Market Reactions and Valuations in Tech

John and Glen (mostly John) sort through the details of the still-evolving DeepSeek story. They assess how much of the freakout is warranted (is it “a Sputnik moment”?) and propose a scenario in which it may actually represent a *plus* for credit unions.  Also- yet another twist in the Illinois interchange saga.   Links related to this episode:   Digital Transactions’ coverage of a proposed bill to undo the Illinois interchange law: https://www.digitaltransactions.net/opponents-of-the-illinois-interchange-law-hedge-their-bets-with-legislation-to-repeal-it/ The NY Times Hard Fork podcast’s DeepSeek dissection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk2aPfBJsKc The Economist’s oddly prescient article on Chinese AI, published days before the DeepSeek disclosure: https://www.economist.com/briefing/2025/01/23/chinas-ai-industry-has-almost-caught-up-with-americas A dissenting view (unveiled after our recording) claims DeepSeek actually spent more and used more Nvidia chips than initially claimed: https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/deepseek-might-not-be-as-disruptive-as-claimed-firm-reportedly-has-50-000-nvidia-gpus-and-spent-usd1-6-billion-on-buildouts  Wired documents DeepSeek’s security shortcomings:  https://www.wired.com/story/deepseeks-ai-jailbreak-prompt-injection-attacks/   Join us for our next CU Town Hall- Wednesday February 12 at 3pm ET/Noon PT- for a live and lively interactive conversation tackling the major issues facing credit unions today. Industry developments keep coming fast and furious- the CU Town Hall is the place to make sense of these items together. It’s free to attend, but advance registration is required:  https://www.cutownhall.com/ 

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