Kevin Roose

But there are questions about, you know, did they smuggle in very powerful chips that would have actually allowed them to build a model this good? Hmm. You know, is there something going on? Is the Chinese government funneling money to them and not telling us about it? So there are lots of theories.

But there are questions about, you know, did they smuggle in very powerful chips that would have actually allowed them to build a model this good? Hmm. You know, is there something going on? Is the Chinese government funneling money to them and not telling us about it? So there are lots of theories.

But then as time wears on and people who are experts in this stuff start digging through the details, they're coming to the conclusion that, well, yeah, Maybe the cost is a little higher than DeepSea claims. Maybe they have a few more chips than they're telling us about. But in general, this seems like they actually just did build a really good model using some very clever engineering techniques.

But then as time wears on and people who are experts in this stuff start digging through the details, they're coming to the conclusion that, well, yeah, Maybe the cost is a little higher than DeepSea claims. Maybe they have a few more chips than they're telling us about. But in general, this seems like they actually just did build a really good model using some very clever engineering techniques.

So because DeepSeq did not have access, we don't think, to the most powerful chips that American companies are using... they had to kind of get clever about becoming more efficient with their model. I won't bore you with the technical details.

So because DeepSeq did not have access, we don't think, to the most powerful chips that American companies are using... they had to kind of get clever about becoming more efficient with their model. I won't bore you with the technical details.

It includes terms like mixture of experts, architecture, but basically they were able to use some clever tricks to squeeze the most power out of the chips that they did have.

It includes terms like mixture of experts, architecture, but basically they were able to use some clever tricks to squeeze the most power out of the chips that they did have.

Yeah, I mean, there's this saying in the tech industry that constraints inspire creativity. And that is definitely true here. DeepSeq did not have access to the best American AI chips. They did not have the largest budget or the most sophisticated team, but they were really scrappy and smart. They had a lot of really good young engineers and they were able to pull this off.

Yeah, I mean, there's this saying in the tech industry that constraints inspire creativity. And that is definitely true here. DeepSeq did not have access to the best American AI chips. They did not have the largest budget or the most sophisticated team, but they were really scrappy and smart. They had a lot of really good young engineers and they were able to pull this off.

So what the AI companies in America are saying in response to this market panic is, look, we've still got to build these big, expensive supercomputers to stay at the forefront of AI, to have the best models. And if we take the techniques that DeepSeq has now shown are possible, these efficiency gains, We could have them too.

So what the AI companies in America are saying in response to this market panic is, look, we've still got to build these big, expensive supercomputers to stay at the forefront of AI, to have the best models. And if we take the techniques that DeepSeq has now shown are possible, these efficiency gains, We could have them too.

Think about how powerful our models would be if we put a billion dollars into the same kind of model that DeepSeek was able to make for much less. So that is what the American AI companies are saying. But I think there are real questions among investors about whether the scale of investment that they have been planning is really necessary.

Think about how powerful our models would be if we put a billion dollars into the same kind of model that DeepSeek was able to make for much less. So that is what the American AI companies are saying. But I think there are real questions among investors about whether the scale of investment that they have been planning is really necessary.

I think it threw into question this fundamental assumption that only the big dogs could play in AI. You had to be Microsoft or Amazon or Google if you wanted a chance to build the state-of-the-art AI models.

I think it threw into question this fundamental assumption that only the big dogs could play in AI. You had to be Microsoft or Amazon or Google if you wanted a chance to build the state-of-the-art AI models.

And I think what the Deep Seek story suggested is that there may be a whole other world of competitors out there trying to stay close to the frontier and that they might not have to have the resources of one of the world's largest corporations to do it.

And I think what the Deep Seek story suggested is that there may be a whole other world of competitors out there trying to stay close to the frontier and that they might not have to have the resources of one of the world's largest corporations to do it.

But there was one other piece of this that I think really suggests that the AI race has entered a new phase, which is that DeepSeek did something that a lot of American companies have been hesitant to do, which is that they released their AI models as open source software, meaning that anyone on the internet can download and use, can make their own versions of, can adapt, can tweak.

But there was one other piece of this that I think really suggests that the AI race has entered a new phase, which is that DeepSeek did something that a lot of American companies have been hesitant to do, which is that they released their AI models as open source software, meaning that anyone on the internet can download and use, can make their own versions of, can adapt, can tweak.