AI Summer Dean and Tim on DeepSeek and AI progress
17 snips
Jan 29, 2025 Dean and Tim dive into DeepSeek’s r1 release and its significance for the AI field. They analyze the implications of export controls on AI competition, particularly between the U.S. and China. The conversation highlights the innovations in hardware and the economic ramifications of AI advancements. Despite the hype around new models, skepticism remains regarding their ability to handle complex reasoning. The duo reflects on the balance between automation, productivity gains, and the potential societal impacts.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
R1's Impact
- DeepSeek’s R1 model matches OpenAI’s O1 performance at a fraction of the cost.
- This has caused panic about the end of American AI dominance and a drop in NVIDIA’s stock price.
DeepSeek's Chip Choice
- DeepSeek used H800 chips, which have similar computational performance to the H100 but lower memory bandwidth.
- These were legally exported to China due to a loophole in export controls, which the Biden administration didn't close for a year.
Export Control Effectiveness
- Dean argues that R1 doesn't prove export controls are failing, citing DeepSeek’s clever use of distillation and algorithmic advances.
- He notes that DeepSeek still struggles with inference compute, highlighting the limitations imposed by export controls.