investors are no longer willing to write blank checks for a “growth” story without a plausible, and profitable, business model.²
• The OpenAI funding controversy exposed the terrifyingly high, and potentially unsustainable, cost of building frontier AI, shaking faith in the entire sector’s financial viability.⁹
• The mass layoffs at Amazon and Salesforce confirmed what many workers feared: the “efficiency” of AI is a direct threat to human jobs. The industry’s public relations narrative permanently shifted from “co-pilot” to “replacement”.¹²
• Major legal and regulatory battles—from Amazon’s war on AI agents ³⁶ to the U.S. government’s successful pressure campaign against the EU AI Act ⁴⁰—demonstrate that the industry is now entering a new, more complex phase of open conflict and consequence.

The tech industry is not slowing down. The $1.17 billion Vast Data and CoreWeave deal shows that the physical build-out of AI is accelerating.⁵⁷ But the industry is being forced to mature, and fast. The era of “AI at all costs” is over. The era of accounting for those costs has just begun.

Disclaimer

This article is a summary and analysis of news events for the week ending November 7, 2025, based on publicly available research materials. The information provided is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal, or any other form of professional advice. The author and publisher are not liable for any decisions made based on the content of this report. All market data is based on reports available as of the date of publication and is subject to change.

References

1. Global stock markets fall sharply over AI bubble fears, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/nov/05/global-stock-markets-fall-sharply-over-ai-bubble-fears
2. Stock markets drop amid jitters over US economy and tech valuations – business live, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2025/nov/07/itv-talks-sell-broadcasting-arm-sky-shares-bank-of-england-stock-markets-business-live
3. Tech stocks are having their worst week since the April tariff selloff. Why it’s about time., accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20251107181/tech-stocks-are-having-their-worst-week-since-the-april-tariff-selloff-why-its-about-time
4. Tech stocks just had their worst week since the April tariff selloff. Why it’s about time., accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20251107254/tech-stocks-just-had-their-worst-week-since-the-april-tariff-selloff-why-its-about-time
5. Markets News, Nov. 7, 2025: Nasdaq Posts Worst Week Since …, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.investopedia.com/dow-jones-today-11072025-11845583
6. US markets tumble amid Wall Street concern over job losses and AI, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/nov/06/us-stock-market-values-tumble-amid-reports-of-high-layoffs-and-hiring-freezes
7. U.S. Consumer Sentiment Declines to Near Lowest on Record, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/2025/11/07/u-s-consumer-sentiment-declines-to-near-lowest-on-record/172606/
8. With Big Tech Talking Government Backing, Has OpenAI Become “Too Big to Fail”?, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://truthout.org/articles/with-big-tech-talking-government-backing-has-openai-become-too-big-to-fail/
9. OpenAI CFO Retracts Call for Government Loan … – MLQ.ai | Stocks, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://mlq.ai/news/openai-cfo-retracts-call-for-government-loan-guarantees-amid-infrastructure-spending-scrutiny/
10. OpenAI’s Altman and Friar walk back remarks about federal loan guarantees, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/06/openai_cfo_walks_back_remarks/
11. Over 1,00,000 job cuts rattle tech industry in 2025: Amazon, Meta, Google, Intel lay off thousands of employees. Check full list of companies, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://m.economictimes.com/news/international/global-trends/us-news-over-100000-job-cuts-rattle-tech-industry-in-2025-amazon-meta-google-intel-lay-off-thousands-of-employees-check-full-list-of-companies/articleshow/125029264.cms
12. AI’s Ruthless Reckoning: Seattle Grapples with Microsoft and …, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.webpronews.com/ais-ruthless-reckoning-seattle-grapples-with-microsoft-and-amazon-layoffs/
13. Layoffs commence at two major tech giants – TheStreet, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.thestreet.com/employment/layoffs-commence-at-two-major-tech-giants
14. Is AI killing jobs? Salesforce cuts 4000 support roles as automation takes over, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://m.economictimes.com/news/international/us/is-ai-killing-jobs-salesforce-cuts-4000-support-roles-as-automation-takes-over/articleshow/123666934.cms
