DeepSeek’s Lesson: America Needs Smarter Export Controls
Don't be fooled by China's recent AI advances — computing power remains key to long-term strategic advantage.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang holds up a chip during his keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, January 6, 2025. Credit: Artur Widak/NurPhoto via AP Images
Last December, the Chinese AI firm DeepSeek reported training a GPT-4-level model for just $5.6 million, challenging assumptions about the resources needed for frontier AI development. This perceived cost reduction, and DeepSeek's cut-rate pricing for its advanced reasoning model R1, have left tech stocks plunging and sparked a debate on the effectiveness of U.S. export controls on AI chips.
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