{"id":134531,"date":"2025-01-29T12:23:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T17:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=134531"},"modified":"2025-01-30T06:34:06","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T11:34:06","slug":"economist-the-real-meaning-of-the-deepseek-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=134531","title":{"rendered":"(Economist) The real meaning of the DeepSeek drama"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The market reaction, when it came, was brutal. On January 27th, as investors realised just how good\u00a0DeepSeek\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0\u201cv3\u201d and \u201cR<\/small>1\u201d models were, they wiped around a trillion dollars off the market capitalisation of America\u2019s listed tech firms.\u00a0Nvidia,<\/a>\u00a0a chipmaker and the chief shovel-seller of the artificial-intelligence (AI<\/small>) gold rush, saw its value fall by $600bn. Yet even if the Chinese model-maker\u2019s new releases rattled investors in a handful of firms, they should be a cause for optimism for the world at large. DeepSeek shows how competition and innovation will make\u00a0ai<\/small>\u00a0cheaper and therefore more useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeepSeek\u2019s models are practically as good as those made by Google and OpenAI<\/small>\u2014and have been produced at a fraction of the cost. Barred by American export controls from using cutting-edge chips,\u00a0the Chinese firm<\/a>\u00a0undertook an efficiency drive, even reprogramming the chips it used to train the model to eke out every drop of power. The cost of building an\u00a0AI<\/small>\u00a0model that can stand toe-to-toe with the best has plummeted. Within days, DeepSeek\u2019s chatbot was the most downloaded app on the iPhone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contrast with America\u2019s approach could not be starker. Sam Altman, the boss of OpenAI<\/small>, has spent years telling investors\u2014and America\u2019s new president\u2014that vast sums of money and computing power are needed to stay at the forefront of\u00a0AI<\/small>. Investors have accordingly been betting that a handful of firms stand to reap vast monopoly-like rents. Yet if fast followers such as DeepSeek can eat away at that lead for a fraction of the cost, then those profits are at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>

"However, the real winners will be consumers. For AI to transform society, it needs to be cheap, ubiquitous and out of the control of any one country or company. DeepSeek\u2019s success suggests that such a world is imaginable."https:\/\/t.co\/8aZ4eM5PV5<\/a> #USChina<\/a> #Geoeconomics<\/a> #\u5730\u7d4c\u5b66<\/a><\/p>— Ken Doi\u571f\u5c45 (@kitakazethomas) January 30, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>