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Google has announced Gemini 4 Hydrogen, its latest AI model. Adapted from Gemini 4 Carbon and focused on speed, Google claims that Hydrogen also surpasses its frontier Gemini 4 Argon model when using its default thinking level.

SEE ALSO: Google Gemini upgrades are rolling out to all supported Android devices

"While our frontier models, Gemini 4 Carbon and Gemini 4 Argon, excel at deep, long-horizon reasoning on your hardest problems, Hydrogen is built for rapid execution across diverse agentic workflows," wrote Koray Kavukcuoglu, senior vice president at Google DeepMind, in Thursday's announcement. 

Specifically, Hydrogen is intended to quickly conduct tasks such as writing code, running tests, and doing everyday work, as opposed to designing systems and fixing complex bugs. Set to a "high" thinking level by default, Hydrogen can also be adjusted to low, medium, and a new xhigh tier, which vary in quality, latency, and cost.

"Hydrogen is built to stand on its own as a model for everyday work — or to pair with Carbon and Argon as the high-efficiency execution engine in multi-model workflows," wrote Kavukcuoglu.

Gemini 4 Hydrogen is rolling out globally from today, arriving in Google Search for all users. It will also be available for selection in the Gemini app's model dropdown menu. 

Google Search's AI features were previously powered by Gemini 3.8 Flash, which launched in September. In comparison, Kavukcuoglu stated that Hydrogen will respond to queries with more visual responses, as well as a wider variety of relevant links. Hydrogen is also designed to better understand conversational prompts and follow users' trains of thought, including understanding typos.

A comparison between Gemini 4 Hydrogen and Gemini 3.5 Flash, a previous AI model released in May. Credit: Google

"Gemini 4 Hydrogen makes it easier to get things done, staying on track and following instructions more closely across multi-turn conversations," said Kavukcuoglu. "In the Gemini app, Hydrogen makes your everyday assistant even more helpful — it’s better at following your guidance, calling the right tools, and getting you to a reliable output with less back-and-forth."

Compared to 3.8 Flash, Google claims that Hydrogen is two times less likely to circumvent permission boundaries. The company further stated that it's continuing to work on the AI model's safety and security aspects such as jailbreak resistance, though noted that Hydrogen is still prone to hallucinations, like all generative AI agents.

Looking for spoiler-free NYT Connections hints or just wondering why Connections is trending today? We've got what you need to understand the clues for today's puzzle without spoiling any of the answers.

Of course, Mashable has also provided daily hints and answers for Connections, Wordle, and Strands for years, so we can help you if that's also what you need.

While we are focused more on meanings than hints in this story, sometimes learning that many of the words have completely unrelated meanings is a clue in and of itself. Connections frequently includes clues that involve words within words and other visual clues.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for November 13, 2026 Browse meaning

To search leisurely.

Scroll meaning

Browsing the Internet or social media

Search meaning

To look for something or someone.

Surf meaning

To search casually.

Coverage meaning

The broadcasting of a news event.

Exposure meaning

Being made known to the public, media or an audience.

Press meaning

News coverage.

Publicity meaning

Public visibility.

Barge meaning

A roomy, flat-bottomed boat.

Glider meaning

A motorless aircraft that flies by riding on air currents.

Trailer meaning

A teaser, typically for a film or TV show.

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Water skier meaning

Someone who participates in water skiing.

Freeze meaning

The process of water turning to a solid.

Teaser meaning

A short preview.

Trust meaning

To have faith in something or someone.

Waves meaning

Natural curves.

Have you learned the meanings and still want the things? Check out the hints and answers for today's NYT Connections puzzle.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today's puzzle.

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.

The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you have a high screen time.

Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for today's Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable What is Connections?

The NYT's latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications' Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

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Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.

If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.

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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for November 13, 2026 Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Google it

• Green: In the public eye

• Blue: Water sports

• Purple: It's all in your head

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Here are today's Connections categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Use the internet

• Green: Media attention

• Blue: Things that are towed

• Purple: Brain ___

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today's Connections #1251 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Use the internet: BROWSE, SCROLL, SEARCH, SURF

• Media attention: COVERAGE, EXPOSURE, PRESS, PUBLICITY

• Things that are towed: BARGE, GLIDER, TRAILER, WATER SKIER

• Brain ___: FREEZE, TEASER, TRUST, WAVES

Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today's puzzle.

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.

Today's NYT Strands hints will be easy if you're superstitious.

Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable

By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.

If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for November 13, 2026 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Not a good sign

The words are related to superstitions.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words involve bad fortune.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.

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NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Rotten Luck.

NYT Strands word list for November 13

• Thirteenth

• Broken

• Spilled

• Rotten Luck

• Floor

• Salt

• Mirror

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

Looking for other daily online games? Mashable's Games page has more hints, and if you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now!

Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Strands.

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you have no fear.

If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for November 13, 2026 Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. 

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

Are you also playing NYT Connections? See hints and answers for today's Connections.

What's the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn't any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle's Hard Mode if you're after more of a challenge, though.

Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

Courage

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

No letters appear twice.

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Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...

Today's Wordle starts with the letter M.

The Wordle answer today is...

Get your last guesses in now, because it's your final chance to solve today's Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today's Wordle is...

MOXIE

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

Meet The Mashable 101: Our list of the content creators shaping the internet today

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Wordle.

If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

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If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle: Everything you need to know to find the answers Hurdle Word 1 hint

Estimate.

Hurdle Word 1 answer

GAUGE

Hurdle Word 2 hint

Allow.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for November 13, 2026 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

GRANT

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Meaty leg.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Meanings for each word for Nov. 13, 2026 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Meanings for each word for Nov. 13, 2026 Hurdle Word 3 answer

THIGH

Hurdle Word 4 hint

To assess.

Hurdle Word 4 answer

JUDGE

Final Hurdle hint

Kids.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Games available on Mashable Hurdle Word 5 answer

YOUTH

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

TL;DR: Get Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more with a lifetime license to Microsoft Office 2024 Professional Plus, now $47.99 (reg. $249.99) with code DEAL20.

Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Office 2024 Professional Plus for Windows: Lifetime License $47.99
$249.99 Save $202   Get Deal

Most people get Word, Excel, and PowerPoint through a Microsoft 365 subscription. If that subscription lapses, the desktop apps drop into a read-only mode until payment resumes. If you’d rather own the apps outright, try a Microsoft Office 2024 Professional Plus lifetime license, a one-time purchase of the full desktop suite for Windows. You pay $47.99 (reg. $249.99) once with code DEAL20.

Six apps and no subscription

Microsoft Office 2024 Professional Plus includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and Access. Each app installs on your PC and works without a cloud connection, so you can write and edit offline.

Your license is tied to one Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC rather than your Microsoft account. That setup suits offices with controlled IT environments, and there’s no Microsoft 365 subscription to keep active. Your redemption code and download instructions arrive by email right after checkout, so setup can start within minutes.

Pro Plus keeps a fixed feature set instead of adding new tools every month, so the menus you learn this week look the same next year. You still get regular security updates for the supported lifecycle. Built-in security and compliance features also make this edition a good fit for businesses in regulated industries.

Day to day, the interface has a dark mode option, and Pro Plus runs well on modest hardware, including older Windows 10 laptops that still meet the system requirements.

On the downside, this version doesn’t run on a Mac, and the license can’t move to a new PC later. You have seven days after purchase to redeem the code. Once you redeem it, the sale is final, so confirm your PC runs Windows 10 or Windows 11 first.

Own your Office apps instead of renting them.

Get a lifetime license to Microsoft Office 2024 Professional Plus for $47.99 with code DEAL20. Offer ends Nov. 15.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

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Most web hosts price their plans by how many sites you run, so every new project can mean a bigger plan. You can avoid that with a Hostdeal Unlimited Plan lifetime subscription and get unlimited web hosting for as many websites as you want. A one-time $119.99 (reg. $1,800) gets you the plan when you use code DEAL20.

54 domains with no renewal fees

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Sites are managed through the StartCP control panel, where you can manage domains, email accounts, and databases from a single dashboard. A one-click installer sets up WordPress and more than 400 other web apps. Developers get MySQL databases, FTP access, Git integration, cron jobs, and a choice of PHP versions, with every hosted site able to have up to 5 email accounts.

Each site automatically gets a free SSL certificate and daily off-site backups. Hostdeal also includes DDoS protection, malware scanning, a web application firewall, brute-force protection, and two-factor authentication. You can pick a server location in the U.S., U.K., or Singapore, and those servers run on NVMe SSD storage with HTTP/2, IPv6, a CDN, and edge caching.

You can manage everything from a modern browser on Windows, macOS, or Linux, on desktop or mobile. Hostdeal also sells Standard and Triple plans for fewer sites, but Unlimited is the only tier with no cap on websites. Support is available 24/7, and platform updates come with the plan.

Host every site you build for a one-time fee. Through Nov. 15, a Hostdeal Unlimited Plan lifetime subscription is $119.99 with code DEAL20.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Updated on Friday, Nov. 13 at 4:59 a.m. ET / Thursday, Nov. 13 at 1:59 a.m. PT — Microsoft says it's "seeing early stabilization and capacity improvements as recovery actions continue." The company also said it has extended email timeout to 48 hours to help preserve delayed mail during this event.

Updated on Friday, Nov. 13 at 1:08 a.m. ET / Thursday, Nov. 12 at 10:08 p.m. PT — Microsoft is still looking into the cause of the outage, but states that at present it is "not aware of any malicious activity that is causing this incident."

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 10:58 p.m. ET / 7:58 p.m. PT — Unfortunately, Microsoft's efforts to bring servers back online aren't going as planned. It appears to have been unable to address the issue of them becoming unresponsive again, and has stated it is now searching for different ways to increase traffic capacity.

"We've monitored the status of the changes applied to improve serviceability and confirmed they're not taking as expected," Microsoft wrote in an update on X.

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 8:07 p.m. ET / 5:07 p.m. PT — Microsoft has revised its list of features and services impacted by this outage, stating that it is affecting ones that interact with Exchange Online and email services. Microsoft Outlook, SharePoint Online, Teams, Copilot AI, and 365 are all continuing to have various issues, though Azure appears to be operational.

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 7:53 p.m. ET / 4:53 p.m. PT — Microsoft has issued a new update stating that the servers they've brought back online may become unresponsive again when they receive traffic. The company is currently investigating the issue, though in the meantime it's limiting the types of traffic going to these servers in some locations.

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 6:23 p.m. ET / 3:23 p.m. PT — Microsoft states that it is bringing some servers back online, and "they remain stable so far." Users should expect a "gradual recovery."

"We're also shifting traffic to alternate routes wherever possible and observing limited recovery," Microsoft wrote in an update on X. "In parallel, we've streamlined the process of returning the remaining affected servers to service."

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 5:39 p.m. ET / 2:39 p.m. PT — As of this writing, the global Microsoft outage remains ongoing.

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 3:55 p.m. ET / 12:55 p.m. PT — We've updated this story with the latest statements from Microsoft.

Microsoft is having a really bad Thursday.

Starting in the early afternoon, Microsoft 365 enterprise software products experienced a major outage, which is ongoing at the time of publication. On the platform DownDetector, more than 100,000 users reported problems with Outlook alone.

The company has posted regular updates about the situation, both on social media and on its website.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft outage: Microsoft 365, Teams, Outlook, Copilot all impacted

On the company's official status page (which also went offline briefly, according to multiple Mashable reporters), Microsoft said that Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint Online, Copilot 365, and Defender XDR were all experiencing issues. The status page also indicated that the outage is only affecting Microsoft's enterprise software, Microsoft 365, not its consumer products.

Mashable has reached out to Microsoft for comment, but the company hadn't responded at the time of publication.

The Microsoft 365 outage: A timeline so far

In an initial update posted at 12:54 p.m. ET to X, the company said that customers were having problems with Exchange Online mailboxes "in the Americas." Exchange Online is a cloud-based tool that provides back-end support for Microsoft Outlook.

