{"id":104941,"date":"2025-02-13T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/deepseek-la-bifurcation-des-ia-entre-la-chine-et-loccident\/"},"modified":"2025-04-04T14:05:51","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T12:05:51","slug":"deepseek-la-bifurcation-des-ia-entre-la-chine-et-loccident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/deepseek-la-bifurcation-des-ia-entre-la-chine-et-loccident\/","title":{"rendered":"DeepSeek, the AI fork between China and the West?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The irruption of DeepSeek, a Chinese model of frugal, open-source artificial intelligence (AI), heralds a new stage in the spread of these technologies, an expansion of the market favourable to new players and a diversification of applications.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

DeepSeek\u2019s irruption on the AI scene<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On 20 January 2025, DeepSeek\u2019s AI model R1 went live and, in less than a week, it surpassed ChatGPT (OpenAI\u2019s previously leading model) to become the momentarily most downloaded app <\/a>on Apple\u2019s App Store in the US. The app was developed by DeepSeek, a company founded by Liang Wenfeng, an engineer who previously co-founded High-Flyer, an AI-powered quantitative trading hedge fund. The model demonstrates advanced reasoning capabilities and performs comparably to OpenAI\u2019s models from a few months ago. But it differs in that its development costs are much lower, with its creator reporting a budget of around six million US dollars, compared with the costs quoted for ChatGPT-4.0, which range from 100 million to one billion US dollars. What\u2019s more, it is open source, which will make it easier for users to develop. Currently, the online version <\/a>is free, and prices for professional use are significantly lower than those of the American competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politically, the news was a bombshell, especially as it came shortly after President Trump announced the Stargate project, which would provide US$500 billion to ensure US pre-eminence in AI. On the subject of technology policy, Marc Andreessen,[1]<\/a><\/sup> a Silicon Valley specialist and veteran, spoke of a \u201cSputnik moment\u201d, comparing China\u2019s AI breakthrough to Russia\u2019s launch of the first Earth satellite, which stunned the United States in October 1957. Economically, the effect was considerable: Nvidia, the company specialising in the processors used by AI and the biggest market capitalisation at the time, lost almost $600 billion in market capitalisation in a single day, and the shockwave spread to other technology stocks<\/a>. The event was also covered by a large number of media outlets, which analysed its potential impact<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In practice, DeepSeek is based on a \u201cMixture-of-Experts\u201d architecture that relies on several specialised AIs mobilised in the first instance by an analysis of the query. In this way, the system uses the resources required to respond to its users more sparingly. The technology can process a large amount of data in real time and takes account of the context to refine its responses. The logic of using specialised AI instead of a massive model is not totally new, although its arrangement is undoubtedly a Chinese breakthrough. It comes at just the right time for Apple <\/a>and its plans to integrate frugal AI into its iPhone and MacBook devices.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n

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Two drawbacks<\/h2>\n

However, there are two limitations worth noting. The first concerns confidentiality. The company collects a great deal of data when users register and interact with its service (IP addresses, usage habits, etc.). This information is also used to train the AI; it is stored on servers located in China, and may be shared according to the rules established by the Chinese authorities, including for advertising purposes. DeepSeek is in breach of European regulations (RGPD, General Data Protection Regulation); in fact, Italy has temporarily suspended its access and in France, the CNIL (Commission nationale de l\u2019informatique et des libert\u00e9s) has taken up the case.<\/p>\n

The second limitation concerns censorship: DeepSeek has strict filters on politically sensitive subjects, in line with Chinese government directives on both political and societal issues. This is a limiting factor for many uses, but on the other hand, it could be an argument that appeals to certain countries, or even certain communities around the world.<\/p>\n

It is also true that a number of controversies are swirling around the development of this AI model and its sudden appearance on the AI scene. Firstly, about the reality of the announced costs, which could be underestimated. Secondly, the microprocessors actually used: sophisticated Nvidia equipment could have entered China before the embargo imposed by the United States, or even in breach of it. The Chinese success would also have been facilitated by leaks of OpenAI training data, but the legal consequences of this loan could force OpenAI to reveal the illegal use made of data protected by copyright. Nonetheless, the emergence of DeepSeek is a reality with many consequences.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n

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\n Voir aussi<\/span>\n
\n
\n \n \"\"<\/a>\n <\/span>\n \n The European Union agrees on AI Act<\/a>\n \n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n <\/a>\n <\/span>\n
\n
23 January 2024<\/div>\n SOUPIZET Jean-Fran\u00e7ois<\/a>\n
\n 6 min.\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n\n Newswatch\n <\/a>\n Geopolitics<\/a>\n Science and Technology<\/a>\n Society<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Consequences and outlook<\/h2>\n

The first of these is the acceleration of competition and the lowering of usage and development costs. This development will encourage the multiplication of AI models and their specialisation, all of which will encourage the adoption of AI and generate even greater demand. This is the \u201crebound effect\u201d referred to by Garry Tan, CEO of the American start-up incubator Y Combinator.<\/p>\n

