Machine codes

DeepSeek has ripped away the veil of mystique around AI

Kenan Malik

No, it was not a “Sputnik moment”. The launch last month of DeepSeek R1, the Chinese generative AI or chatbot, created mayhem in the tech world, with stocks plummeting and much chatter about the US losing its supremacy in AI technology. The original Sputnik moment came on 4 October 1957 when the Soviet Union shocked the world by launching Sputnik 1, the first time humanity had sent a satellite into orbit. It was, to borrow a phrase from a later landmark, “one giant leap for mankind”, in Neil Armstrong’s historic words as he took a “small step” on to the surface of the moon. It was a significant moment in the cold war, too. A confidential White House report worried that “American prestige” had “ sustained a severe blow”, giving…

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Guardian Weekly (Digital) - 1 Issue, 7 February 2025

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