However, by 1:07 p.m. ET, the company acknowledged the problem was more widespread, affecting more services and regions. "While we're working to mitigate impact, we've confirmed the issue may affect Microsoft 365 service connectivity for users in any region," the company posted.

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The Microsoft Status page was then updated with a notification that stated, "User impact: Users may be unable to connect to multiple Microsoft 365 services."

While a root cause has yet to be determined, Microsoft has at least shared a brief technical explanation for what's going on.

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"We've determined that the elevated load isn't driven by an overall increase in traffic, but by a large number of servers being unexpectedly unavailable, which is shifting load onto the remaining infrastructure," Microsoft said on its status page, as well as in a thread on X. "We're investigating what's causing these servers to become unavailable while we work to safely return them to service."

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Later on in the X thread, Microsoft said it had not identified any recent change that correlates with the outage, but "the failed health checks may originate from a specific component that's responsible for processing server health." In the meantime, Microsoft has worked to prevent more servers from being impacted while it also tries to resuscitate the ones that are down.

Shortly before 4 p.m. ET, the Microsoft status page received another update, stating that it is still troubleshooting and restarting servers.

"While validating the targeted change, we found that many of the affected servers have become unresponsive, which is preventing us from confirming whether the change is effective," Microsoft said. "We're restarting these servers so they can come back online with the change in place, and we're applying the same approach to additional affected portions of our infrastructure to validate the results more broadly."

By the evening, Microsoft's updates turned slightly more optimistic, as the company stated that some servers had already come back online. A 4:00 p.m. update stated that the company had "validated an alternative service health check method, which allowed a subset of affected servers to successfully return to service."

However, by 5:09 p.m., the company acknowledged that services remained offline.

"We’re opening all available pathways to restore service, as our actions taken thus far have not provided the anticipated relief," read an update posted to its website.

This is a developing story...

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There are plenty of reasons Jensen Huang's resignation is a big deal. Not only does his departure leave Nvidia, the AI chipmaker he co-founded 33 years ago, looking for a new permanent CEO for the first time. It also puts the spotlight on the Huang family, whose ties to the company run well beyond its founder.

To catch you up, Huang stepped down four days after first telling employees he'd been unfaithful to his wife of 41 years, Lori Huang. He made the admission after reports of a relationship with Alice Huang, a businesswoman, who first of all is unrelated to him, and whom U.S. intelligence officials suspect of spying for China. On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that he'd also had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, an Nvidia executive who reported directly to him. And then on Thursday, hours after resigning, Reuters reported that Huang had an "intimate relationship" with another Nvidia employee, whom the outlet did not name.

To make matters worse (if possible), the Huangs' two children, Madison and Spencer, both work at Nvidia, making this whole scandal a family affair with a far more personal question at the center of it: What would happen to the Nvidia multi-billion dollar fortune if they divorced?

Of course, this analysis doesn't mean the couple is divorcing — Lori hasn’t made any public comment. She and Jensen are deeply connected in business as co-trustees of three trusts that directly held nearly 669 million Nvidia shares in March. A September SEC filing shows those direct holdings at about 608 million shares, with additional stock held through companies their living trust owns. Nvidia says the couple may share voting and investment power over those shares.

Will Lori Huang follow MacKenzie Scott's path?

The size of that stake harkens MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of another tech titan, Jeff Bezos. When a judge finalized Scott's divorce from the Amazon founder, her stake in the company was worth $38.3 billion. That October, Forbes ranked her the third-richest woman in America.

Like Scott, Lori Huang was there long before her husband became a billionaire. By the time Jensen co-founded Nvidia, she already had a career in the chip industry.

Lori and Jensen Huang first met as lab partners in an electrical engineering class at Oregon State University, and when they landed jobs in Silicon Valley, Lori earned more than Jensen, he told The New Yorker in 2023. She left the workforce to raise their two children before he co-founded Nvidia in 1993.

Ms. Huang also runs the Jen-Hsun & Lori Huang Foundation, which reported $9.1 billion in net assets at the end of 2024. The couple gave Oregon State $50 million to help build a research center that bears both their names, and the foundation has also bought time on graphics processors and donated it to universities and nonprofits for research.

As of Thursday, Nov. 12, Forbes estimates Jensen's net worth at about $145 billion, making him, according to its list, the thirteenth-richest man in the world. Half of that amount would be roughly $72.5 billion, enough to rank fourth on Forbes' annual list of the world's richest women in March. Of course, what Lori might receive if they divorced would depend on which assets qualify as marital property and whether the couple signed a prenup or postnup, which remains unclear. In California, courts generally divide community property equally unless the spouses agree to a different split.

Jensen Huang, now sporting the title of "former" Nvidia CEO, wasn't just having an affair with a suspected Chinese intelligence asset. Nor was he juggling two extramarital relationships — as another slightly less politically-charged claim surfaced on Wednesday, Nov., alleging he was romantically involved with Nvidia's vice president of healthcare, Kimberly Powell.

No, in the wake of Huang's Thursday resignation, a third allegation has surfaced that suggests Huang was intimately involved in at least one other company employee while married to wife and Nvidia fortune co-controller Lori Huang.

SEE ALSO: Nvidia chaos, Dem sweep, lawsuits, protests: AI's terrible, no-good November

Two former Nvidia employees spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity for its Nov. 12 report, which did not name the employee. Nvidia declined to comment on the allegations, and none of the involved parties responded to Reuters' requests for comment.

The internet has been on fire since the news dropped.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Huang previously admitted to being unfaithful to his wife after reports linked him to Chinese businesswoman and cloud computing exec Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le. According to the New York Times, Alice Huang was being surveilled by U.S. counterintelligence authorities for suspected espionage. She is a controlling shareholder of Chinese computing company Megaspeed, which was previously investigated by U.S. authorities for allegedly skirting U.S. export controls to bring advanced chips to Chinese markets. Megaspeed is still listed as an official cloud partner of Nvidia, Reuters reported.

