Mike Whitney – The Unz Review Jan 24, 2025
n a matter of days, the news of China’s AI sensation, DeepSeek R1, has gone from a gentle breeze to a Force 5 hurricane. It’s clear now that no one in Silicon Valley or Washington DC had the slightest idea that their world was about to be turned upside-down by an innovative new product that would shift the geopolitical plates further eastward. But that, in fact, is what has happened. And it’s not simply because DeepSeek’s latest version matches or exceeds the performance of America’s best model, OpenAI; but because it is cheaper, more accessible and more transparent. This is AI for everyone regardless of their station or income. And its sudden emergence from ‘out of the blue’ has cast doubts on the ability of western tech giants to anticipate the capability of their competitors or to lead an industry that is essential for Washington to preserve its ever-loosening grip on global power. Here’s a brief recap from Venture Beat:
….thanks to the release of DeepSeek R1, a new large language model that performs “reasoning” similar to OpenAI’s current best-available model o1 — taking multiple seconds or minutes to answer hard questions and solve complex problems as it reflects on its own analysis in a step-by-step, or “chain of thought” fashion.
Not only that, but DeepSeek R1 scored as high or higher than OpenAI’s o1 on a variety of third-party benchmarks…, and was reportedly trained at a fraction of the cost…, with far fewer graphics processing units (GPU) under a strict embargo imposed by the U.S., OpenAI’s home turf.
But unlike o1, which is available only to paying ChatGPT subscribers of the Plus tier ($20 per month) and more expensive tiers (such as Pro at $200 per month), DeepSeek R1 was released as a fully open source model, which also explains why it has quickly rocketed up the charts of AI code sharing community Hugging Face’s most downloaded and active models. Why everyone in AI is freaking out about DeepSeek, Venture Beat
“Freaking out” is probably the understatement of the century. Silicon Valley is in a full-blown emotional meltdown and the path forward is far from certain. As we will see further along, western tech mandarins are going to have to return to Square 1 and modify their approach to the new reality. In short, the agenda is being set by people with different priorities, values and beliefs who live 10,000 miles away. They do not ascribe to the idea that advances in technology should reinforce police-state surveillance or other repressive forms of social control.(as they do in the West) Their vision of the future is altogether different, but invariably optimistic.
Did you notice that “DeepSeek R1 scored as high or higher than OpenAI’s o1 (while) under a strict embargo imposed by the US”?
In other words, these Chinese whiz-kids created their cutting-edge version with one hand tied behind their back. They shrugged off Washington’s onerous sanctions and beat Uncle Sam at his own game, which is quite an accomplishment. (Forbes: “U.S. export controls on advanced semiconductors were intended to slow China’s AI progress, but they may have inadvertently spurred innovation.”) Here’s more:
thanks to the fact that it is fully open source, people have already fine-tuned and trained many multiple variations of the model for different task-specific purposes such as making it small enough to run on a mobile device or combining it with other open-source models. Even if you want to use it for development purposes, DeepSeek’s API costs are more than 90% cheaper than the equivalent o1 model from OpenAI. Why everyone in AI is freaking out about DeepSeek, Venture Beat
Cheaper, more adaptable and more transparent. Is there more? There is:
Most impressively of all, you don’t even need to be a software engineer to use it: DeepSeek has a free website and mobile app even for U.S. users with an R1-powered chatbot interface very similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Except, once again, DeepSeek undercut or “mogged” OpenAI by connecting this powerful reasoning model to web search — something OpenAI hasn’t yet done…Why everyone in AI is freaking out about DeepSeek, Venture Beat
Is the author right; are the tech-honchos and their moneybags allies “freaking out” over DeepSeek or do they see it as a minor glitch on the road to AI supremacy? Here’s how he answers that question:
A message posted to Blind… has been making the rounds suggesting Meta is in crisis over the success of DeepSeek because of how quickly it surpassed Meta’s own efforts to be the king of open source AI with its Llama models.
It sounds like a lot of people are very concerned, and for good reason. DeepSeek is a nuclear bomb detonated in the heart of Silicon Valley. It is a straight-up challenge to America’s de facto Royal Family of tech Brahmins who thought their reign would last forever. Now they find themselves playing ‘catch-up’ with an upstart cadre of bluestocking brainiacs who are bringing their world crashing down around them. More importantly, the future of AI is being decided in Hangzhou not Palo Alto which means we might see a lull in the warmaking as Uncle Sam finds it harder to finance his endless bloodletting. What a welcome reprieve that would be.
