The hottest job in AI right now may be counterintelligence as companies pay former spooks $500,000 to protect trade secrets

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Anthropic alone has hired 33 employees for counterintelligence functions so far this year, up from 14 last year, and nine in 2024.

The scandal that brought down Jensen Huang as CEO of Nvidia, the AI chip giant he cofounded, has highlighted the growing demand for protection against industrial espionage.

Last weekend, he admitted to a romantic affair with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy. While the U.S. intelligence community raised alarms about their relationship, Huang continued to enjoy access to President Donald Trump and his top administration officials.

Nvidia’s board launched an investigation but doesn’t think that national security or company secrets were compromised.

Still, U.S. officials believe Megaspeed executive Alice Huang was recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security, and surveillance revealed that she was feeding information to Beijing, according to reports. China has denied any espionage.

The case came a month after an OpenAI engineer was arrested for planting a listening device in a company conference room. The Justice Department alleged he was communicating with a member of the Saudi royal family.

Given the high-stakes race to achieve AI supremacy, the technology has been deemed a matter of national security, and protecting trade secrets has become especially critical.

AI firms like OpenAI, Anthropic and Nvidia have started hiring for counterintelligence roles in recent years, with most salaries ranging from $200,000 to $500,000, according to workforce data tracker Revelio Labs.

Revelio data compiled by Reuters shows that Anthropic alone has hired 33 employees for counterintelligence functions so far this year, up from 14 last year, and nine in 2024. In 2025, Anthropic appointed former CIA deputy director David Cohen and former National Security Agency cybersecurity director Dave Luber to its national security advisory council.

OpenAI’s counterintelligence hiring jumped to 22 in 2026 from nine in 2025. And in 2024, OpenAI named former National Security Agency director Paul Nakasone to its board.

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