DeepSeek: Chinese AI firm on US national security radar

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According to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, US officials are considering the implications for national security of a DeepSeek ( AI ) breakthrough.

According to reports, the US military has banned its users from using DeepSeek’s applications according to “potential security and social concerns.”

However, the maker of ChatGPT, OpenAI, has promised to work strongly with the US government to reduce competitors from taking its systems.

As investors questioned the billions of dollars they are investing in new AI system, DeepSeek’s apparently cheap yet effective AI design led to a decline in the stock prices of US technology companies earlier this week.

” I spoke with]the National Security Council ] this morning, they are looking into what]national security implications ] may be”, said Ms Leavitt, who also restated US President Donald Trump’s remarks a day earlier that DeepSeek should be a wake-up call for the US tech industry.

The US military has warned its members not to use the DeepSeek software because of “potential surveillance and ethical concerns associated with the woman’s nature and use,” according to CNBC.

BBC News contacted the US Navy for reply, but the US Navy did not respond right away.

However, the maker of ChatGPT, OpenAI, has promised to tightly with the US government to prevent competitors from taking its systems.

David Sacks, the newly appointed” White House AI and crypto czar,” made a suggestion on Fox News that DeepSeek may have benefited from the top US company OpenAI’s development of the concepts to improve.

Understanding extraction is a technique used to learn from one AI design.

” There’s substantial proof that what DeepSeek did these is they distilled the information out of OpenAI’s types”, Mr Sacks said. ” Our leading AI firms taking steps to try and prevent evaporation are definitely going to slow down some of these knockoff models,” I predict in the coming months.

In a later declaration, OpenAI claimed that Chinese and other organizations are” continually trying to extract the types of leading US AI businesses.”

As the world’s leading AI manufacturer, we take proactive measures to safeguard our [intellectual property ] and consider it crucial that we collaborate with the US government to best safeguard the most competent models.

However, DeepSeek says it has been the goal of computer problems. On Monday it said it would temporarily reduce filings because of “large-scale harmful attacks” on its technology.

Registration may become crowded as a result of the attacks, according to a banner already visible on the company’s website.

Yuyuan Tantian, a social media network under China’s position journalist Video, claims the company has faced” many” cyber attacks in recent months, which have increased in “intensity”.

Only last week saw DeepSeek reach renown as AI enthusiasts praised its most recent AI development and app-users began using its robot. US technology companies, many of which have since lost some ground as a result of its fall, slumped.

However, the visible breakthrough shaken America’s AI industry, especially given the general consensus that the US was way ahead of the competition. It is thought that this was weakened by a string of trade limitations that restricted China’s ability to purchase premium cards.

Although China has increased investment in advanced technology to expand its business, DeepSeek is not one of the major Chinese companies that has developed AI products to compete with ChatGPT, which is made in the US.

Experts claim that the US also benefits from having some of the biggest chip manufacturers and that it’s still unclear how DeepSeek developed its design and how far it can go.

As DeepSeek rattled markets this week, President Trump described it as” a wake-up call” for the US tech industry, while suggesting that it could ultimately prove to be a “positive” sign.

” If you could do it cheaper, if you could do it ]for ] less]and ] get to the same end result. I believe that’s a positive factor for us,” he told investigators on Air Force One.

He added that despite the discovery, the US will continue to be a powerful force in the field.

Fan Wang provided more monitoring.

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Human conscription flagging? Learn the term ‘attritible drone’ – Asia Times

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Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the war there has been impacted by relatively expendable ( “attritable” in military jargon ), cheap drones&nbsp, and a rapidly growing roster of unmanned and robotic systems. Collectively, these systems are redefining how military forces may pay modern war.

With each part in this battle rushing to secure a modern benefits, the Russian battle is&nbsp, transforming&nbsp, into a clash between normal forces that are both backed by growing numbers of intelligent and remote-controlled systems. Each attack has steadily&nbsp, poured&nbsp, more and more resources into developing this technology, buying to be a move ahead of the other.

Ukraine’s experience on the front lines reflects a shift toward robotic systems that strengthen or attempt to replace human operators in the most risky missions and in opposition to an enemy that is willing to deploy more and more manpower into major front assaults.

Ukrainian officials began to describe their nation as a “war test for the future” after Kyiv’s forces fielded but some intelligent and mechanical systems over the past three years. This is because fight in Ukraine offers the best environment for ongoing testing, evaluation, and refinement of like systems.

Numerous businesses in Europe and the United States have tested their robots and other devices in Ukraine. At this point in the fight, those companies are striving to achieve “battle-tested in Ukraine” certificates for their goods.

For instance, US defence technology firm &nbsp, Anduril&nbsp, just started selling its new autonomous robots after successful testing carried out in Ukraine in October 2024. Russian and Western aircraft manufacturers are now working more closely together on both developing AI and drones. Through its Replicator&nbsp program, the US government is attempting to expedite the deployment of affordable automatic systems. Additionally, it is working closely with the private industry to examine Ukrainian systems and technologies before using them in upcoming conflicts.

Lately, US Army Chief of Staff General Randy George&nbsp, noted&nbsp, that the Ukraine conflict “has demonstrated the value of little, attritable robots on the field”. This fight implementation of relatively cheap platforms has provided the Pentagon an opportunity to observe how integrating cutting-edge software with robust drone technology can continue across the US Department of Defense, drawing&nbsp, lessons&nbsp, from the Russia-Ukraine war as the Pentagon prepares for potential future conflicts, including with&nbsp, China.

