Bookmark: DeepSeek is bad for Silicon Valley. But it might be great for you.

I couldn’t find a direct quote from the article related to DeepSeek’s AI model. Please provide more specific details or try again with more context.
DeepSeek is bad for Silicon Valley. But it might be great for you.
DeepSeek, a Chinese startup, has disrupted the tech industry by unveiling an open-source AI model, DeepSeek-R1. This model rivals OpenAI’s o1 in performance with significantly lower resource expenditure. While companies like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft have spent billions developing AI, DeepSeek reportedly trained its predecessor for under $6 million. Their model’s appeal lies in offering powerful AI capabilities at a fraction of the cost, providing affordable access to businesses and developers. However, it’s not entirely open-source, as the training data and code aren’t fully disclosed.
The debut of DeepSeek-R1 impacted major tech companies, diminishing their stock values, particularly harming NVIDIA. Despite US efforts to curb China’s AI advancements through export restrictions, Chinese companies like DeepSeek are progressing rapidly, demonstrating that this technological race isn’t zero-sum.
DeepSeek’s approach raises questions about privacy and data handling, particularly with its compliance with Chinese censorship laws. Although it challenges the Silicon Valley status quo, concerns remain regarding the implications of a Chinese company offering such models openly, potentially affecting US national security. Nonetheless, DeepSeek illustrates the feasibility of building advanced AI on open-source principles, offering a glimpse into a more democratized AI future.
Featured writing
When your brilliant idea meets organizational reality: a survival guide
Transform your brilliant tech ideas into reality by navigating organizational challenges and overcoming hidden resistance with this essential survival guide.
Server-Side Dashboard Architecture: Why Moving Data Fetching Off the Browser Changes Everything
How choosing server-side rendering solved security, CORS, and credential management problems I didn't know I had.
AI as Coach: Transforming Professional and Continuing Education
Transform professional and continuing education with AI-driven coaching, offering personalized support, accountability, and skill mastery at scale.
Books
The Work of Being (in progress)
A book on AI, judgment, and staying human at work.
The Practice of Work (in progress)
Practical essays on how work actually gets done.
Recent writing
Start, ship, close, sum up: rituals that make work resolve
Most knowledge work never finishes. It just stops. The start, ship, close, and sum-up methodology creates deliberate moments that turn continuous work into resolved units.
Notes and related thinking
Bookmark: How AI innovation is driving educational excellence
Explore how AI is revolutionizing education with personalized learning tools, empowering teachers, and addressing academic integrity challenges.
AI didn't deskill us, we were already deskilled
This article challenges the narrative that AI is deskilling workers, instead highlighting how many jobs were already mechanical. It offers a thought-provoking perspective on how AI could be an opportunity to reclaim and enhance human skills.
Redefining Leadership: Embracing Human Judgment Amid AI Disruption
This article offers a critical perspective on how AI is reshaping the job market and challenges leaders to focus on uniquely human skills like judgment and responsibility, providing valuable insights for anyone interested in the future of work and leadership.