Another expected consequence is a challenge to the current AI business model, which is dominated by large volumes of data and computing power. The new situation could lead to a drop in investment in data centres,[2]<\/a><\/sup> estimated at 200 billion US dollars by 2025 for cloud leaders Amazon, Microsoft and Google. The example of DeepSeek could prompt the AI industry to \u201crefocus on return on investment\u201d. In other words, at least temporarily abandon the search for the Holy Grail, general-purpose AI, and focus instead on optimised models closer to market demand, inspired by DeepSeek. The mastery of software optimisation techniques also demonstrates the level of skill of Chinese mathematicians and researchers. And the frugal positioning confirms the coherence of the Chinese strategy, which targets the countries of the global South. For its part, Nvidia pointed out that \u201cinference also requires a large number of Nvidia chips\u201d, and that the use of \u201creasoning\u201d models like DeepSeek\u2019s R1 consumes more computing power because they make several requests for each response.[3]<\/a><\/sup> As for Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI, he found the competition \u201cstimulating\u201d and announced \u201cmuch better models\u201d in the future.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n

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Another major consequence is that the widespread distribution of low-cost open-source AI systems could lead to a sharp increase in security risks, due to the difficulty of controlling developments and preventing misuse. In such a context, any shared technology can go viral, and aligning AI with the public interest is particularly complex.[4]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

In terms of international balances, China is strengthening its position and the US-China dipole could impose choices on third countries. This would make players less dependent on OpenAI and Google. New companies could emerge in Europe, Japan, Saudi Arabia or the Global South, with applications that are more or less sophisticated but have real capabilities. However, it is likely that their success would depend in part on partnerships with the United States or China, which would in return exert a degree of control over the purposes of these systems, paving the way for a partition of the world into two zones of influence.<\/p>\n

The arrival of DeepSeek is also a lesson for the European Union (EU), which until now has not taken full advantage of its strengths due to the lack of an entrepreneurial and financial environment on the scale of its economic area; it does, however, demonstrate the reality of the opportunities for European players and reinforces the strategy of start-ups such as Mistral AI. The emergence of DeepSeek is also reviving international regulatory issues. The EU and the United States are likely to tighten their controls on foreign AI, in particular to prevent the spread of models that could be used for propaganda or espionage. We could see a rise in AI laws and restrictions on AI developed in China, particularly in the United States. Conversely, China could restrict access to ChatGPT and other Western AI, favouring its own models, as it has done to date.<\/p>\n

Finally, the issues are also cultural, as the language models reflect a vision of the world through the data exploited, the training techniques used and the moderation filters adopted. The Chinese model could become the benchmark for an alternative model of the global South in opposition to universal Western values. In the absence of genuine multilateral dialogue, the bifurcation of AI between the West and China could be an important element in the partitioning of the world, the signs of which are multiplying.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/span>
\nN.B.:<\/em> this article has been translated from French by DeepL, and revised by the author and Futuribles.<\/span><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n

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\n Voir aussi<\/span>\n
\n
\n \n \"\"<\/a>\n <\/span>\n \n Future AI Scenarios Exercise<\/a>\n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n <\/a>\n <\/span>\n
\n
10 January 2024<\/div>\n SOUPIZET Jean-Fran\u00e7ois<\/a>\n
\n 7 min.\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n\n Lu, vu, entendu\n <\/a>\n Science et technique<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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    \n
  1. \n

    Co-founder of Netscape and venture capitalist. \u2191<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    According to William Beavington of Jefferies. \u2191<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    Computation is required to make the AIs work for each request, after they have been trained. \u2191<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  4. \n

    See the work of the OECD expert group on the Future of AI of 7 November 2023. URL: https:\/\/oecd.ai\/en\/network-of-experts<\/a> and https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=b9ymA_OjDWo<\/a>. Accessed on 12 February 2025. \u2191<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The irruption of DeepSeek, a Chinese model of frugal, open-source artificial intelligence (AI), heralds a new stage in the spread of these technologies, an expansion of the market favourable to new players and a diversification of applications. DeepSeek\u2019s irruption on the AI scene On 20 January 2025, DeepSeek\u2019s AI model R1 went live and, in … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":103061,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"both","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":301,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[140],"tags":[133,210],"keyword":[988,953,869,931,1048,980,891,2337],"class_list":["post-104941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newswatch","tag-economie-et-emploi-en","tag-science-et-technique-en","keyword-intelligence-artificielle-en","keyword-chine-en","keyword-concurrence-en","keyword-informatique-en","keyword-geopolitique-en","keyword-information-en","keyword-systeme-de-valeurs-en","keyword-occident-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104941"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104950,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104941\/revisions\/104950"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104941"},{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=104941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}