When DeepSeek announced V3 and R1, the Western media called it a “Sputnik moment.” The tiny Chinese AI lab had wiped out trillions of dollars in market capitalization from American tech companies in a single day. Silicon Valley was in turmoil over DeepSeek’s arrival, but they were also masking their fears with exaggerated comparisons.
DeepSeek is not a 'Sputnik moment'
The term “Sputnik moment” first appeared on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union shocked the world by launching Sputnik 1, marking the first time mankind put a satellite into orbit. Since then, “Sputnik moment” has become a term used to refer to historical milestones.
Then, when Neil Armstrong took his “one small step” on the moon, the phrase “one giant leap for mankind” became more popular. It was also a pivotal moment in the Cold War. A secret report from The Guardian suggests that it was fear of losing its lead that drove Washington to launch the Apollo missions, which led to Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin becoming the first humans to walk on the moon on 20 July 1969.
DeepSeek Chatbot on Apple App Store
But DeepSeek’s arrival isn’t quite as flashy. The AI startup is funded by a Chinese venture fund. Technically, it’s not really “smarter” than big language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude.
DeepSeek's AI is also susceptible to "hallucinations," even producing more harmful content than Western chatbots. According to NewsGuard , a system that ranks news websites, DeepSeek's chatbot made false claims 30% of the time and failed to answer 53% of questions.
The real fear of tech companies
According to analysts, the real impact of DeepSeek is not the technology but the AI economic model. This is what companies are really afraid of. Although it has many shortcomings compared to leading models from the West, DeepSeek shows that the economic problem is particularly effective. The platform is built at a low cost, taking advantage of old hardware at low prices.
The US’s efforts to increase sanctions and restrict Chinese tech companies’ access to advanced chips and equipment have paradoxically made researchers more innovative, and as a result, they have been able to create a much cheaper alternative than Silicon Valley.
Shocking the AI world in early spring: What is DeepSeek, who is behind it?
More importantly, DeepSeek is free to use and open source. The combination of low cost and openness could help “democratize AI,” allowing scientists everywhere to get in on the action. This could make American companies lose their monopoly. As Silicon Valley tries to create more barriers to competition, companies on the other side of the world do the opposite.
DeepSeek tears apart the veil of AI mystery
But DeepSeek’s bigger impact was that it ripped the veil of mystery around AI. Silicon Valley had worked hard to build the image of AI as a precious and miraculous achievement. Top tech leaders like Sam Altman and Elon Musk were seen as heroes leading the world into a new civilization. The promise of AGI (artificial general intelligence), machines that are smarter than humans, pushed the hype about AI too far. Billions of dollars of investment were poured into startups.
As DeepSeek emerges, a new question arises. Can the best AI models be created by combining more optimal computing power, with less financial burden than what Silicon Valley is currently envisioning?
The answer lies in the hype surrounding DeepSeek. According to The Guardian , if the model had come out of an American university, it would likely be as lauded as OpenAI. But in fact, in recent weeks, much of the buzz surrounding DeepSeek has been panic, skepticism, and concerns about the origins of its creators.
While OpenAI claims that its Chinese rival is using "distillation" techniques to gain a competitive advantage, the AI unicorn itself is also embroiled in lawsuits related to data sources for machine learning training, but has received less attention.
Concerns about privacy, censorship, and surveillance are not unreasonable with such a large-scale model, experts say, but they are a challenge for the entire technology industry, not just products from China.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ly-do-that-su-khien-thung-lung-silicon-khiep-so-deepseek-18525021016035614.htm
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