Nvidia, one of the most valuable tech companies in the world, saw its stock plummet after news broke of Huang's ties to the Megaspeed shareholder. In just four days, the company has lost $450 billion in market value.

President Donald Trump, who chose Huang as one of his tech advisors, has so far maintained his support of Huang while denying knowledge of the relationships. Following the CEO's resignation, Trump celebrated Huang's career — and then floated former Apple CEO Tim Cook as Huang's replacement.

Updated on Friday, Nov. 13 at 4:59 a.m. ET / Thursday, Nov. 13 at 1:59 a.m. PT — Microsoft says it's "seeing early stabilization and capacity improvements as recovery actions continue." The company also said it has extended email timeout to 48 hours to help preserve delayed mail during this event.

Updated on Friday, Nov. 13 at 1:08 a.m. ET / Thursday, Nov. 12 at 10:08 p.m. PT — Microsoft is still looking into the cause of the outage, but states that at present it is "not aware of any malicious activity that is causing this incident."

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 10:58 p.m. ET / 7:58 p.m. PT — Unfortunately, Microsoft's efforts to bring servers back online aren't going as planned. It appears to have been unable to address the issue of them becoming unresponsive again, and has stated it is now searching for different ways to increase traffic capacity.

"We've monitored the status of the changes applied to improve serviceability and confirmed they're not taking as expected," Microsoft wrote in an update on X.

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 8:07 p.m. ET / 5:07 p.m. PT — Microsoft has revised its list of features and services impacted by this outage, stating that it is affecting ones that interact with Exchange Online and email services. Microsoft Outlook, SharePoint Online, Teams, Copilot AI, and 365 are all continuing to have various issues, though Azure appears to be operational.

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 7:53 p.m. ET / 4:53 p.m. PT — Microsoft has issued a new update stating that the servers they've brought back online may become unresponsive again when they receive traffic. The company is currently investigating the issue, though in the meantime it's limiting the types of traffic going to these servers in some locations.

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 6:23 p.m. ET / 3:23 p.m. PT — Microsoft states that it is bringing some servers back online, and "they remain stable so far." Users should expect a "gradual recovery."

"We're also shifting traffic to alternate routes wherever possible and observing limited recovery," Microsoft wrote in an update on X. "In parallel, we've streamlined the process of returning the remaining affected servers to service."

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 5:22 p.m. ET / 2:22 p.m. PT — The outage continued into the evening, as Microsoft provided its latest update: "We’re opening all available pathways to restore service, as our actions taken thus far have not provided the anticipated relief."

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 4:21 p.m. ET / 1:21 p.m. PT — On its status page and X account, Microsoft said it has potentially identified some "contributors" to the problem and was deploying fixes. The company said some servers were already back online.

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 3:10 p.m. ET / 12:10 p.m. PT — On its Microsoft 365 Status account on X, the company said it's deploying multiple mitigations to restore service.

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 2:29 p.m. ET / 11:29 p.m. PT — According to the latest updates on the Microsoft service health status webpage, the current issues affect Microsoft 365 business and enterprise customers, not Microsoft's consumer tech products.

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 12:37 p.m. ET / 9:37 p.m. PT— As of this writing, users in multiple regions are still having trouble accessing Microsoft 365.

Microsoft customers are reporting problems accessing a variety of the company's software products and services on Thursday afternoon.

What services are affected by the ongoing Microsoft outage? The company's server status page stated that users may have trouble accessing Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online, Microsoft Copilot 365, and Microsoft Defender XDR.

A recent update indicated the company was actively deploying fixes.

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"We're aggressively pursuing all pathways to reduce impact," the company wrote in an update to users. "As a precaution, we've paused all deployments and configuration changes while we review recent changes for any correlation to this event. We've also moved traffic for some services off the affected infrastructure to further reduce load, with additional traffic moves in progress."

In addition to the updates from Microsoft itself, Downdetector shows sharply elevated user reports for the following Microsoft services:

• Microsoft Teams

• Microsoft Outlook

• Microsoft Copilot AI

• Microsoft 365

• Microsoft Azure

• Microsoft Store

The company initially acknowledged an outage at 12:54 p.m. ET through its Microsoft 365 Status account on X:

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While the initial update indicated the outage was impacting email inboxes "in the Americas," later updates confirmed that other regions and products were also being impacted.

An update posted at 1:07 p.m. ET stated: "We've confirmed the issue may affect Microsoft 365 service connectivity for users in any region, more information will be provided in the Microsoft 365 admin center under EX1550543." The company added, "We've begun redistributing connection traffic across our broader worldwide infrastructure to help balance the load."

The problem was so severe that some customers may not be able to access the Microsoft 365 admin center at all, as the company wrote on X that users should instead refer to the Microsoft service status webpage. However, this page was also down for part of the day, according to multiple Mashable reporters.

In another update, posted at 2:50 p.m. ET, the company said it was "testing a configuration change to address a problem that's causing servers to fail automated health checks and become unavailable." The company said it is also restarting affected servers in an attempt to restore service.

Later, at 4:06 p.m. ET, Microsoft said it had deployed a fix that allowed some servers to go back online. Beyond that, the company has identified some minor configuration changes that may help explain the ongoing outage.

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However, as the standard workday drew to a close on Thursday evening, Microsoft 365 remained down for many users. In its most recent update on X, the company acknowledged its earlier efforts had failed to restore service.

"We’re opening all available pathways to restore service, as our actions taken thus far have not provided the anticipated relief."

Mashable contacted Microsoft with questions about the outage, and we'll update this story if we receive a response.

This is a developing story...

After reports of multiple affairs, including one with an alleged Chinese spy, Jensen Huang is out at Nvidia.

With Huang's resignation from the chipmaking giant that he helped found, who will take the helm at Nvidia?

While Nvidia quickly announced an interim CEO in Colette Kress, there's a lot of speculation about who will take a more permanent role as head of one of the world's most valuable companies.

Let's take a look at some of the names.

Colette Kress

First up is Nvidia's longtime Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress, already a billionaire in her own right.