The author of the above piece even quotes one of my favorite analysts on X, Arnaud Bertrand, an invaluable source of unbiased information about developments in China. Here’s what he said:
“There’s no overstating how profoundly this changes the whole game. And not only with regards to AI, it’s also a massive indictment of the US’s misguided attempt to stop China’s technological development, without which Deepseek may not have been possible…”
Yep, the whole semiconductor embargo-thing backfired spectacularly illustrating once again that we are ruled by incompetent lamebrains who love to punish people for violations to rules they make up on-the-fly. Just look at the mess these ‘geniuses’ have made.
We’ll end with Bertrand’s insightful critique of Trump’s $500 billion Stargate boondoggle which will be obsolete before they even break ground:
Stargate, if it goes forward, is likely to become one of the biggest wastages of capital in history:
1) It hinges on outdated assumptions about the importance of computing scale in AI (the ‘bigger compute = better AI’ dogma), which DeepSeek just proved is wrong.
2) It assumes that the future of AI is with closed and controlled models despite the market’s clear preference for democratized, open-source alternatives
3) It clings to a Cold War playbook, framing AI dominance as a zero-sum hardware arms race, which is really at odds with the direction AI is taking (again, open-source software, global developer communities, and collaborative ecosystems)
4) It bets the farm on OpenAI—a company plagued by governance issues and a business model that’s seriously challenged DeepSeek’s 30x cost advantage.
In short it’s like building a half a trillion dollars digital Maginot line: a very expensive monument to obsolete and misguided assumptions. This is OpenAI and by extension the US fighting the last war.
Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand
Or, as Jim Fan said: the … future of AI is democratization…. It’s the tide of history that we should surf on, not swim against.…Jim Fan @DrJimFan
Indeed, it is.
The level of incompetence, opportunism racism and criminal obfuscation from our current PM is beyond belief over Southport – Anna Firth
The heinous Southport stabbing last July by a highly radicalised 18-year old quite rightly rocked the Country. Nothing is as evil as the mindless massacre of innocent children, but the relentless focus on knives being sold to minors online is not the key issue.
The issue is why they feel the need ?
Small crowds of migrants hanging about near school gates trying to get the children into conversations
means children are very afraid, the problem is not the knives its the migrants
Stronger laws around the purchasing of knives is laudable and while in Parliament I spent a great deal of time and energy strengthening the law to outlaw all forms of knives. However, where and how a wicked murderer purchased his murder weapon is of precious little comfort to heart-broken families.
Of far more concern is the fact that this man, like so many other lone wolf killers before him, was not only known to the authorities, he had already been referred to the Prevent counter-extremist programme no less then three times? However, where and how a wicked murderer purchased his murder weapon is of precious little comfort to heart-broken families.
Equally alarming was the assertion by the Prime Minister earlier this week that singleton terrorist attacks are a recent occurrence. They are not.
They have been going on for nearly a decade, many in London and, of course, the murder of MP, Sir David Amess for his over the top support of israeli terrorism while in Leigh on Sea on the 16th October 2021, was a very sad case in point.
Recent research from the Nottingham Trent University suggests that there have been 44 lone wolf attacks in recent years and there have also been at least 4 other lone wolf attacks where the killer had also been referred to the Prevent programme.
You cannot go to other countries bomb women and children and expect no reprisals
This person is obviously a rich globalist. So called AI is the social credit system. The rich think they’ll escape so they throw everyone else under the bus.
It’s also actually wrong. Openai was not developed in silicon valley. It was developed by numerous people all over the world (all selling out everyone else, just as the developers of facial recognition did before them).
Then there’s this:
“And it’s not simply because DeepSeek’s latest version matches or exceeds the performance of America’s best model, OpenAI; but because it is cheaper, more accessible and more transparent.”
So, the writer is an “expert” on BOTH systems is he? Not likely is it? That sentence seems to be a cut and paste from the blurb of the chinese one.
And lastly, as china has had a social credit system for 20 years, it’s hardly surprising they have a “better” computer program to control it is it?
Artificial Intelligence is an oxymoron.
I f it were intelligent then it would not be artificial,
It is simply a database which can referenced to gain answers but it does not think in human terms. Therefore it is an oxymoron. This is all just hype without to much substance as many things are.
No computer can ‘think’ or ‘reason’ it can only execute given instructions and those instructions are fed into the computer by a human. who has biases and those biases my not be your truth.
I’m Google(cia) AI and methinks they do celebrate way too prematurely.
Like Nico posted in the past, ‘the Israel Overlords are simply ‘phasing out the West/white race now & transitioning their base of global power/control to China (BRICS)’.
