Key Takeaways
- DeepSeek’s rise marks a turning point in the global AI race, with significant implications for the US and global tech industries.
- Eric Schmidt calls for increased investment in AI infrastructure and initiatives like Stargate to counter DeepSeek’s advancements.
- The US must intensify its open-source AI efforts to remain competitive in the global AI market, according to Schmidt.
San Francisco: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt described DeepSeek‘s rise as “a turning point” in the global artificial intelligence (AI) race, according to an op-ed published Tuesday in The Washington Post.
Schmidt emphasised that China’s ability to compete with Big Tech using fewer resources demonstrates the need for the United States to intensify its open-source AI efforts. He called for increased investment in AI infrastructure and initiatives like Stargate while urging leading research labs to share their training methodologies.
DeepSeek is a Chinese AI company founded in 2023. In January 2025, the company released its latest model, DeepSeek-R1, which has attracted significant attention for its advanced reasoning capabilities. The model is said to have achieved performance comparable to leading AI systems, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but at a fraction of the development cost.
The launch of DeepSeek-R1 has sent shockwaves through the technology industry, causing a notable decline in the stock prices of major tech companies, including Microsoft, Meta, and Nvidia, on Monday.
Schmidt emphasized the need for open-source development to counter DeepSeek’s advancements. He urged the US to foster collaboration and develop competitive AI solutions to address the shifting global AI landscape.
