Each morning, News Items brings me the world in a bottle. — Philip K. Howard.
1. People ask us what we read when we read about AI. There are scores of good sources, most of which are well over our heads. At ground level, here are six we think are useful: (1) Big picture: Casey Newton. (2) Beat Reporting: Cade Metz, The New York Times. (3) Informed Commentary: Parmy Olson, Bloomberg. (4) Tech Industry Coverage: The Information. (5) Industry Insider: Jack Clark, Import AI. Academic Insight: Ethan Mollick, Wharton School of Business. (Sources: platformer.news, nytimes.com, bloomberg.com, theinformation.com, importai.substack.com, mgmt.wharton.upenn.edu)
2. If you’re looking for a “big picture” overview of where things stand in the “macro” AI world, two stand out. One is the “2024 AI Index Report” from Stanford University. The other is a lengthy essay entitled “Situational Awareness”, which was posted last June and “went viral” shortly thereafter. “Situational Awareness” generated a storm of criticism and derision, none of which was especially persuasive. (Sources: aiindex.stanford.edu, situational-awareness.ai)
3. Bloomberg:
Almost overnight, DeepSeek has upended many of the assumptions inside Silicon Valley about the economics of building AI, as well as the best technical methods for developing the technology and the extent of the US lead over competitors in China. For much of the past two-plus years since ChatGPT kicked off the global AI frenzy, the industry has bet that the path to better AI depends largely on spending heavily on more advanced chips from companies like Nvidia Corp. and increasingly massive data centers to house them.
US President Donald Trump welcomed the development as “good, because you don’t have to spend as much money.” Industry leader Nvidia, whose shares took a huge hit from DeepSeek’s debut, also lauded it as an “excellent AI advancement” in a statement on Monday.
The market fallout was staggering. Hype over DeepSeek's feat drove a nearly $1 trillion rout in US and European technology stocks on Monday as investors questioned the spending plans of some of America’s biggest companies. The share plunge in AI chipmaker Nvidia alone erased roughly $589 billion in market value, the biggest wipeout in US stock-market history.
Meanwhile, in DC, lawmakers are left to figure out the best route to beat back China’s progress on a technology some see as crucial to its military and economy, given the Biden administration’s chip export curbs were not enough. David Sacks, President Donald Trump’s crypto and AI czar, said DeepSeek shows the global AI race will be very competitive — while blaming the Biden administration for regulation that “hamstrung” AI development.
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