Kevin Roose

You can now access a very powerful model for free. Maybe you are a developer or a startup who wants to build your own AI tools. Well, now you have this deep seek model that you can kind of take off the shelf as open source software and build your own version of it or run it on your own hardware.

And so the people that I talk to in the tech industry who are at startups or smaller companies are very excited about this. This is a great development for them. And it also means that if you are a person who worries that all the AI power is going to go to a few huge companies, then the democratization of AI through open source models like DeepSeek probably makes you feel optimistic.

And so the people that I talk to in the tech industry who are at startups or smaller companies are very excited about this. This is a great development for them. And it also means that if you are a person who worries that all the AI power is going to go to a few huge companies, then the democratization of AI through open source models like DeepSeek probably makes you feel optimistic.

So that is the positive case for this. But there are also a lot of people who are really worried about what DeepSeek has done. I think the DeepSeek moment has really sparked a lot of new fears about how quickly this whole field of AI is progressing. I mean, just in the last few years,

So that is the positive case for this. But there are also a lot of people who are really worried about what DeepSeek has done. I think the DeepSeek moment has really sparked a lot of new fears about how quickly this whole field of AI is progressing. I mean, just in the last few years,

The leading AI models have gone from maybe being as smart as the average high school student to as smart as a college student to now being able to complete a lot of tasks that would have taken a PhD to complete. So these models are just getting much better very quickly. And a lot of folks in the AI community are just nervous about that. They say things like, well, maybe we're going to get...

The leading AI models have gone from maybe being as smart as the average high school student to as smart as a college student to now being able to complete a lot of tasks that would have taken a PhD to complete. So these models are just getting much better very quickly. And a lot of folks in the AI community are just nervous about that. They say things like, well, maybe we're going to get...

an AI that is as smart as the smartest humans in just a few years. And we don't really have a playbook for dealing with technology that is more intelligent than us. And so there are people who worry about these sort of runaway AI scenarios where you get super intelligent AIs that can sort of take control or maybe even harm humans.

an AI that is as smart as the smartest humans in just a few years. And we don't really have a playbook for dealing with technology that is more intelligent than us. And so there are people who worry about these sort of runaway AI scenarios where you get super intelligent AIs that can sort of take control or maybe even harm humans.

But even if you're not a believer in that kind of superhuman intelligence risk, There are just a lot of questions about whether we as a society are ready for advanced AI. Are we ready for the possibility that it could eliminate jobs? Are we ready for the possibility that it could really lead to a proliferation of misinformation or propaganda or even automated cyber attacks and things like that?

But even if you're not a believer in that kind of superhuman intelligence risk, There are just a lot of questions about whether we as a society are ready for advanced AI. Are we ready for the possibility that it could eliminate jobs? Are we ready for the possibility that it could really lead to a proliferation of misinformation or propaganda or even automated cyber attacks and things like that?

So all of that is swirling around the conversation about DeepSeek because we have just accelerated the AI race again. And now it is not just American companies competing with each other over who is in the lead of that race. China has also stepped in. And there's a lot of fear and anxiety about what happens if we fall behind.

So all of that is swirling around the conversation about DeepSeek because we have just accelerated the AI race again. And now it is not just American companies competing with each other over who is in the lead of that race. China has also stepped in. And there's a lot of fear and anxiety about what happens if we fall behind.

Well, it may well be, because if you're a person who believes that TikTok is a national security threat, there's nothing about DeepSeek that is less of a threat, right? It is a Chinese company. It is subject to all the same laws and censorship guidelines as other Chinese software companies are.

Well, it may well be, because if you're a person who believes that TikTok is a national security threat, there's nothing about DeepSeek that is less of a threat, right? It is a Chinese company. It is subject to all the same laws and censorship guidelines as other Chinese software companies are.

So, for example, if you ask DeepSeek to tell you what happened at Tiananmen Square or to say something mean about Xi Jinping, the leader of China, it won't do it. And I would not be surprised if in the coming weeks and months, we do see lawmakers in the US saying, wait a minute, we passed a law to ban TikTok. Why are we not also passing a law to ban DeepSeek?

So, for example, if you ask DeepSeek to tell you what happened at Tiananmen Square or to say something mean about Xi Jinping, the leader of China, it won't do it. And I would not be surprised if in the coming weeks and months, we do see lawmakers in the US saying, wait a minute, we passed a law to ban TikTok. Why are we not also passing a law to ban DeepSeek?

So I think that's one potential outcome here, but there's a key difference, which is that TikTok is not open source software. You cannot download TikTok and create your own version of it. And so already the DeepSeek platform models have been downloaded and recreated all over the world by lots and lots of different people and companies.

So I think that's one potential outcome here, but there's a key difference, which is that TikTok is not open source software. You cannot download TikTok and create your own version of it. And so already the DeepSeek platform models have been downloaded and recreated all over the world by lots and lots of different people and companies.

I think what the DeepSeek story suggests is that it is going to be quite challenging to contain the spread of powerful AI without some big moves.