One of the larger, more expensive drones that are NOT considered’ attritible’: Soldiers from the Ukrainian drone unit Yasni Ochi set up a Ukrainian Vampire bomber drone, which drops anti-tank mines, for bombing operations. Photo: David Kirichenko.

For the first time in December 2024, Ukrainian forces successfully attacked Russian positions using only ground and first-person view drones, further developing how Ukraine is utilizing unmanned technology on the battlefield.

According to Sergeant&nbsp, Volodymyr Dehtiarov&nbsp, of the Khartiia Brigade, which was involved in this attack, dozens of robotic and unmanned systems, including machine-gun-equipped ground drones and kamikaze first-person view aerial drones, were deployed near Lyptsi, north of Kharkiv.

Although these were remote-controlled systems that still needed a significant human to operate them, Ukraine is now making progress by gradually putting more combat robots into use and eventually releasing more autonomous systems to the battlefield.

In September of this year, Ukraine also attacked a Russian trench with ground robots in Kursk Oblast, with numerous other instances of these systems being quickly developed and deployed for combat.

Ukraine has no choice but to maximize its use of technology, as the&nbsp, manpower disparity&nbsp, between Ukraine and Russia is still significant along the eight-hundred-mile front line of the war.

While technological developments have proceeded at a very rapid pace in this war, it also became clear that systematizing the combined research, development, testing, evaluation, and use of different systems by different units across the entire force was crucial.

Therefore, in February 2024, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a&nbsp, decree&nbsp, to establish the national Unmanned Systems Forces, with Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi&nbsp, appointed&nbsp, as commander in June 2024.

The Russian military announced in December 2024 that it would establish an unmanned systems branch to better integrate its forces ‘ use of autonomous and robotic technologies and ensure that different military branches can take and codify lessons learned from combat in Ukraine.

Both nations assert that their respective militaries have used numerous AI developments in drones and other tactical and battlefield systems.

Ukraine has been a leader in the development and use of various unmanned systems and AI technologies across domains and mission types, three years into its conflict with Russian aggression. In 2025, Ukraine is&nbsp, expected&nbsp, to field AI-enabled drone swarms and massive numbers of ground vehicles to counter Russian forces. As&nbsp, one Ukrainian official put it:” We count people, and we want our people to be as far from the front line as we can”.

Ukraine’s private sector has stepped up to accelerate the development of autonomous and robotic technologies for enhanced targeting capabilities, with companies like&nbsp, TAF Drones&nbsp, leading the way, aided by the&nbsp, Brave1&nbsp, organization, a coordination platform established by Ukraine’s government playing an important role in helping the private sector.

Brave1 uncrewed ground vehicle with machine gun. Photo: Iryna Supruniuk

Ukraine’s plan is to ensure&nbsp, AI-powered&nbsp, combat drones can ensure the nation’s advantage over the Russian force on the battlefield.

The Russian military&nbsp, claims&nbsp, the same for its military AI research and application in this war. For example, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov&nbsp, stated&nbsp, in October 2024 that AI-powered drones are playing a pivotal role on the battlefield in Ukraine, though he did not elaborate.

The Russian Ministry of Defense launched the Rubicon Center in August 2024 to help systematize lessons from Ukraine, including the development and application of AI, to better understand how different kinds of robotic and autonomous systems are used in Ukrainian combat. Russia’s planned unmanned systems branch is likely to be at the epicenter of this initiative. Russian president Vladimir Putin also announced that Russia is&nbsp, increasing&nbsp, military drone production to approximately 1.4 million in 2024, aiming to stay abreast of Ukraine’s own&nbsp, rapid&nbsp, and large-scale drone manufacturing.

Both Ukrainian and Russian forces&nbsp, prioritize&nbsp, minimizing drone operator involvement to protect trained assets in a complex combat environment. Concerning the use of drones capable of killing targets, Ukraine frequently prioritizes the need to survive and defend itself.

Meanwhile, despite recent&nbsp, announcements&nbsp, of AI-enabled combat drones already used against Ukraine, Russia’s military AI likely mainly supports data analysis and rapid decision-making. For example, In November 2024, the Russia-allied Donetsk People’s Republic claimed that its” Donbass Dome” airspace defense and electronic warfare system&nbsp, evaluates&nbsp, different types of information from multitudes of sources to evaluate incoming threats. This is said to be accomplished with the aid of artificial intelligence algorithms. The evaluated data is&nbsp, transmitted&nbsp, to the military and law enforcement for follow-on actions.

Given that the Russian military is attempting to understand the Ukrainian battlefield, such data analysis efforts are likely occurring across a variety of systems, even though public information on their overall effectiveness is comparatively sparse. Similar initiatives are being made in the Russian defense sector, with a subsidiary of the Russian military industry Rostec claiming in 2024 that a neural network for optical drone detectors allegedly increases their detection range by 40 %.

On the other side of the war, Ukrainian officials are &nbsp, on record&nbsp, noting the need for tens of thousands of uncrewed robotic ground vehicles in 2025 for combat and logistics missions. These officials also noted that Ukrainian forces have been using numerous domestically developed AI-augmented systems to allow aerial drones to attack targets on the battlefield without being piloted while remaining effective in areas protected by extensive jamming. At this point in the war, there are &nbsp, around &nbsp, ten Ukrainian companies competing in state procurements to offer AI products.

