Kevin Roose

Microsoft says it plans to spend about $80 billion. Microsoft said it was spending $80 billion.

Microsoft says it plans to spend about $80 billion. Microsoft said it was spending $80 billion.

And OpenAI had just announced this giant partnership where they were planning to spend up to half a trillion over the next four years. As much as half a trillion dollars to build the infrastructure for AI. Whoa. Yeah, it's wild.

And OpenAI had just announced this giant partnership where they were planning to spend up to half a trillion over the next four years. As much as half a trillion dollars to build the infrastructure for AI. Whoa. Yeah, it's wild.

And on top of that, DeepSeek says that they built their model without access to the latest and greatest American AI chips, which up until now were thought to be necessary to build the most powerful models.

And on top of that, DeepSeek says that they built their model without access to the latest and greatest American AI chips, which up until now were thought to be necessary to build the most powerful models.

And so investors start saying, wait a minute, if it only costs $5.5 million to train a leading-edge AI model, then... What the heck are all these American companies doing spending hundreds of millions of dollars or even billions of dollars to train roughly equivalent models?

And so investors start saying, wait a minute, if it only costs $5.5 million to train a leading-edge AI model, then... What the heck are all these American companies doing spending hundreds of millions of dollars or even billions of dollars to train roughly equivalent models?

And so the stocks of many of the American tech companies start to fall.

And so the stocks of many of the American tech companies start to fall.

And so after all of this, people in the American tech industry start asking questions like, who is DeepSeq? And how are they getting these incredible models with so little money spent on them?

And so after all of this, people in the American tech industry start asking questions like, who is DeepSeq? And how are they getting these incredible models with so little money spent on them?

So it depends who you ask, because there are a couple kind of overlapping panics that are starting to happen around this time. Of course, again, there's the investor panic. I mean, imagine if you had your whole portfolio invested in American AI companies.

So it depends who you ask, because there are a couple kind of overlapping panics that are starting to happen around this time. Of course, again, there's the investor panic. I mean, imagine if you had your whole portfolio invested in American AI companies.

It would be like if you just bought like a very high-end sports car, like a Lamborghini, and you had been driving it around and were so proud of how fast it could accelerate and how well it handled. And then like some random guy shows up with like a soapbox car made of balsa wood, and it can go just as fast as your car. You'd be like, what the heck?

It would be like if you just bought like a very high-end sports car, like a Lamborghini, and you had been driving it around and were so proud of how fast it could accelerate and how well it handled. And then like some random guy shows up with like a soapbox car made of balsa wood, and it can go just as fast as your car. You'd be like, what the heck?

Why did I just spend all this money on this Lamborghini?

Why did I just spend all this money on this Lamborghini?

Yes. And then, of course, there's the geopolitical freakout because DeepSeek is a Chinese AI company. And there has been this race happening between primarily the U.S. and China for years about AI and AI supremacy. Who was going to be able to build the most powerful AI models before the other one? And that is a very important question for things like assessing the future of military conflict.

Yes. And then, of course, there's the geopolitical freakout because DeepSeek is a Chinese AI company. And there has been this race happening between primarily the U.S. and China for years about AI and AI supremacy. Who was going to be able to build the most powerful AI models before the other one? And that is a very important question for things like assessing the future of military conflict.