The Chinese AI app DeepSeek has created a splash in the artificial intelligence world not seen since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT. All the attention garnered by the AI model, however, could pose a threat to its success in the United States, as other technology companies based in countries Uncle Sam considers “adversary states” have discovered.
Although the app is barely out of the starting gate, questions have been raised about it as a threat to national security. Those are the kinds of questions that have sunk U.S. sales of companies like Kaspersky and Huawei and threaten the popular social media app TikTok.
“[T]he U.S. cannot allow CCP [Chinese Communist Party] models such as DeepSeek to risk our national security and leverage our technology to advance their AI ambitions. We must work to swiftly place stronger export controls on technologies critical to DeepSeek’s AI infrastructure,” Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., chairman of the Select Committee on China, told NBC News Monday.
DeepSeek exploded on the scene over the weekend when it became the top download at Apple’s App Store in the United States, vaulting AI stalwart ChatGPT. The Chinese app has also been garnering kudos for its speed, efficiency, and mighty reasoning skills.
What’s more, it runs on less powerful chips than its U.S. competitors. According to DeepSeek, those chips allow it to train its model for less than US$6 million — a fraction of what Google, OpenAI, and Meta are spending to train their models with top-of-the-line processors.
If DeepSeek’s claims about its technology pass scrutiny, it could dramatically impact the AI industry. There could be less demand for high-octane chipsets, power requirements could be curtailed, and there would be less need for more large-scale data centers, such as those to be built by the Trump administration’s $500 billion Stargate project.
“DeepSeek does force a question about the costs and investments needed to race to AGI outcomes and innovations,” said Jeff Le, a former California deputy cabinet secretary.
“This race is also focused on time but there are energy and infrastructure consequences, especially if there is validation that would force others to relook the recently-announced Stargate project,” he told TechNewsWorld.
