Understanding DeepSeek's AI Breakthrough: 5 Videos to Get You Up to Speed!

With the seismic impact of DeepSeek on AI, the stock market, and geopolitics, we wanted to follow-up our previous post with a deeper exploration of the topic. In this post, we found 5 videos that will help you get up to speed on the unfolding drama.  

Vid1: CNBC Covers the Ensuing Market Meltdown

CNBC discusses the impact of China's new AI model, DeepSeek, on the global tech industry. DeepSeek's superior efficiency and performance, even surpassing some American models, is causing a major sell-off in AI-related stocks, particularly impacting companies like Nvidia. The video explores concerns about DeepSeek's potential access to advanced technology and the implications for US technological dominance. The discussion also touches upon the shift towards open-source AI models and the uncertainty surrounding future investments in AI development. Finally, the video highlights the rapid advancement of AI technology and its potential societal impact, comparing the situation to the Sputnik moment of the space race.

Vid2: AI Enthusiast, Matt Wolfe, Gives His Take

Matt Wolfe, who closely follows the AI space, discusses DeepSeek R1, a new Chinese open-source AI model that has caused significant market reactions. DeepSeek's impressive performance, achieved with significantly less computing power than comparable models like GPT-4, is attributed to its efficient training methods and innovative design. Controversy surrounds DeepSeek's claims regarding its resource usage, with some suggesting the company downplayed the actual computational resources employed. Despite this, the video argues the model's impact may be positive, possibly lowering the barrier to entry for AI development and increasing overall demand for GPUs. The video also covers DeepSeek's image generation model, Janice Pro 7B, and provides instructions on how to access and utilize DeepSeek.

Vid3: A Geopolitical Perspective on the DeepSeek Saga

Here is Cold Fusion’s take on the DeepSeek story. He discusses the sudden emergence of DeepSeek R1, a free, open-source Chinese AI model that rivals—and in some ways surpasses—leading American AI models. Its unexpectedly low development cost and superior efficiency have sent shockwaves through the US stock market and prompted a reassessment of AI development strategies. Concerns about intellectual property theft are raised, alongside geopolitical implications of this technological advancement. The narrative explores the innovative techniques behind DeepSeek R1's performance and the competitive landscape it has created, highlighting the resulting cost reductions and potential for rapid AI progress globally.

Vid4: If you are using DeepSeek, Your Data is Going to China!

Skill Leap AI discusses serious privacy concerns regarding the DeepSeek website and app, highlighting issues like vague data retention policies, data storage in China raising compliance issues with international laws, lack of transparency in data usage, and insufficient age verification. The creator outlines these issues after reviewing the platform's privacy policy and terms of service using ChatGPT. To mitigate these risks, the video suggests using locally installed versions of DeepSeek R1 or utilizing DeepSeek's integration within the PerplexityAI search engine, a US-based service. Finally, the video promises a future comparison of DeepSeek R1 and ChatGPT's 01 model.

Vid5: A Video Walkthrough of Dario Amodei's take on DeepSeek's Capabilities

In this video, Matt Berman takes a look at Dario Amodei's take on the DeepSeek saga. Amodei, the current CEO of OpenAI’s chief rival Anthropic, wrote an essay discussing the implications of DeepSeek's AI model, R1, particularly concerning its potential data acquisition from OpenAI and the resulting impact on the AI industry and geopolitical landscape. The essay analyzes the three key dynamics of AI development: scaling laws, the shifting curve, and paradigm shifts, emphasizing the escalating costs and exponential advancements in AI capabilities. Concerns about China's access to advanced GPUs and their potential to achieve artificial general intelligence (AGI) are also highlighted, underscoring the importance of export controls. Finally, the essay argues that DeepSeek's cost-effective model, while impressive, does not represent a fundamental shift in AI economics and that the market's overreaction was unwarranted.

Author: Malik Datardina, CPA, CA, CISA. Malik works at Auvenir as a Sr. AI Product Manager who is working to transform the engagement experience for accounting firms and their clients. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent UWCISA, UW, Auvenir (or its affiliates), CPA Canada or anyone else. This post was written with the assistance of an AI language model. The model provided suggestions and completions to help me write, but the final content and opinions are my own.