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China, AI superpower or snake-oil?

It is reported that share prices of US tech firms took a bit of a tumble today on news that China has developed what may be the world's best AI system.

Even more worrying is that they claim to have done it with little more than a few sticks, some cardboard and packing tape (in relative terms).

All sorts of impressive claims are being made for DeepSeek, an AI system that, on the face of it, appears to gazzump ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini and Llama, the systems created by OpenAI, X, Google and Meta respectively.

However, something very interesting also happened this morning that could throw those claims into doubt.

Visitors to the DeepSeek webpage are now greeted with this banner: "Due to large-scale malicious attacks on DeepSeek's services, registration may be busy".

Really?

Or could it be that perhaps DeepSeek simply isn't so flash after all?

To be honest, I don't know -- but it's possible.

Given that this a system operated out of China, I figured I'd take a look at the terms of use and found this:

Eh?

So in using the name DeepSeek in this column and creating a URL that links to the site I appear to have breached its terms of use. WTF?

Will I be extradited to face penalties?

The BBC has reported on the market turmoil created by DeepSeek's claims.

I also watched this video that has some interesting information, including the fact that DeepSeek has, on occasion, identified itself as ChatGPT (hmmmm).

Given the way that the USA, UK and European governments have indicated that they consider AI to be "the future", I can only but imagine the amount of frowning and sweating that is taking place within the halls of power. Being out-done by what some consider to be an enemy at this level could have massive repercussions.

With claims that AI progression will be hyperbolic rather than linear, even a small advantage at this stage could make massive differences to the relative AI-power of nations just a few short years down the road. The fact that China has done this without access to the latest and greatest AI hardware must also be somewhat frightening -- if it is actually true.

Once again I grab my popcorn and sit back to enjoy the spectacle.

Carpe Diem folks!

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