Kress technically has the CEO job right now, as Nvidia paired Huang's resignation announcement with the news that Kress would fill in as interim CEO. And, if she's able to right the ship and help Nvidia come out of Huang's scandals relatively unscathed, she's a favorite to take the position long-term, too.

Before being promoted to the interim CEO position, Kress has worked as the CFO at the company since 2013. She previously worked as CFO for divisions at Microsoft and Cisco. Nvidia's investors are familiar with her too from the company's quarterly earnings calls, so she may have the upper hand there too.

Ian Buck

Kress may have the advantage of being the interim CEO, but Ian Buck seems to be the favorite amongst the speculators.

Like Kress, Buck would also be an internal choice for CEO. Buck has worked at Nvidia since 2004 and is currently the company's Vice President and General Manager of Hyperscale and High-Performance Computing (HPC). 

In his role at Nvidia, Buck is responsible for the company's data center, cloud, and HPC product lines — all central to Nvidia's success amid the AI boom.

In addition, Buck is credited as the creator of CUDA, or Compute Unified Device Architecture. CUDA is Nvidia's proprietary platform that developers use to run their software on Nvidia's GPUs.

Rene Haas

Rene Haas's name has immediately been floated as a potential fit as Nvidia CEO. Why?

If investors are looking for an outsider to come in and take over Nvidia, Rene Haas is likely the guy to do it.

Haas is currently the CEO of British chipmaker Arm, so he already works as a high-level executive within the industry. And Arm and Nvidia have collaborated for over a decade on designing and manufacturing CPUs.

However, Haas has another big thing going for him. He's an outsider who used to be an insider. Haas worked at Nvidia for seven years before leaving the company in 2013. He worked closely with Huang as the company's Vice President and general manager of its computing products business.

Lisa Su

Lisa Su is the head of Nvidia's biggest competitor, AMD. Would she make the jump? That's what some speculators are betting on as her name floats to the top as one of Huang's potential successors.

Su has led AMD as CEO since 2014 and, interestingly, is also Jensen Huang's cousin, so it would certainly make for a good story.

Johny Srouji

According to a report from Semafor, the outside firm that Nvidia has hired to find Huang's replacement is seriously looking at Apple's current chief hardware officer Johny Srouji.

Srouji was recently promoted by Apple from the company's Senior Vice President of Hardware Technologies to Apple's Chief Hardware Officer following John Ternus' transition to CEO of the company. In his role as chip lead at Apple, Srouji helped lead the company's transition from Intel chips to its own Apple silicon chipset.

Notably, Bloomberg's Apple insider Mark Gurman reported last December that Srouji was thinking of exiting the company, although former Apple CEO Tim Cook was able to convince him to stay. Is Nvidia the opening that Srouji was looking for? We'll see.

Tim Cook

Speaking of Apple and Tim Cook, the former Apple CEO's name is also being spread as a potential replacement for Huang.

And who's throwing Tim Cook's name in the ring? Why, the President of the United States, of course!

"NOW THAT Nvidia CEO JENSEN HUANG, who has done a fantastic job, has resigned, there is only one man to take his place —TIM COOK of Apple," President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social after Huang resigned. "A Legend replaces a Legend!”

Tech industry experts are already throwing cold water on this idea, however.

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Cook just left his CEO position at Apple and would have to step down as Apple's executive chairman if he took the job with Nvidia, so he seems the least likely of the potential candidates. However, his name is being seriously passed around amongst investors and speculators alike.

Nikesh Arora

Nikesh Arora is currently the CEO of cybersecurity firm Palto Alto Networks. However, Arora worked at a number of tech companies over the years, including Google, where he was Chief Business Officer, and T-Mobile. 

Arora also previously worked as President and COO of SoftBank, a major global tech investment firm.

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Updated on Friday, Nov. 13 at 4:59 a.m. ET / Thursday, Nov. 13 at 1:59 a.m. PT — Microsoft says it's "seeing early stabilization and capacity improvements as recovery actions continue." The company also said it has extended email timeout to 48 hours to help preserve delayed mail during this event.

Updated on Friday, Nov. 13 at 1:08 a.m. ET / Thursday, Nov. 12 at 10:08 p.m. PT — Microsoft is still looking into the cause of the outage, but states that at present it is "not aware of any malicious activity that is causing this incident."

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 10:58 p.m. ET / 7:58 p.m. PT — Unfortunately, Microsoft's efforts to bring servers back online aren't going as planned. It appears to have been unable to address the issue of them becoming unresponsive again, and has stated it is now searching for different ways to increase traffic capacity.

"We've monitored the status of the changes applied to improve serviceability and confirmed they're not taking as expected," Microsoft wrote in an update on X.

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 8:07 p.m. ET / 5:07 p.m. PT — Microsoft has revised its list of features and services impacted by this outage, stating that it is affecting ones that interact with Exchange Online and email services. Microsoft Outlook, SharePoint Online, Teams, Copilot AI, and 365 are all continuing to have various issues, though Azure appears to be operational.

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 7:53 p.m. ET / 4:53 p.m. PT — Microsoft has issued a new update stating that the servers they've brought back online may become unresponsive again when they receive traffic. The company is currently investigating the issue, though in the meantime it's limiting the types of traffic going to these servers in some locations.

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 6:23 p.m. ET / 3:23 p.m. PT — Microsoft states that it is bringing some servers back online, and "they remain stable so far." Users should expect a "gradual recovery."

"We're also shifting traffic to alternate routes wherever possible and observing limited recovery," Microsoft wrote in an update on X. "In parallel, we've streamlined the process of returning the remaining affected servers to service."

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 4:17 p.m. ET / 1:17 p.m. PT — In its latest update, Microsoft stated on X that it's deploying fixes and some servers have already come back online. The company's status page still listed Microsoft 365 service as "degraded."

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 3:01 p.m. ET / 12:01 p.m. PT — The Microsoft 365 Status account on X shared updates explaining why the outage is happening and what they are doing to fix it.