Ukrainian officials have stated that in 2025, more autonomous drones with AI targeting&nbsp, will arrive&nbsp, on the battlefield, potentially making way for “real drone swarm uses”. Ukraine’s efforts to use AI on the battlefield are aided by willing partners, such as the Germany-based Helsing AI firm. In December 2024, Helsing&nbsp, announced&nbsp, that the first few hundred of almost four thousand of its AI-equipped HX-2 Karma unmanned aerial vehicles earmarked for Ukraine were set to be delivered to the Ukrainian front.

Apparently, HX-2 is&nbsp, immune&nbsp, to electronic warfare countermeasures via its ability to search for, reidentify and engage targets without a signal or a continuous data connection, while allowing a human operator to stay in or on the loop for critical decisions.

Russian technical experts &nbsp, acknowledge&nbsp, that “autonomous flying robots”, drones with artificial intelligence that determine their own targets, are used in combat and apparently kill people – already hitting and eliminating&nbsp, targets although the Russians usually don’t provide technical specifications for such claims.

Such developments, such as the terminal guidance and image recognition technologies that allow drones to fly autonomously to designated targets once the human operator has approved strikes on those targets, are likely to indicate a more limited AI role in aerial drones.

While on the receiving end of Ukraine’s increasing AI and autonomy use, many Russian experts express&nbsp, concerns&nbsp, that the pace of AI-enabled military developments could get out of control, thus requiring global regulation “in the interests of all humanity”. They also note how difficult it is to forbid the development of AI for military purposes when national interests are in jeopardy and the outcome of wars are in dispute.

Still, Russian military experts, including those writing in key military publications such as&nbsp, Arsenal Otechestva, believe in AI’s potential in military applications. These experts highlight its ability to increase system autonomy, improve tactical decision-making, enable real-time operational support in combat zones, reduce crew risks, and reduce uncertainty due to the rapid processing of large amounts of unstructured data.

The technological arms race in this war continues to grow as Russia is determined to fight until Ukraine is conquered and Ukraine is resolute in defending its freedom. Each month in this protracted war brings new technological advancements and successes, with the innovation cycle being continuously pushed forward by new technologies that the adversary either copy or counter, causing a new round of innovation to bring about the newest discovery.

The development and deployment of these technologies in battle is closely monitored by Ukraine’s Western supporters. Mark Milley, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and retired Army general, predicted that up to one-third of the US military would be made up of robotic systems within the next ten to fifteen years, an assessment that was likely based on observations of technologies used in the Ukraine war.

To be sure, certain systems in use by both Ukrainian and Russian forces can function more effectively than others on a battlefield teeming with countermeasures, but the sum total of different autonomous, robotic, and unmanned technologies used in the past three years demonstrates the potential for rapid, large-scale fielding.

Both Ukraine and Russia are working toward a faster pace with the development of various battlefield drone and robotic systems as a result of their desire for precision, mass employment, overwhelming the adversary, resilience against countermeasures, and reducing risks to human lives. These advancements are having an impact on the battlefield at both the tactical and operational levels and are shaping how the battle will be conducted in the future.

Samuel Bendett is a Technology and National Security Program adjunct senior fellow with the Center for a New American Security. David Kirichenko is a Henry Jackson Society associate research fellow. He can be found on X @DVKirichenko.

This article, originally published by the Modern War Institute, is republished by Asia Times with permission. The authors ‘ opinions are those of themselves, and they do not represent the official positions of the United States Military Academy, Department of the Army, or Department of Defense.

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Tariffs targeting China and Mexico can’t solve US fentanyl crisis – Asia Times

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About 6 % of the US population regularly uses illegal medications, compared to more than anyone else in the world.

One of these drugs, fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, is the main cause of the rise in US overdose incidents in recent years. Although recent fentanyl overdose deaths have decreased a little, they are also significantly higher than they were only five years ago.

Ending the fentanyl problems won’t be easy. The U.S. has a decades-long addiction problem, which predates the development of fentanyl, and many attempts to regulate, constitutional, and confine people to drug use have had little impact. Americans are only a victim of the narcotic crisis, which costs them tens of billions of dollars annually.

President Donald Trump appears to be considering a new tool to combat America’s substance problem, trade policy, after previous policies that failed to stop fentanyl deaths.

Trump pledged to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico if they don’t stop the flow of drugs across American territories during his plan. Trump also promised to implement a fresh tariff regime on China if it doesn’t act more to implement more restrictions on the production of the fentanyl-making substances. He reiterated his plan on his first day back in office, saying to reporters,” We’re thinking in terms of 25 % on Mexico and Canada because they’re allowing … fentanyl to come in”.

As a teacher who studies interpersonal plan, I believe that both the proposed transfer taxes and fentanyl pose significant risks to the US. The real issue is whether tariffs did work, or increase what is already a crisis, despite the unquestionable people toll of morphine.

Fentanyl: The’ second greatest problem ‘

More than 107, 000 Americans died from overdoses in 2021, making it the most of any overdose to date, and almost seven out of those incidents involved methadone or other chemical drugs. In 2022, methadone was killing an average of 200 folks each day. And despite a slight decline in fentanyl deaths in 2023, almost 75, 000 Americans still perished from synthetic opioids that time. The then-secretary of homeland security declared fentanyl to get” the single greatest challenge we face as a land” in March of that year, the most recent for which full-year data on overdose deaths is available.

However, record demonstrates that government efforts to stop drug use frequently fail miserably.