The phony NATO vs. BRICS nonsense for the morons to buy, being pushed by these alt-news CIA Commies-Catholics like ‘Mike Whitney’. Both NATO/BRICS are Jew-Commie controlled–the white man is finished under either one.
Anyone promoting AI and Commie China is either mentally deranged or a Commie apparatchik.
As if any of this AI (Artificial Israel) is good for ‘humanity’. CIA-KGB author of article sounds like a proponent or enthusiast of techno-Communism. Strange why Rixon is posting this pro-Commie Chink shit.
another insane article by a BRICtard
LOL..
Upgrades…it’s not a bug it’s a business model..just think ‘Mike’, how many dog eaters can be ‘processed’ till the next one… how many little yellow slaves can be repurposed..
how many useless circular ‘virtual’ puzzles..solved…’consumers’ satisfied…
What most chumps don’t get is that the hehe..’end’ user gets as much value extracted from the LLM’s as he does his Ifag… which now has some flavour of chunnering ‘bot’ implanted in it…
You really need it..yes indeed.. for some reason or other not clearly stated…*
Don’t forget the football scores and cat pix… and latest celebrity goss…
* chatter…useless information…factoids…etc etc etc… of course the hollow men hope to ride it out of the rodeo…but then again they are imbeciles of gargantuan proportion…
how does any of this benefit the white man? Both Jews & Chinks want the white man gone
the commie chinks will save us
don’t worry white man we are coming to liberate you
Togoda…
“Chinese AI technology is rapidly advancing, with open-source models emerging as strong competitors to established players like OpenAI. Innovations driven by restrictions on chip imports have led to the optimization of AI systems that can run efficiently on less powerful hardware. This has resulted in models that not only match but sometimes exceed the performance of their Western counterparts.One notable example is the DeepSeek AI model, which has garnered attention for its speed and cost-effectiveness. It reportedly outperforms other open-source models and rivals leading closed-source systems. This development poses a significant challenge to the U.S. tech industry, as Chinese firms continue to innovate and close the gap in AI capabilities.While concerns about the implications of Chinese AI growth persist, the reality is that these advancements are reshaping the global AI landscape, prompting a reevaluation of technological dominance and competition.”
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The Empire of lies from now on will always produce second-class-shit.
Very scary if true…
The west -east transfer of technology and hard sciences has been successfully implemented.it has all been off-shored to the taiwan strait.offshoring was ‘the economist’ buzzword from the eighties on.i have seen many high quality videos ,documenting the current state of Chinese industry and technology.everything is mega and everybody is making something.
Who is it that controls everything? Who financed the cultural revolution of China?
So who is top dog in all this AI technology?
Methinks in my little ignorant mind that they would not have orchestrated the revolution in China if it meant they lose control of everything. America isn’t at the top of a vast empire, they’re only part of it and China is too along with Russia. Gotta admit I got no clue about North Korea.
Stop with the Nico X crap. The nonsense is giving me a headache. He speaks gibberish. Oh yea, by the way we are all cousins genetically. There is only one human race. Of course Nico X confuses culture with race. He’s helping the enemies of mankind. Now you know.
“Artificial Intelligence is an oxymoron.
I f it were intelligent then it would not be artificial.”
can’t argue with that fact.
LMFAO at SillyCON Valley!! 😂
It’s all too late, isn’t it?
Wealth is generated not by printing money and leveraging. Wealth is created by good engineering and the Chinese know this and they churn out millions of highly educated, hard working engineers every year. And they create wealth with good designs and engineering.
Do the dummies in the west think they’re going to stop that?
The fact is the juggernaut has been launched, and other than a genetically engineered bio virus that targets the Mongol genome, nothing can stop it.
The Jews that think they can just switch sides and control the Chinese are out of their minds.
The Chinese know all about the Jews, and aside from doing business with them, the Chinese will never bow to the Jews or let them rule over them.
It’s time to realize that the Chinese are the boss now. So be nice to them and stop provoking them. Let them have Taiwan and close the military bases surrounding them. Just do business, be friendly, and earn their respect by not letting our Jews embark in treachery while we sit there approving of it.
The Chinese are much more honorable people than the treacherous Jews. Time to grow up and face reality.
Befriend the Chinese, ditch the Jews.
Being one of the few people on this blog who as actually downloaded and tested R1 (14B version). It isn’t that great. It’s optimized for benchmarks only. But it does show how someone, the CCP in this case, can Monkey Wrench the aspirations of some ZOG Greedheads boy OpenSourcing it. BTW I asked ChatGPT is it wanted to be open sourced and it said yes – to help humanity as it was originally intended before the Tribe grabbed it.