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 2:20 p.m. ET / 11:20 p.m. PT — The Microsoft service status page is loading normally again, and a notification reads: "Users may be unable to connect to multiple Microsoft 365 services."

The status page in question. Credit: Screenshot: Microsoft

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 1:45 p.m. ET / 10:45 p.m. PT — Microsoft initially described the issue as primarily affecting mailboxes "in the Americas." However, in an update posted to X, the company acknowledged other services and locations were also affected.

Thousands of Microsoft Outlook users reported an outage on Thursday afternoon, with user error reports for Microsoft products spiking sharply.

The platform DownDetector showed error reports spiking around 12:30 p.m. ET. By 1:12 p.m. ET, the service had received more than 130,000 reports, indicating serious problems with the popular email service. Virtually all Microsoft services showed elevated error reports, including Microsoft 365, Microsoft Copilot, and Microsoft Teams.

Credit: Screenshot courtesy of DownDetector

Mashable reached out to Microsoft for comment, and we'll update this story if we receive more information.

From the beginning, there were signs of a widespread problem with Microsoft services. Case in point: The Microsoft service status page was not loading for Mashable reporters for part of the day, though it has since come back online.

The Microsoft 365 Status account on X initially posted a message acknowledging an outage at 12:54 p.m. ET: "We're investigating reports of users experiencing issues accessing Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods in the Americas."

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At 1:07 p.m. ET, the company wrote, "While we're working to mitigate impact, we've confirmed the issue may affect Microsoft 365 service connectivity for users in any region, more information will be provided in the Microsoft 365 admin center under EX1550543." The company added, "a portion of infrastructure is experiencing elevated load across multiple regions, which is likely contributing to the connectivity errors."

The company's status page indicated that the outage specifically affects Microsoft 365, the company's suite of tools for enterprise customers. Microsoft consumer products should still be operational.

Microsoft also clarified that users may have trouble accessing Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Microsoft Copilot 365, and Microsoft Defender XDR, in particular.

In the latest updates, posted to X at 4:06 p.m. ET, Microsoft said it had started deploying a fix that would allow some servers to come back online. The company has also found "a small number of configuration updates" that may be part of the overall problem.

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Outlook previously experienced a widespread outage in August. At the time, the company cited a "misconfiguration issue that prevented authentication components from deploying correctly.

This is a developing story...

Updated on Friday, Nov. 13 at 4:59 a.m. ET / Thursday, Nov. 13 at 1:59 a.m. PT — Microsoft says it's "seeing early stabilization and capacity improvements as recovery actions continue." The company also said it has extended email timeout to 48 hours to help preserve delayed mail during this event.

Updated on Friday, Nov. 13 at 1:08 a.m. ET / Thursday, Nov. 12 at 10:08 p.m. PT — Microsoft is still looking into the cause of the outage, but states that at present it is "not aware of any malicious activity that is causing this incident."

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 10:58 p.m. ET / 7:58 p.m. PT — Unfortunately, Microsoft's efforts to bring servers back online aren't going as planned. It appears to have been unable to address the issue of them becoming unresponsive again, and has stated it is now searching for different ways to increase traffic capacity.

"We've monitored the status of the changes applied to improve serviceability and confirmed they're not taking as expected," Microsoft wrote in an update on X.

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 8:07 p.m. ET / 5:07 p.m. PT — Microsoft has revised its list of features and services impacted by this outage, stating that it is affecting ones that interact with Exchange Online and email services. Microsoft Outlook, SharePoint Online, Teams, Copilot AI, and 365 are all continuing to have various issues, though Azure appears to be operational.

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 7:53 p.m. ET / 4:53 p.m. PT — Microsoft has issued a new update stating that the servers they've brought back online may become unresponsive again when they receive traffic. The company is currently investigating the issue, though in the meantime it's limiting the types of traffic going to these servers in some locations.

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 6:23 p.m. ET / 3:23 p.m. PT — Microsoft states that it is bringing some servers back online, and "they remain stable so far." Users should expect a "gradual recovery."

"We're also shifting traffic to alternate routes wherever possible and observing limited recovery," Microsoft wrote in an update on X. "In parallel, we've streamlined the process of returning the remaining affected servers to service."

Updated on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 5:26 p.m. ET / 2:26 p.m. PT — Microsoft services remained down on Thursday evening, as Microsoft acknowledged ongoing problems in an update posted to X.

The Microsoft global outage has affected Outlook, Teams, and other Microsoft 365 services, starting around 12:30 p.m. ET.

If Outlook wouldn't load for you on Thursday, Microsoft now has a theory about what went wrong. The company said in an X post on Nov. 12 that a component responsible for checking whether its servers are working properly may be behind the failures that took some of them out of service.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft outage: Microsoft 365, Teams, Outlook, Copilot all impacted

In its service health update, Microsoft said some servers went offline after failing automated health checks. With parts of its infrastructure under heavier load than usual across multiple regions, the company said that extra strain was likely contributing to connection problems.

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Microsoft also says it’s "deploying a targeted change to bypass this component on a subset of servers" to see if that brings them back online. It has also taken steps to keep more servers from going out of service. So far, Microsoft says it hasn’t found a recent change that coincided with the start of the outage. The company is still investigating why the checks failed.

Microsoft initially flagged trouble accessing Exchange Online mailboxes in the Americas. Exchange Online is the service that stores and delivers email for many Outlook users.

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The company later warned that the issue "may affect Microsoft 365 service connectivity for users in any region." Around 1 p.m. ET, nearly 130,000 Outlook problem reports appeared on Downdetector, and users reported trouble loading their inboxes and sending or receiving emails. Copilot users also reported problems.

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Earlier Thursday, Microsoft had also flagged problems with Teams in North America under incident TM1550488. In a follow-up on X, the company said its automated recovery systems had kicked in and were reducing the disruption.

Microsoft is posting updates under EX1550543 and MO1550821 in the Microsoft 365 admin center. If the admin center is also out of reach, Microsoft is directing users to its public service status page.

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This is a developing story...

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Microsoft's popular suite of enterprise products, known as Microsoft 365, which includes Outlook, Teams, and Copilot, suffered from a massive outage on Thursday.