These plans have generally failed to reduce the supply and use of drugs, and they have also been known to seriously hurt people and communities of colour. For example, between 1980 and 1997, the number of detainment for nonviolent drug acts went from 50, 000 to 400, 000. But these guidelines barely put a dent in use. The share of high school seniors using drugs dipped only slightly over the same period, from 65 % in 1980 to 58 % in 1997.

In short, previous US efforts to reduce improper substance use haven’t been particularly successful. The US appears to be moving toward using taxes right now, but research suggests that those measures won’t produce better outcomes and may actually lead to significant damage.

Why taxes didn’t job

The Tax Act of 1789, which was passed in the United States, dates back to the beginning of its experimentation with levies. This much history has shown that protectionist policies, commercial subsidies, and tariffs can also cause global economic instability by raising prices for consumers. Additionally, story demonstrates that tariffs are ineffective as negotiating tools and fail to cause major policy changes in goal nations. The benefits of taxes are usually weighed against the costs, according to economists.

The average effective tariff rate on Chinese imports increased from 3 % to 11 % during Trump’s first term. However, while China’s imports decreased significantly, the total trade relationship didn’t significantly change: China continues to be the second-largest US supplier of goods.

Vietnam and various local nations with relatively low labor costs were benefitted by the levies. Basically, the tariffs on China caused production to change, with international companies investing billions of dollars in rival countries.

Trump has previously used industry plan to impose fentanyl on China; he did this in his first term. However, despite China‘s plan adjustments, such as adding fentanyl to its list of prohibited substances in 2019, morphine deaths in the US continued to rise. Already, China also ranks as the No. 1 maker of morphine precursors, or substances used to make illegal fentanyl. And there are others in the business: India, over that exact time, has become a major supplier of fentanyl.

A problem of supply and demand

Drug use has been a common practice throughout US story. And when you look at this story and examine how other countries are handling this issue without making it illegal, you discover that the Swiss and French have approached it as a potential habit issue. They realized that the illegal business is fueled by desire. And as any analyst will tell you, if you don’t restrict the desire, provide will find a way. That’s why care functions and bans don’t.

The US government’s ability to regulate these medicines ‘ production is at best limited. The issue is that fresh chemical products will continue to be developed. Basically, failure to restrict demand simply places dressings on hemorrhaging wounds. What the United States needs is a more comprehensive method of dealing with the requirement that is causing the medication crisis.

At Miami University, Rodney Coates is a professor of critical culture and cultural reports.

The Conversation has republished this essay under a Creative Commons license. Read the original content.

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Aviation industry tipped to recover

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PUBLISHED: 29 Jan 2025 at 04: 45

Tourists at the Suvarnabhumi airport passenger terminal during last year’s Songkran festival. Varuth Hirunyatheb
Tourists arriving at the Suvarnabhumi aircraft passenger switch during the Songkran event last year. Varuth Hirunyatheb

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand ( CAAT ), the country’s aviation industry is projected to experience significant growth and resumption this year.

Thailand is expected to experience a rise of at least 25 million customers this year, according to CAAT producer Suttipong Kongpool, who predicted that the country would return to the pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

First, the aerospace industry expected a full restoration by 2024, but it fell short of expectations due to the slow transfer of Chinese customers, he said, adding this was due to a number of factors, including financial problems in China.

Based on the CAAT images, in 2019, Thailand saw a complete of 165 million people for both inbound and outbound planes of both domestic and international roads, while in 2024, the business recorded 140 million people. This marked a healing rate of 85.14 % of the pre-pandemic levels.

According to Mr. Suttipong, the growth has also been impacted by plane scarcity, and airlines have chosen to lease aircraft to help the situation.

The Transport Ministry has relaxed the rules for six months, during which time carriers are permitted to rent aircraft with staff, he noted, to ease the situation.

The International Air Transport Association ( IATA ) predicts the Thai aviation sector will grow and reach the 9th position by 2033, so the CAAT director advised concerned parties to accelerate their efforts to meet the growing air travel demand.

Now, Thai aviation ranks the 19th largest in the world.

IATA’s forecast shows a promising view for the state as an aircraft gateway, and the work needed include enhancing services, maintaining security standards, and completing facilities projects, he said. Mr Suttipong likewise provided an update on the CAAT’s activities.

In 2024, the CAAT issued operation certificates for four public airports, granted Air Operating Licences ( AOLs ) to three companies, renewed AOLs for five companies, and issued Air Operator Certificates ( AOC ) to four companies.

The company also addressed the issue of higher airfares by adding over 70, 000 seats through specific planes during the New Year’s Day, which resulted in lower airfares than the same time last year.

After Thailand was downgraded to Category 2 ( CAT 2 ) in December 2015, according to Mr. Suttipong, preparations have been made to regain the Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA ) Category 1 ( CAT 1 ) certification.

The FAA re-assessed the downgrade after it discovered that the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization ( ICAO ) were not upheld.

He claimed that the new status had let Thai airlines to fly directly to the US and improve their frequency of flights to places like South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong, which use FAA evaluations.

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DeepSeek: How China’s ‘AI heroes’ overcame US curbs to stun Silicon Valley

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12 hours ago
Fan Wang and João de Silva

BBC News

Reporting fromSingapore
Getty Images A Chinese woman checks her phone, with a sign in the background reads "I heart Beijing"Getty Images

When ChatGpt stormed the world of artificial intelligence ( AI), an obvious problem followed: did it spell trouble for China, America’s biggest tech enemy?

Two decades on, a fresh AI type from China has flipped that question: does the US quit Chinese development?

For a while, Beijing seemed to struggle with its response to ChatGPT, which is not attainable in China.