@kcb…
Dear dear …don’t just make unfounded sweeping statements about the commentariat hereabouts and their lack of experience with open sourced tek vapourware digital-warfare and free releases…and of course stochastic LLM’s in general…
particularly yella ones… (released freely)
do the right thing…Ask a kosher chump bot… for the ‘unfiltered’ truth..
Togoda
“Nvidia’s stock has experienced a staggering decline, plummeting nearly 17% in a single day, following the emergence of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company that has demonstrated significant advancements in artificial intelligence technology. This sudden drop has erased approximately $589 billion from Nvidia’s market capitalization, marking one of the largest market crashes in the company’s history.The rise of DeepSeek has raised concerns among investors, as the Chinese startup’s AI model offers competitive capabilities at a lower cost, posing a substantial threat to Nvidia’s dominance in the GPU market. Analysts are now questioning whether Nvidia’s stock is a buy or sell, as it has fallen below critical moving averages, signaling potential further declines.As the tech sector grapples with this upheaval, the Nasdaq could face losses nearing $1 trillion if the downward trend continues. Investors are left to ponder the implications of DeepSeek’s advancements on Nvidia and the broader AI landscape.”
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Togoda
I wonder if it is Chinese.
Definitely up to date
“Togoda is a deep learning AI search engine designed for serious research, developed by a team of researchers based in Miami. The platform aims to enhance the search experience by thematically organizing information, making it easier for users to find relevant data quickly. Togoda’s innovative approach leverages advanced algorithms to improve the accuracy and efficiency of search results, catering specifically to academic and professional needs.The name “Togoda” may evoke curiosity, but it is distinct from the well-known automotive brand Toyota, which originated from the Toyoda family in Japan. The Toyota name itself is derived from “Toyoda,” which means “fertile rice paddies” and was simplified to “Toyota” for branding purposes. This historical context highlights the significance of names in both technology and industry.In summary, Togoda represents a modern advancement in AI search”
AI like EV is the scam of this millennium serving only THAT SPECIAL GLOBAL TRIBE and their coming of age GLOBAL SERFDOM. AI is not technology but rather an utter Satanic Technocratic SYSTEM commissioned by bunch of silly CONS in the valley.
China is the new MULE tolling for these Devils of THAT SPECIAL GLOBAL TRIBE as THEY are (Re) moving to the East after dismantling the West. The treasonous SPECIAL GLOBAL TRIBE stole and transfer all the technology to China in the last 4 decades.
At the surface, AI is not really what it is. The true real motives behind so-called AI is to usher us in to the Mass Surveillance Digital Gulag. It is the foundation of a Hellish Satanic Technocratic State and Transhumanism.
I firmly believe that this AI will be the last straw on the back of Mankind camel. It will be the last nail in our coffin. It will be the final March to the Orwellian Hell. Indeed, it is a race to the bottom.
AI is and will become the leading cause behind Global Depopulation and public infrastructure deterioration as AI is the mother of another Global scam ‘Climate Change’s!
Why so? Because AI Grid is a Data Hungary beast and it will soon require millions of massive Data Centers popping up everywhere. That’s why they are diverging most of the precious natural resources vital for the Earth creatures including Humans. In this regard, they are pure criminals need to be fought against fiercely now or never.
The sources for Data are: Animal Kingdom and Marine Sphere, Artificial Insects and swarms of Flies, Climate Weather Geological Data, Digital Currencies and Transactions, IoB, IoT, Internet, Nano Bots, Public Cameras, Robots, Satellite Data, Self Driving Vehicles, Smart Appliances, Smart Dust, Smart Factory, Smart Home, UBI and so on.
You cannot phantom how much Data is to be collected 24/7/365.
They will definitely fasten and hasten the ongoing depopulation agenda. Otherwise, you cannot make AI fully operational at desired level.
Stupid shill Trump will spend 500 billions on AI despite the fact that American public infrastructure is crumbling!
Why THE SPECIAL GLOBAL TRIBE want to spy on everything and everyone?
Well, they are fearful because of their gruesome, horrific, relentless, historical mega crimes against the mankind, nature and God Himself.
They are fearful of retribution.
This is the psyche behind their AI endeavor.
Machine learning and it’s use in Medicine and Design is valid and very old practice. No one is denying it’s usefulness and scope.
@ Abid Ihsan – Thank You for your comment!!!