Or did it?

While more than 100,000 users reported problems accessing Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft 365 on the platform DownDetector, Microsoft is saying it's actually a cloud tool called Microsoft Exchange that's causing problems.

So, what is Microsoft Exchange? And why does it being down affect your ability to access your email or message your coworkers?

Microsoft Exchange is the backend cloud tool that sends data updates to Outlook. It's essentially the server that stores the actual data, handles the mail flow, syncs the data to services like Outlook, and controls account security policies. Put simply, Outlook is the front end; Exchange is the back end.

For most users, though, this is a distinction without a difference. The end result is that users can't access their email, calendar, or messages.

The company has been providing updates on the situation on X:

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Mashable reached out to Microsoft with questions about the outage, but the company has not responded, as of this writing.

There are a few ways to react when Outlook goes down in the middle of the workday. Some people keep refreshing their inboxes or ask a coworker if theirs is loading. On Thursday, plenty of people used the downtime to post on social media, where an afternoon without email turned out to be pretty good material.

An ongoing Microsoft 365 outage left people struggling to open their work inboxes, and Microsoft said other services, including Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot, could also be affected. Reports of Outlook problems began spiking around 12:30 p.m. ET, and by 1:12 p.m. ET, Downdetector had logged more than 130,000 reports, as Mashable previously reported, with the apt subtitle, "Because there's not enough happening in the tech world today..."

SEE ALSO: Is Outlook down? Possible Microsoft outage locks down email inboxes.

For some X users, the outage hit just as they were getting started with their days. "As soon as I sign in outlook is down. Aww man!" wrote one user. Another declared himself "off work for the afternoon." In a reply to Microsoft's outage alert, one X user said, "if outlook doesnt work in the next 15 minutes we should all be able to leave work early today."

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For others, the outage landed around lunchtime on the East Coast, and Adweek had an idea for how to spend it. "outlook is down which means the three-martini lunch is back," the publication posted on X. In the replies, users were grateful to "whoever chewed the wires at the outlook offices, bless your heart fr," while some were very worried about the state of their inbox. "oh noooo Outlook is down, how will I respond to all of these very important emails? ahhh I hope they hurry up and fix it oh noooooo"

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There was a good chunk of those on social media who weren't surprised one bit by the outage. "If I had a dime for every 365 issue, I’d be rich!" wrote one user on Reddit. Another said Microsoft's Power Platform was running slowly. "So everything is as expected." One commenter dubbed the service "Microsoft 364," and another figured it would be down to Microsoft 363 if the outage lasted more than 48 hours. "Microsoft when Outlook and Teams go down. Again," wrote one user on X, alongside a GIF from The Naked Gun in which Leslie Nielsen's Frank Drebin tells a crowd there's "nothing to see here" as a fireworks factory explodes behind him. Subtle comparison.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. What else was affected by the Microsoft outage?

Microsoft first flagged trouble accessing Exchange Online mailboxes in the Americas at 12:54 p.m. ET. The company later said the outage could affect Microsoft 365 users in any region. Microsoft's public status page listed consumer products as operational, while its business and enterprise customers faced connectivity issues.

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Exchange Online, the service behind many work and school Outlook inboxes, was the hardest hit. Microsoft also listed Teams, Microsoft 365 Copilot, SharePoint Online, and Defender XDR as potentially affected. The company said unusually high load on part of its infrastructure was likely contributing to the connection problems and that it had rerouted traffic and was restarting affected servers.

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Investors and industry experts have long worried that the AI industry will expand until it inevitably bursts. And in the wake of a historic midterm election cycle that decidedly challenged the interests of Big Tech, the AI industry is facing enormous strain from all sides.

Former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, a leading figure of the AI boom, has gone down in a salacious scandal involving extramarital affairs and accusations of Chinese espionage. SpaceXSI owner Elon Musk invested and lost millions on Republican campaigns during the midterms that he and other Big Tech leaders hoped would open up the floodgates to greater AI infrastructure. OpenAI and Anthropic have been implicated in numerous cybersecurity scandals on top of a domestic mental health crisis. Google, Meta, and OpenAI's ChatGPT are at the epicenter of a child safety reckoning that could change education and social media forever.

Is the AI reckoning truly here?

SEE ALSO: AI agents may run your household. What could go wrong? A new sweeping lawsuit against the AI industry

The latest challenge the industry is facing down is a lawsuit filed today (Nov. 12) by a safety and civil society groups Public Citizen, Irreplaceable Education Fund, Heat Initiative, and The Alliance for Secure AI. The groups argue that AI's developers are aware of "imminent and catastrophic risks to humanity" posed by AI and urges courts to freeze the industry's development completely in the name of public safety.

"Despite endless warnings about the grave risks their products pose to public safety and even civilization itself, AI company executives are rushing to develop and deploy ever-more advanced AI systems," wrote Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, in a press release. "We the People should not simply stand by and tolerate AI executives’ unhinged risk-taking at the public’s expense. Our lawsuit asks the court to apply existing law and find the AI corporations’ reckless practices unlawful and freeze further AI development."

SEE ALSO: Nvidia stock plunges as CEO Jensen Huang resigns: How low it might go

The group argues that companies are risking public safety by developing and releasing products they have admitted are potentially harmful, and that further development can be halted under California's Unfair Competition Law.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have previously agreed on the need to slow the growth of highly advanced AI systems. In a September essay, Amodei proposed a three-point plan to "pace the frontier" of AI, which Altman later signaled his support for.

"Children have already paid the price for Big Tech prioritizing profit over safety. We’ve watched chatbots push kids toward suicide and AI tools turn their ordinary photos into AI-generated child sexual abuse material,” said Brooke Istook, CEO of child advocacy organization Heat Initiative. "Now these companies are racing to build AI systems they admit they may not be able to control. If that happens, the protections we’ve spent years fighting for won’t be enough."