Customers who were unresponsive made fun of Baidu’s search engine giant Ernie the robot. Therefore, there were versions from tech companies Tencent and ByteDance, both of which were criticized as being less than good.

Washington wanted to keep things that way and was convinced in its position. So the Biden administration imposed more limits on the trade of cutting-edge technology and products to China.

That’s why DeepSeek’s establish has astonished Silicon Valley and the universe. The business claims that its innovative design is much less expensive than the US$ billion spent on AI.

How did a little-known business, whose leader is being hailed as an” AI hero” on Chinese social media, pull this off?

The problem

It was undoubtedly a blow when the US prohibited the country’s top chip manufacturers from selling cutting-edge technology to China.

These cards are necessary for creating potent AI models capable of performing a variety of individual tasks, from simple queries to complex math problems.

DeepSeek’s leader Liang Wenfeng described the device ban as their “main problem” in conversations with native media.

Much before the restrictions, DeepSeek acquired a” large stock” of Nvidia A100 cards- estimates range from 10, 000 to 50, 000- according to the MIT Technology Review.

Leading AI types in the West employ an approximated 16, 000 professional cards. But DeepSeek says it trained its Artificial type using 2, 000 like cards, and hundreds of lower-grade chips- which is what makes its goods cheaper.

Elon Musk, a US tech tycoon, and other figures have disputed this assertion, claiming that the company never show how many advanced chips it actually used given the limitations.

But authorities say Washington’s restrictions brought both challenges and opportunities to the Chinese AI market.

According to Marina Zhang, an associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney, it has “forced Taiwanese firms like DeepSeek to develop” so they can do more with less.

CCTV A photo showing Liang Wenfung attending a meeting chaired by Chinese Premier Li Qiang on 20 January.CCTV

” While these limitations pose problems, they have also spurred creativity and endurance, coordinating with China’s broader plan goals of achieving technical independence”.

From the batteries that power electric cars and solar panels to AI, the second-largest economy in the world has invested a lot in great technology.

Turning China into a technical power has long been President Xi Jinping’s passion, so Washington’s regulations were also a problem that Beijing took on.

The transfer of DeepSeek’s new design on 20 January, when Donald Trump was sworn in as US senator, was intentional, according to Gregory C Allen, an AI specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

According to Mr. Allen, former chairman of approach and plan at the US Department of Defense Joint Artificial Intelligence Center,” the timing and the way it’s being messaged is precisely what the Taiwanese government wants everybody to believe,” he said.” The timing and the way it’s being messaged is precisely what the Chinese government wants everyone to believe.

In recent years, the Chinese government has encouraged collaboration between universities and industry by providing scholarships and research grants.

According to Ms. Zhang, the National Engineering Laboratory for Deep Learning and other state-backed initiatives have assisted in the training of thousands of AI specialists.

Additionally, China had plenty of talented engineers to hire.

The talent

Take DeepSeek’s team for instance- Chinese media says it comprises fewer than 140 people, most of whom are what the internet has proudly declared as “home-grown talent” from elite Chinese universities.

Western observers disregarded the “new generation of entrepreneurs who prioritize foundational research and long-term technological advancement over quick profits,” according to Ms Zhang.

Even the youngest managers are frequently under the age of 35, thanks to China’s top universities’ rapidly expanding AI talent pool.

” Having grown up during China’s rapid technological ascent, they are deeply motivated by a drive for self-reliance in innovation”, she adds.

Getty Images An aerial view shows the Alibaba Digital Eco-Innovation Park in Hangzhou, ChinaGetty Images

Deepseek’s founder Liang Wenfeng is an example of this- the 40-year-old studied AI at the prestigious Zhejiang University. People with whom he is known claim in an article on the tech outlet 36Kr that he is “more like a geek than a boss.”

And Chinese media describe him as a “technical idealist”- he insists on keeping DeepSeek as an open-source platform. In fact, experts also think that young start-ups have gained more from a thriving open-source culture and faster growth as a result.

Unlike bigger Chinese tech firms, DeepSeek prioritised research, which has allowed for more experimenting, according to experts and people who worked at the company.

In an interview with 36Kr, Mr. Liang said,” The Top 50 talents in this field might not be in China, but we can build people like that here.”

However, experts are unsure of how far DeepSeek can advance. According to Ms. Zhang, “new US restrictions may limit access to American user data, potentially affecting how Chinese models like DeepSeek can expand internationally.”

And others say the US still has a huge advantage, such as, in Mr Allen’s words,” their enormous quantity of computing resources”- and it’s also unclear how DeepSeek will continue using advanced chips to keep improving the model.

Given that the majority of Chinese people had never heard of it up until this weekend, DeepSeek is enjoying its moment in the sun for the time being.

The new AI heroes

Mr. Liang’s sudden fame has caused him to gain notoriety on China’s social media platforms, where he is being hailed as one of the” three AI heroes” from the southern Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong.

The other two are Zhilin Yang, a leading expert at Tsinghua University, and Kaiming He, who teaches at MIT in the US.

DeepSeek has delighted the Chinese internet ahead of Lunar New Year, the country’s biggest holiday. Good news for a struggling economy and a tech sector that is anticipating additional tariffs and the potential sale of TikTok’s US business.

A popular Weibo comment reads,” DeepSeek shows us that only the real deal will stand the test of time.”

” This is the best new year gift. Wish our motherland prosperous and strong”, another reads.

