2 weeks Ago By Areeba Haroon
Since the Inception of this decade, technology has undergone a great metamorphosis marked by breathtaking modernization and sophisticated innovation which not only changed the entire course of human civilization but also stirred up the world order and continues to do it. Invariably, where there is a will, there is a way. We have witnessed many instances depicting how constraints breed innovation and how limited resources can pile up to make one a winner if one is tenacious and determined.
The national hero of Pakistan, Arshad Nadeem won a gold medal for us in the Paris Olympics last summer without any professional training, unlike his competitors who exploited well-equipped outdoor spaces. The Nobel Prize winner, Marie Curie, despite encountering various barriers such as denied access to education, research labs, and misogyny, eventually did her research in makeshift labs, becoming the first woman to win the Nobel Prize accolade in physics. Such examples are analogous to the global circumstances which are talk of the town of artificial intelligence.
The AI war has just begun. It is not limited to the tech arena this time around; as a matter of fact, it is revolutionizing global power dynamics. Modi’s Kashmir delusion On the breaking of dawn on January 20, Chinese company Deepseek took the world by storm by launching its latest version Deepseek-R1, which is better equipped and efficient than other popular models.
It has overtaken its rival OpenAI to become the top-rated app on the Apple Store since its release. China’s “dark horse” in the AI race, DeepSeek, is being heralded as a game-changer and its ascent is viewed as a significant advancement for the country’s AI sector. This is the prevailing opinion expressed in Chinese internet forums, where many people believe that the introduction of DeepSeek-R1 represents a significant disruption that calls into question US technological supremacy.
The real ripple it has created, however, is wiping a whopping $1tr off the market capitalization of major US tech firms which made investors question the high costs and adeptness of American tech giants such as OpenAI and Nvidia and whether they will reciprocate the same results. Chinese estimates indicate that since its introduction on January 11th, DeepSeek has amassed over 3 million downloads, with a 375 percent increase in downloads between January 20th and 26th. In the last week, about 80% of this growth has taken place.
The app reached the top of the Apple App Store on January 26 and saw a 110 percent increase in daily active users on January 17 and 18. Govt launches 6th round of mass deworming campaign As mentioned above, constraints breed innovation likewise the trade sanctions of Washington led the Chinese leading AI Company to innovate the most advanced AI model so far with the potential to bring a paradigm shift globally. For years, the US sought to hinder China’s access to semiconductors and AI chips by clutching its hold on Yellow Sea Territories.
While the USA was fumbling over Taiwan’s semiconductors, Chinese tech giants were busy equipping their artificial intelligence with all the limited resources they had. The inaccessibility to GPUs enabled the company to create innovative technology without depending on the expensive and imported ones. Owing to these circumstances, the president of the United States of America, Donald J.
Trump said it is a competitive time for them and companies need to work to fight back. But what makes it so hyped around the world? According to the Financial Times, DeepSeek developed its model in just two months with an investment of under $6m, while OpenAI reportedly spends over $5bn annually. This has raised serious concerns about the whooping sum used by tech giants to train and develop AI models whereas Deepseek took a fraction of it to be developed.
Nvidia, the biggest AI chip producer, had to take the fall as it lost 17% of its value on Monday - the biggest single-day drop for any company in US history. This loss erased $600bn from Nvidia’s market capitalization. Now it has put Nvidia in an existential crisis that a similar model can be produced with cheaper materials.
Moreover, the open-source technology available for the world to see and replicate_ has sent chills down the spine of many titans in AI space. Unlike its competitors Like ChatGPT and other AI models which consume a considerable amount of energy to process their supercomputers, it consumes relatively less making it less expensive and more accessible. The emergence of the Deepseek model has posed a question of heavy investment and energy consumption to fuel AI.
It is widely downloaded and appreciated in Pakistan as well. Thousands of tech enthusiasts are hoping to exploit it if and only Pakistan’s government does them the favor of allowing access to an uninterrupted internet connection. IHC announces new administrative changes with transfer of judges from 3 other high courts The race for AI supremacy has surpassed the competition in technological innovation; it’s more about control than modernization.
It is about who leads the AI world by setting forth the norms for a hybrid world. Under the given circumstances, China-US rivalry has undergone a new shift from ground warfare to an AI-led race. China’s AI sector’s resilience to work under constraints has jolted the US policymakers.
The result is a predominance in the new world shaped by AI. Surely, it is a challenging time for the Western bloc to maintain the technological leap while engaging with a rival whose capabilities can no longer be sacked. A crucial question is brought up by the closing AI power gap: At what cost is technological superiority being sought? What lies tomorrow is unknown yet.
But the dragon has finally spread its wings, leaving the US containment policy in shambles. Areeba Haroon The writer is a freelance columnist based in Lahore. She can be reached at areebaharoon4330@gmail.
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