15. Tech stocks have been leading the market lower. Here’s what may lie ahead., accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20251107191/tech-stocks-have-been-leading-the-market-lower-heres-what-may-lie-ahead
16. What To Expect in Markets This Week: AMD, Palantir, Pharmaceutical and Tech Earnings; Private-Sector Employment Report – Investopedia, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.investopedia.com/what-to-expect-in-markets-this-week-palantir-amd-pharmaceutical-and-tech-earnings-private-sector-employment-report-11838099
17. Markets News, Nov. 6, 2025: Stock Indexes End Lower as AI Valuation Concerns Resurface; Tesla Falls Ahead of Shareholder Vote, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.investopedia.com/dow-jones-today-11062025-11844674
18. U.S. consumer sentiment falls in November: survey, accessed on November 8, 2025, http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2025-11/08/content_118166659.shtml
19. US consumer sentiment in November down to lowest since June 2022, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/us-consumer-sentiment-in-november-down-to-lowest-since-june-2022/3737942
20. Preliminary: Consumer sentiment decreased 3.3 points in November, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://bankingjournal.aba.com/2025/11/consumer-sentiment-falls-in-november-2/
21. Consumer sentiment drops to three-year low amid government shutdown, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-11-07/consumer-sentiment-tumbles-close-to-record-lows-in-latest-u-michigan-survey
22. Consumer sentiment tumbles close to record lows in latest U Michigan survey, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://apnews.com/article/consumer-sentiment-umich-shutdown-ec39997fc6dce4e41976a644d8f4f542
23. Fed’s Jefferson Says Interest Rates Still ‘Somewhat Restrictive’ – Morningstar, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/202511075055/feds-jefferson-says-interest-rates-still-somewhat-restrictive
24. US: Philip Jefferson Speaks – CME Group, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.cmegroup.com/education/events/econoday/2025/11/feed668857.html
25. Fed Vice Chair Jefferson: Slow approach to cuts makes sense as policy rate approaches neutral, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://m.economictimes.com/markets/stocks/news/fed-vice-chair-jefferson-slow-approach-to-cuts-makes-sense-as-policy-rate-approaches-neutral/articleshow/125164671.cms
26. OpenAI walks back comments about government support for its AI spending, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20251105561/openai-walks-back-comments-about-government-support-for-its-ai-spending
27. OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar’s one sentence that ‘forced’ CEO Sam Altman issue a thousand-word clarification – The Times of India, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/one-sentence-that-forced-openai-ceo-sam-altman-issue-a-thousand-word-clarification/articleshow/125152295.cms
28. OpenAI discussed government loan guarantees for chip plants, not data centers, Altman says By Reuters, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/openai-does-not-want-government-guarantees-for-massive-ai-data-center-buildout-ceo-altman-says-4339843
29. Amazon, Walmart Shift Toward Leaner Operations, AI Transforms Retail Jobs, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.inkfreenews.com/2025/11/05/amazon-walmart-shift-toward-leaner-operations-ai-transforms-retail-jobs/
30. Amazon plans up to 14000 corporate job cuts to stay lean amid AI-driven innovation push, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.humanresourcesonline.net/amazon-plans-up-to-14-000-corporate-job-cuts-to-stay-lean-amid-ai-driven-innovation-push
31. Amazon layoffs: Why did the tech giant send two text messages to their employees and ask them to call help desk? Check details, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://m.economictimes.com/news/international/global-trends/us-news-amazon-layoffs-amazon-fired-employees-via-early-morning-messages-tech-giant-urged-staff-to-check-emails-before-coming-to-office/articleshow/125014179.cms
32. Amazon CEO calls layoffs a cultural reset: What happens to workers who can’t keep up with AI?, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/education/careers/news/amazon-ceo-calls-layoffs-a-cultural-reset-what-happens-to-workers-who-cant-keep-up-with-ai/articleshow/125022076.cms
