Hmm. Outlook outtage yesterday. FAA grounded today. Could be a coincidence, I suppose.
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Of course, the FAA is in the middle of an AI deployment, so it's possible that's the throughline. But our president and Secretary of Defense also recently started a war with Iran, so it's also possible that they're just launching cyberattacks against our telecommunications infrastructure, and that the precipitating event was not the Nvidia shakeup, but rather Republicans spiking Hegseth's impeachment.
#politics #war #USA #Iran
As far as I can tell, the AI system the FAA is rolling out is an advisory system, and isn't widespread yet, so it doesn't seem like the culprit here. But the larger context is the FAA has been overhauling systems at "lightning speed," including radio towers and other communications systems, which is what seems to be failing tonight. https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/21/us/upgrading-air-traffic-control
Air traffic control is one of those high-risk areas where the rule for implementing changes is "go slow and test often."
Oh wait. I guess the AI system is operational in all of the nation's air route traffic control towers as of Tuesday: https://www.flyingmag.com/faa-smart-ai-now-active-at-22-artccs-nationwide/
Which is some pretty suggestive timing. Not sure why they'd set it up in a way that could derail communications, but I'm also not confident that this administration wouldn't.
The company that made SMART, the AI system the FAA rolled out nationwide this week, is a startup. They raised a new round of VC funding as recently as last month. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261020556716/en/ASI-Secures-%24325M-Series-C-at-%243B-Valuation-to-Power-Americas-Critical-Infrastructure-With-AI
It's been less than 5 months since they were awarded the FAA contract, which is a bonkers timeframe for rolling out a government system of any kind, much less one for air traffic control: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/asi-selected-by-faa-to-modernize-the-national-airspace-system-302806855.html
The FAA is reportedly looking to buy a stake in the company: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/15/faa-stake-ai-company-01121671
national weather service too
@wjmaggos Apparently that's a false rumor.
Nvidia shakeup + Outlook outtage + FAA grounding would be a very efficient 1-2-3 punch to the market, but it's also entirely too plausible as a string of uncoordinated self owns, given the current state of things.