The global race for artificial intelligence (AI) supremacy is intensifying, with both businesses and nations vying for leadership. Amidst discussions centered around \"safety\" and the potential significant implications for humanity, another debate has emerged: the true cost of AI development.
Enter DeepSeek, a relatively unknown AI lab based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of the Chinese mainland. DeepSeek has recently made waves in app stores and AI circles with the release of its DeepThink R1 reasoning mode in its AI chatbot application. The chatbot stands out in the competitive field of AI assistants by showcasing impressive reasoning capabilities, effectively communicating how it thinks.
What has particularly caught the industry's attention is that DeepSeek achieved this breakthrough with an investment reportedly around $6 million, a fraction of the resources utilized by leading companies in the field. This contrasts sharply with U.S. counterparts like OpenAI, which initiated the generative AI revolution with ChatGPT nearly two years ago and has invested substantially more in AI development.
Nvidia, known for its graphics processing units (GPUs) essential for AI computation, played a relatively modest role in DeepSeek's success. The lab's limited use of Nvidia's H100 chips contrasts with efforts in the U.S. to build massive AI supercomputer clusters requiring hundreds of thousands of advanced Nvidia chips.
DeepSeek's achievement challenges industry norms regarding the required investment for AI advancement. It raises critical questions about efficiency and innovation in AI development, suggesting that significant progress can be made without exorbitant costs. As more information about DeepSeek emerges, its impact on the global AI landscape is becoming increasingly apparent.
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Million? Billion? Trillion? China's DeepSeek sparks AI costs debate
cgtn.com