33. AI Agents Drive 4000 Job Cuts in Salesforce Support Division, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.salesforceben.com/ai-agents-drive-4000-job-cuts-in-salesforce-support-division/
34. Salesforce CEO confirms 4,000 layoffs ‘because I need less heads’ with AI : r/Futurology, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/1naowlm/salesforce_ceo_confirms_4000_layoffs_because_i/
35. This Week in AI (Nov 1–7, 2025): Why $360 Billion in AI Spending Means Fewer Jobs, Not More | by Jay Cadmus – Medium, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://medium.com/@jay.cadmus/this-week-in-ai-nov-1-7-2025-why-360-billion-in-ai-spending-means-fewer-jobs-not-more-138193f363f7
36. Amazon Sues Perplexity Over Comet, Its AI Shopping Agent – eWeek, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.eweek.com/news/amazon-sues-perplexity-comet-ai-shopping-agent/
37. Amazon sues Perplexity over ‘agentic’ shopping tool, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/amazon-sues-perplexityover-agentic-shopping-tool/article70246940.ece
38. Amazon sues AI startup over browser’s automated shopping and buying feature, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/nov/05/amazon-perplexity-ai-lawsuit
39. Amazon sues Perplexity over AI shopping agents | Payments Dive, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.paymentsdive.com/news/amazon-sues-perplexity-ai-shopping-agents/804923/
40. EU could water down AI Act amid pressure from Trump and big tech …, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/07/european-commission-ai-artificial-intelligence-act-trump-administration-tech-business
41. EU Mulls Pausing Parts of AI Act Amid U.S. and Big Tech Pushback – Modern Diplomacy, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2025/11/07/eu-mulls-pausing-parts-of-ai-act-amid-u-s-and-big-tech-pushback/
42. EU considers pausing parts of AI Act amid tech industry pressure – report By Investing.com, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.investing.com/news/world-news/eu-considers-pausing-parts-of-ai-act-amid-tech-industry-pressure–report-93CH-4341120
43. The European Commission considers pause on AI Act’s entry into application | DLA Piper, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.dlapiper.com/insights/publications/ai-outlook/2025/the-european-commission-considers-pause-on-ai-act-entry-into-application
44. EU Floats Tweaks, New Grace Periods in AI Act | Morningstar, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/202511076027/eu-floats-tweaks-new-grace-periods-in-ai-act
45. EU weighs delaying key AI Act rules after pressure from Trump administration, tech companies, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/eu-weighs-delaying-key-ai-act-rules-after-pressure-from-trump-administration-tech-companies/3738140
46. Belgian drone sightings could be linked to talks on using frozen Russian assets, says German minister – as it happened, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/nov/07/europe-latest-news-updates-belgium-airports-brussels-liege-drones-russia-orban-trump-ukraine
47. News and Key Analysis Shaping the Semiconductor Industry:November 2025 Edition – Gocar Electronic, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://gocarelectronic.com/en/news-and-key-analysis-on-semiconductor-industry-developments-november-2025/
48. Chip crisis forces ZF and Bosch to short-time work – Veritas News, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://ckh.enc.edu/news/chip-crisis-forces-zf-and-bosch-to-short-time-work/
49. Bosch faces production cuts as semiconductor supply crisis deepens in Germany, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.meinbavaria.de/bosch-faces-production-cuts-as-semiconductor/
50. Volkswagen indicates shortage of Chinese chips would hit profits – The Guardian, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/oct/30/volkswagen-chip-shortage-profits-chinese-europe-carmaker
51. VW halts production due to chip shortage resulting from Trump’s trade war measures, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/10/27/tdfh-o27.html
52. Netherlands invoke rare emergency law to take charge of Chinese chipmaker – YouTube, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQqp91oy97c
53. Dutch government takes control of Chinese chip-maker under rare law – EUobserver, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://euobserver.com/eu-and-the-world/ar40fad961
54. China accuses Dutch of prolonging chip war that threatens to halt car factories, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/nov/04/china-netherlands-chip-war-car-factories-nexperia