A “blend of shock and excitement, particularly within the open-source community”, is how Wei Sun, principal AI analyst at Counterpoint Research, described the reaction in China.

Getty Images Visitors enjoy illuminated red lanterns to celebrate the Spring Festival in ChinaGetty Images

Fiona Zhou, a tech worker in the southern city of Shenzhen, says her social media feed “was suddenly flooded with DeepSeek-related posts yesterday”.

” People call it’ the glory of made-in-China’, and say it shocked Silicon Valley, so I downloaded it to see how good it is”.

She asked it for “four pillars of]her ] destiny”, or ba-zi- like a personalised horoscope that is based on the date and time of birth.

But to her disappointment, Deepseek was wrong. While she was given a thorough explanation about its” thinking process”, it was not the “four pillars” from her real ba-zi.

She claims she will continue to try it because it will likely be more useful for such tasks.

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How DeepSeek did it – Asia Times

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With the release of highly effective AI models that can compete with cutting-edge products from US companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, Chinese artificial intelligence ( AI ) company DeepSeek has shocked the tech industry.

With a fraction of the money and computing power of its competitors, DeepSeek, which was founded in 2023, has been able to achieve its goals.

DeepSeek’s “reasoning” R1 unit, released last week, provoked enthusiasm among academics, shock among shareholders, and reactions from AI heavyweights. A model that you work with both images and text was released on January 28th.

But what has DeepSeek done, and how did it do it?

In December, DeepSeek released its V3 type. This is a very effective” normal” large language model that works at a similar amount to OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Anthropic’s Claude 3.5.

These types can perform tasks like writing essays, writing system script, and correcting errors when they are prone to make up their own facts. On some testing of problem-solving and scientific argument, they score better than the average man.

V3 was trained at a noted value of about US$ 5.58 million. This is dramatically cheaper than GPT-4, for example, which cost more than$ 100 million to develop.

DeepSeek even claims to have trained V3 using around 2, 000 professional computer chips, especially H800 GPUs made by Nvidia. This is again little fewer than other businesses, which may have used up to 16, 000 of the more prominent H100 cards.

On January 20, DeepSeek released another unit, called R1. This is a so-called “reasoning” unit, which tries to work through difficult problems step by step. These models appear to be better at a number of tasks that call for context and have numerous linked components, including reading comprehension and strategic planning.

The R1 concept was modified to make room for V3 using a method known as reinforcement learning. R1 appears to work at a similar amount to OpenAI’s o1, released next year.

DeepSeek also used the same technique to make “reasoning” types of little open-source designs that can work on household servers.

This announcement has caused a significant increase in interest in DeepSeek, increasing the popularity of its V3-powered robot app, and causing a significant price drop in tech stocks as investors reevaluate the Artificial industry. At the time of writing, chipmaker Nvidia has lost around$ 600 billion in value.

DeepSeek’s advances have been in achieving greater performance: getting good results with fewer tools. In specific, DeepSeek’s engineers have pioneered two methods that may be adopted by AI researchers more widely.

The first involves a scientific concept known as” sparsity.” Although V3 has around 671 billion guidelines, only a small portion of these variables is used for any given type, AI models have a lot of them.

But, identifying which criteria will be needed isn’t simple. DeepSeek used a new approach to do this, and subsequently trained solely those guidelines. As a result, its types needed much less education than a standard method.

The other flaw is related to how V3 shops data in memory. DeepSeek has discovered a smart way to condense the relevant data to make it easier to store and get immediately.

People can download and change the concepts and methods used by DeepSeek under the complimentary MIT License.

Although this may be bad for some Artificial companies– whose profits may be hampered by the availability of readily available, effective models – it is also good for the broader Iot research community.

At present, a lot of AI exploration requires access to huge amounts of technology solutions. Scientists like myself who are based at universities ( or anywhere else besides big tech firms ) have had limited access to conducting tests and tests.

The condition can be changed by more effective designs and methods. For us, research and growth may now be much simpler.

For consumers, exposure to AI may also become cheaper. More AI designs may be run on people ‘ personal tools, such as devices or apps, rather than running “in the sky” for a membership fee.

More productivity may have a smaller impact for scientists who already have a lot of sources. Whether DeepSeek’s strategy will help to create models with better overall performance or just more effective designs remains to be seen.

Tongliang Liu is the chairman of the University of Sydney’s Sydney AI Centre and associate professor of machine learning.

This content was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original post.

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‘Made in China’: Pride, pleasant surprise from Chinese netizens as DeepSeek jolts global AI scene

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SEEKING DEEPER USES FOR DEEPSEEK

Foreign citizens are using DeepSeek to share their experiences on social media.

One person on Xiaohongshu described it as seeming people and no “machine-like”.

When she used DeepSeek to come up with a story, another user described how psychological she felt.

In a post that garnered 19, 000 wants, the person, Cat and Mouse, shared how she had come up with a story based on her mother, but struggled to brush it down according to her limited reading abilities. She then instructed DeepSeek to provide the information by feeding it with it.

” I was blown away by the story it wrote, not so much by how well it was written, but by the fact that even a story like that would have taken me a long, long time to write ( and not nearly as well as it did ), and it only took ( DeepSeek ) 5 seconds”, the user wrote.

Another person, Bella Ren, described being “extremely amazed” by the quality of the backup provided by DeepSeek, contrasting it with her past attempts using ChatGPT.

She noted that while the first offered “precise correctness” in handling innovative insight, its production usually had a “distinctly human-machine flavour”.

