At the historic AI Action Summit in Paris, the US and UK did not sign the declaration on ‘inclusive and sustainable AI.’
America was sure that the world would have to rely on American Big Tech industry for AI, until the arrival of DeepSeek from China. It was believed that AI innovation require hefty investment, and Trump’s first announcement was a Stargate programme involving an investment of $500 billion. What China did was to make AI innovation at low cost. In fact, it is a first step towards democratizing the spread of AI applications and capabilities. Such democratisation benefits more people from AI capabilities.
So far, there was dominance of proprietary AI models. DeepSeek’s debut marked seismic change. It lowered the entry barrier by being cost-effective. It fosters inclusive AI.
Many other nations in Europe, Asia and Australia would follow suit in introducing low-cost models. Less developed countries will have other options to purchase AI services.
It is a paradox that China, a nation devoid of democracy, has stimulated democratisation of AI.
Many nations advocate their sovereignty-first AI. Sovereign AI refers to investments by nations to gain control over vital technology like AI. Post DeepSeek era, the concept has been reignited, although the investment requirements are lower.
To sum up, ChatGPT and DeepSeek are change points in the history of civilization.
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