55. Europe’s Auto Industry Braces for Chip Interference Soon – TT – Transport Topics, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.ttnews.com/articles/europe-auto-industry-disruption
56. China Lifts Nexperia Chip Export Ban Following Trump-Xi Deal, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.automotivemanufacturingsolutions.com/editors-pick/nexperia-turns-beijing-lifts-ban-following-trumpxi-summit-deal/2098807
57. Vast Data And CoreWeave Knit $1.7 Billion AI Pact – CRN, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.crn.com/news/data-center/2025/vast-data-and-coreweave-knit-1-7-billion-pact
58. CoreWeave selects VAST Data in USD $1.17bn AI cloud platform deal, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://itbrief.com.au/story/coreweave-selects-vast-data-in-usd-1-17bn-ai-cloud-platform-deal
59. VAST Data lands $1.17 billion CoreWeave deal – Blocks and Files, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://blocksandfiles.com/2025/11/06/vasts-1-17-billion-coreweave-deal/
60. Vast Data and CoreWeave team up to provide enhanced AI data services – SiliconANGLE, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://siliconangle.com/2025/11/06/vast-data-coreweave-team-provide-enhanced-ai-data-services/
61. Vast Data secures $1.17 billion deal with CoreWeave | Ctech, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/s1rmfn9kzx
62. Technology & Programming Trends Report: Week of November 1–7, 2025 | by dinhlongit, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://medium.com/@dinhlongit/technology-programming-trends-report-week-of-november-1-7-2025-0d9dae249079
63. Octoverse: A new developer joins GitHub every second as AI leads …, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://github.blog/news-insights/octoverse/octoverse-a-new-developer-joins-github-every-second-as-ai-leads-typescript-to-1/
64. GitHub’s 2025 Report Reveals Some Surprising Developer Trends, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://news.itsfoss.com/github-octoverse-2025/
65. “For the first time, TypeScript overtook both Python and JavaScript in August 2025 to become the most used language on GitHub” – GitHub : r/webdev – Reddit, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev/comments/1oidq4n/for_the_first_time_typescript_overtook_both/
66. TypeScript Tops GitHub Octoverse as AI Era Reshapes Language Choices, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2025/10/31/typescript-tops-github-octoverse-as-ai-era-reshapes-language-choices.aspx
67. arXiv Changes Rules After Getting Spammed With AI-Generated …, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.404media.co/arxiv-changes-rules-after-getting-spammed-with-ai-generated-research-papers/
68. [News] AMD Flags Intel–NVIDIA Deal Risks; Key Team Blue AI Executive Reportedly Moves to Rival, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.trendforce.com/news/2025/11/07/news-amd-flags-intel-nvidia-deal-risks-key-team-blue-ai-executive-reportedly-moves-to-rival/
69. Exclusive: Intel Is Losing A Data Center AI Executive To AMD – CRN, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.crn.com/news/components-peripherals/2025/exclusive-intel-is-losing-a-data-center-ai-executive-to-amd
70. CISA Releases Five Industrial Control Systems Advisories | CISA, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2025/11/04/cisa-releases-five-industrial-control-systems-advisories
71. CISA Releases Four Industrial Control Systems Advisories, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2025/11/06/cisa-releases-four-industrial-control-systems-advisories
72. Critical flaws in Fuji Electric, Delta Electronics, Survision, Radiometrics, IDIS systems raise security concerns for industrial sector, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://industrialcyber.co/cisa/critical-flaws-in-fuji-electric-delta-electronics-survision-radiometrics-idis-systems-raise-security-concerns-for-industrial-sector/
73. Advantech DeviceOn/iEdge – CISA, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-25-310-01
74. List of Recent Data Breaches in 2025 – Bright Defense, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.brightdefense.com/resources/recent-data-breaches/
75. Meta Platforms completes $30 billion senior notes offering across …, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.investing.com/news/sec-filings/meta-platforms-completes-30-billion-senior-notes-offering-across-multiple-maturities-93CH-4328562
76. 1 Incredible Reason to Buy Stock in Mark Zuckerberg’s Company, Meta Platforms (META), in November | Nasdaq, accessed on November 8, 2025, https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/1-incredible-reason-buy-stock-mark-zuckerbergs-company-meta-platforms-meta-november