” I can’t help but admire DeepSeek’s skills in writing copy”, said Bella Ren, adding that she intends to turn to DeepSeek as her go-to AI device.

Some customer feedback has been more balanced.

A Weibo user underscored DeepSeek’s restrictions in handling complicated artistic tasks that require an understanding of perspective, complexity, and human feelings. This is a problem that different AI models also face.

” Using DeepSeek to read books presents significant challenges. It still struggles to picture people behaviour patterns, resulting in clichéd describes”, the person wrote.

Even so, observers note that DeepSeek’s aggressive edge isn’t borne out of such functions as writing books.

” It’s the designers who are using the underlying technology to produce different applications based on this design- from education, business, everything you can develop”, said Chen, the Beijing-based independent expert.

The most important advantage that DeepSeek has over other AI websites is that it is relatively less expensive to use, in my opinion. It produces its design using fewer chips than other large corporations.

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What is DeepSeek – and why is everyone talking about it?

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14 days before
Kelly Ng

BBC News

Reporting fromSingapore
Brandon Drenon

BBC News

Reporting fromNew York
Getty Images A photo of the DeepSeek app, with the Chinese flag in the backgroundGetty Images

A Chinese-made artificial intelligence ( AI ) model called DeepSeek has shot to the top of Apple Store’s downloads, stunning investors and sinking some tech stocks.

It was made available on January 20 and immediately caught the attention of the entire software sector, as well as the rest of the world.

Donald Trump, the president of the US, referred to it as a “wake-up phone” for US businesses who may concentrate on” competing to win.”

Due to the company’s claim that it was produced for less money than market-leading types like OpenAI, which is what makes DeepSeek so unique.

That possibility caused chip-making giant Nvidia to shed almost$ 600bn ( £482bn ) of its market value on Monday- the biggest one-day loss in US history.

DeepSeek also raises concerns about Washington’s efforts to stop Beijing’s push for technological dominance. One of the major restraints has been a moratorium on China’s export of superior cards.

Beijing, nevertheless, has doubled down, with President Xi Jinping declaring AI a major concern. And as China transitions from conventional manufacturing to advanced technology chips, electric vehicles, and AI, start-ups like DeepSeek are important.

So what do we hear about DeepSeek?

What is DeepSeek?

At its simplest, DeepSeek is an AI-powered bot, like ChatGPT.

According to DeepSeek, this completely app is available for download on the Apple App Store because it “aims to answer your questions and improve your life effectively.”

But the Artificial type that powers it- called R1- has some 670 billion parameters, making it the largest open-source big language model but, according to Anil Ananthaswamy, author of Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern

Its officially as effective as OpenAI’s O1 design- which powers ChatGPT- in mathematics, programming and logic.

Like Baidu’s Ernie or Doubao by ByteDance, DeepSeek is trained to avoid socially delicate inquiries.

DeepSeek, a forbidden theme in China, did not provide any details about the murder at Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, when the BBC asked the game for information.

It replied:” I am sorry, I cannot answer that question. I’m an AI associate who can respond in a safe, helpful way.

China’s support of the government was perceived as a significant obstacle to the development of AI. But DeepSeek appears to have been trained on an open-source design, which enables it to perform complex duties, while also withholding specific information.

And it claims to be able to do this affordably- researchers who are in charge claim that the project cost$ 6 million ( £4.8 million ) to build, a shoestring budget in comparison to the billions spent by AI companies in the US.

How specifically they did this is still questionable. According to the leader of DeepSeek, the company owned a shop filled with Nvidia A100 cards, which have been prohibited from exporting to China since September 2022.

Experts believe that by combining these chips with less expensive, less powerful ones, he created such a powerful AI model. Some estimates place this number at$ 50,000.

Who is behind DeepSeek?

Liang Wenfeng founded DeepSeek in December 2023, and the company released its first large-language AI AI design the next season.

Liang graduated from Zhejiang University with degrees in computer science and digital data engineering, but little is known about him. But he is now in the limelight abroad.

He was just seen at a conference hosted by China’s top Li Qiang, reflecting DeepSeek’s growing fame in the AI business.

Mr. Liang has a background in finance, in contrast to some Silicon Valley-based AI businesses in America.

He is the CEO of a wall bank called High-Flyer, which uses AI to analyze economic data to make purchase decisions- what is known as quantitative trading. In 2019 High-Flyer became the first quant hedge fund in China to raise over 100 billion yuan ($ 13m ).

In a speech he gave that month, Liang said,” If the US may produce its numerical trading business, why not China”?

In a unique interview next year, he said China’s AI sector” may keep a follower permanently”.

He went on:” Frequently, we say there’s a one or two-year difference between Chinese and American AI, but the actual difference is between originality and copy. If this doesn’t shift, China will always be a disciple”.

When asked why DeepSeek’s business model surprised therefore many Silicon Valley residents, he responded,” Their wonder comes from seeing a Chinese company join their sport as an entrepreneur rather than just a believer, which is what most Chinese companies are used to doing.”

How are American businesses affected?

The success of DeepSeek undermines the idea that only higher-end chips and bigger budgets can advance AI, which has sparked doubt about the development of high-performance cards.

” DeepSeek has proven that cutting-edge Artificial designs can be developed with minimal determine assets”, says Wei Sun, main AI researcher at Counterpoint Research.

” In distinction, OpenAI, valued at$ 157 billion, faces scrutiny over its ability to maintain a powerful edge in advancement or defend its massive valuation and expenditures without delivering important returns”.