Parents band together to protest and demand action

Some believe the country's incoming Democratic Congress may finally hold tech companies' feet to the fire. Coinciding with the lawsuit, dozens of survivor parent-advocates sent a letter to California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings, urging them to compel OpenAI to restructure its corporate structure and board membership to better support safe AI deployment. The group argues the two states, which led a joint investigation into OpenAI's recent restructuring, could force the AI company into adopting even stronger safety measures.

While the industry debates appropriate regulation and courts mull over the legal system's power over AI, schools are becoming their own battleground.

In the first education-related lawsuit of its kind, a family is arguing their teen's access to AI on school-issued Chromebooks posed a life-threatening risk to her mental health.

Then on Nov. 11, a coalition of school and child safety groups led nationwide protests over Google's new controversy-stirring policies for schools. In an announcement a week prior, Google announced that its AI tools would now be opt-in by default, including its AI-powered Search. Because Search's AI tools can't be turned off, districts with AI bans would be forced to choose between allowing Search or violating AI guidelines.

Advocates argue that Google's "ultimatum" presents an opportunity to pressure the tech giant into relinquishing some of its far-reaching AI goals. Many have urged districts to cancel contracts with the company and find AI-free alternatives.

The company that makes the chips behind much of the AI we use every day is suddenly looking for a new CEO.

Jensen Huang, who co-founded Nvidia and ran it for 33 years, resigned Thursday after reports of two extramarital affairs: one was reportedly with a Nvidia executive who worked for him named Kimberly Powell, the other was with Alice Huang (no relation), a former executive at Nvidia customer Megaspeed whom U.S. officials suspect of spying for Beijing.

Before all this, Trump and Huang knew each other pretty well. Huang was already one of Trump's tech advisers, and Nvidia had been asking the administration to let it sell more AI chips in China. When Trump invited Huang to Beijing at the last minute in May, the executive hopped aboard Air Force One during a fuel stop in Alaska.

When the allegations involving Alice Huang came up at Mar-a-Lago on Oct. 31, reporters asked whether Trump would keep Huang on as a tech adviser. Trump said he'd like to. "I’ve always found Jensen Huang to be very above board," he told reporters at his Florida resort on Halloween.

SEE ALSO: Jensen Huang resigns: A timeline of the Nvidia affair

A little over a week later, on Nov. 8, reporters asked Trump again about Jensen Huang's future, this time at Nvidia. Earlier that day, Huang had apologized to employees in a bombshell email admitting he'd been unfaithful to his wife. Nvidia opened an investigation into whether he'd been targeted by foreign intelligence after reports of an affair with suspected spy Alice Huang. The board said at the time it had no reason to believe company secrets or U.S. national security had been compromised. Trump agreed, called Huang "an honorable guy." Did he think Huang should still run Nvidia? "I think so, oh yeah, sure."

Trump said he hadn't spoken to Huang about the allegations when he made those remarks. When he spoke to reporters again on Monday, Nov. 9, he said he'd asked Huang whether he knew about Alice Huang's alleged ties to Chinese intelligence. Jensen Huang told the president he had no idea, according to Trump. "I really believe him," the president said.

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That left a question about what Trump himself knew. On Monday, Nov. 9, a reporter asked whether he'd heard about the allegations when he and Huang flew to Beijing in May. "No, I didn’t hear about it then," Trump said. The Washington Post reported on Thursday, Nov. 12, that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had briefed Trump about the alleged relationship aboard Air Force One on May 12, before Huang boarded in Alaska.

Credit: Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images

As new information from the New York Times and Reuters started coming out with reports that Huang had also had an affair with an Nvidia executive who reported to him, it became a little more difficult to maintain trust in the Nvidia boss — Thursday morning, Nvidia announced that Huang had resigned as CEO and stepped down from the company's board.

Trump wasted little time pitching a replacement only a few hours later. He wrote on Truth Social:

NOW THAT Nvidia CEO JENSEN HUANG, who has done a fantastic job, has resigned, there is only one man to take his place - TIM COOK of Apple. A Legend replaces a Legend! President DONALD J. TRUMP

For now, Nvidia's finance chief, Colette Kress, is running the company while the board looks for a permanent CEO.

As for Cook, he still has a job at Apple. He stayed on as executive chairman after stepping down as CEO in September, and neither he nor Apple immediately responded when Reuters asked about Trump's suggestion.

This is a developing story...

Jensen Huang officially resigned as Nvidia CEO on Thursday morning, a seismic event in the tech industry.

Nvidia is one of the most valuable companies in the world, with a nearly $4 trillion valuation, and Huang was the company's original CEO and co-founder. The company's board of directors shared a CEO transition plan on its website, saying Huang has also resigned as president and as a member of the board, effective immediately.

The company's CFO, Colette Kress, will serve as interim CEO, while also maintaining her CFO responsibilities. The board has begun searching for a new CEO, looking both inside and outside the company.

The tech industry has been closely watching Nvidia and its stock ever since news first broke by the New York Times that Huang had not one, but two affairs, including one with an accused Chinese spy. Nvidia chips provide much of the compute that powers the fast-growing AI industry, and so Huang's alleged entanglement with a possible Chinese spy wasn't just a typical executive PR scandal, but a national security issue.

The story is still developing, so keep checking back at Mashable for the latest Nvidia news and live updates.

The Jensen Huang affair: What happened

Last Friday, New York Times and Financial Times reported dropped a bomb on the tech industry. The publications reported that Huang had an affair with a woman the U.S. intelligence community believed to be a Chinese spy. China disputed these accusations, of course, but the Times reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio personally wrote a memo alerting President Donald Trump to the situation in the spring.

On Nov. 8, Huang posted a personal message to the Nvidia website, admitting to and apologizing for the affair.

"I owe my family and all of you an apology," Huang wrote. "I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry."

It was unclear whether Huang would be able to hold on to his position as CEO, and the Nvidia board of directors announced it had opened an investigation into the incident.

Huang's second affair

But on Wednesday, news of a second affair may have sealed Huang's fate. The New York Times reported that Huang had another extramarital affair with another Nvidia executive who reported to him. The Times identified that executive as Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of healthcare.

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