Financial markets were wracking with the company’s potential lower costs on January 27 as a result of a broad sell-off that included chip manufacturers and data centers all over the world, which saw the tech-heavy Nasdaq fall more than 3 %.

Nvidia’s stock price dropped 17 % over the course of the day, making it seem as though it was hit badly.

The chip maker had been the most valuable company in the world, when measured by market capitalisation, but fell to third place after Apple and Microsoft on Monday, when its market value shrank to$ 2.9tn from$ 3.5tn, Forbes reported.

How is China reacting?

DeepSeek’s rise is a huge boost for the Chinese government, which has been seeking to build tech independent of the West.

While the Communistyt Party is yet to comment, Chinese state media was eager to note that Silicon Valley and Wall Sreet giants were “losing sleep” over DeepSeek, which was “overturning” the US stock market.

” In China, DeepSeek’s advances are being celebrated as a testament to the country’s growing technological prowess and self-reliance”, says Marina Zhang, an associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney.

” The company’s success is seen as a validation of China’s Innovation 2.0, a new era of homegrown technological leadership driven by a younger generation of entrepreneurs”.

But she also warned that this sentiment may also lead to “tech isolationism”.

Additional reporting by João da Silva

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Trump’s Ukraine peace plan looking like a non-starter – Asia Times

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Donald Trump had promised to put an end to the Soviet aggression against Ukraine in the 24 days that he had promised. But Trump’s second month since his inauguration on January 20, 2025, has yet been a busy one regarding Ukraine.

Trump criticized his father Joe Biden of running a “government that has given unrestricted cash to the defense of international borders but refuses to support American borders” in his inauguration address, making just a passing and direct reference to Ukraine.

Trump threatened Russia with fees, taxes, and restrictions if his Russian counterpart doesn’t agree to a deal soon in a blog on his TruthSocial community. He reiterated this on January 23 in remarks made at the World Economic Forum in Davos, adding that he “really would like to be able to meet with President Putin.”

Cut out of Donald trump truth social post about Russia and Ukraine
Donald Trump/Truth Social

Trump’s candidate for government secretary, Scott Bessent, had previously backed Trump’s view during his Senate confirmation hearing on January 16. Bessent especially emphasized increasing sanctions against Russian crude companies” to levels that would take the Russian Federation to the table” in the same way as Trump.

Putin responded the following day, saying that Trump and he should actually talk about Ukraine and fuel prices. But this was much from a strong commitment to provide into discussions, and especially not with Ukraine.

Putin alluded to an October 2022 order by Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, banning any agreements with the Kremlin after Russia fully annexed four parts of Ukraine. Since then, Zellensky has stated that all except him is covered by the decree, indicating that he won’t interfere with any direct conversations with Russia.

However, Putin is likely to remain playing for time. A ceasefire that stops the line of communication at the time of agreement will be the most good first step in a Trump-brokered package. Every day of fighting gives Putin more territorial gains because his forces are also advanceing on the ground in Ukraine.

Russian friends ‘ aid is showing no signs of waning, either. Few and far between as they may remain, China, Iran and North Korea have been important in sustaining the Kremlin’s war effort. Moscow has then ratified a comprehensive strategic agreement with Iran in addition to the one it signed with North Korea in June 2024.

However, the Russia-China no-limits association of 2022, more deepened in 2023, shows no signs of strengthening. Additionally, it’s unlikely that Putin is all too concerned about extra US sanctions given that Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko won a sixth consecutive term on January 26.

Zelensky, like Putin, may sing for day. Trump’s hazard of sanctions against Russia good indicates a US president’s feeling of frustration that Putin doesn’t seem to be willing to compromise. Russia may continue to expand its regional ties to eastern Ukraine, but it hasn’t made any proper strides.

War of attrition

Since September 2024, the US military has probably increased significantly, and Kyiv has likely been able to maintain its current protective efforts through 2025 as a result of commitments from European allies, including the UK.

Ukraine might not be able to build a major offensive, but it may still be able to keep Russia’s costs higher. On the field, these fees are estimated at 102 fatalities per square mile of Ukrainian place captured. Beyond the frontlines, Ukraine has likewise continued its aircraft battle against targets inside Russia, particularly the government’s oil facilities.

Trump won’t succeed in putting an end to the fighting in Ukraine, that is for sure. However, a significant distinction can be made between a peace and a lasting peace deal. And while a peace, at some point, may be in both Russia’s and Ukraine’s attention, green harmony is much more difficult to achieve.

Putin’s goal of a complete success poses the same challenges as Western reluctance to offer Ukraine reliable security guarantees.

At this point, it seems unlikely to be possible to join the NATO or join a western-led security power that may serve as a credible deterrent.

Without a doubt, it would be impossible for Europe to carry the 200 000 soldiers Zelensky had in mind for a implementation to Ukraine to ensure any offer with Putin. But a smaller power, led by the UK and France, may be achievable.

No one has blinked in Kyiv or Zelensky’s ongoing retention conflict, which continues to be waged by them in Kiev and Moscow. It is not clear but whether, and in which manner, Trump did bend the stability and how this may affect either side’s commitment to submit to his deal-making work.

Thus far, Trump’s moves are certainly a game-changer. This is the first major attempt to put an end to the battle in nearly three years of conflict, though. Whether Trump, and everyone else, have the mind and may persevere to ensure that this course will inevitably lead to a just and stable peace for Ukraine remains to be seen.

Stefan Wolff is professor of global surveillance, University of Birmingham

This content was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original content.

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