DeepSeek’s AI Triumph Shouldn’t Deep-Six Chip Curbs
US export controls are meant to slow down Chinese progress in AI, not halt it altogether. They’re still valuable.
Minnow to whale.
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/BloombergChinese startup DeepSeek shocked markets this week with powerful artificial intelligence models that might have been produced at a fraction of the cost of competitors’ technology, despite US restrictions on the most advanced semiconductors. That’s a genuine accomplishment. It’s not an argument for lifting those sanctions.
The hype over DeepSeek comes just as the White House reviews sweeping new rules intended to control the spread of AI chips and data centers around the world. This AI “diffusion framework,” introduced by the previous administration, sets limits on which countries can access top-shelf semiconductors and in what quantities. The US and 18 of its closest allies face no restrictions. China and other nations under US arms embargo remain banned from buying such chips. The goal is to prevent them from using AI for military applications, espionage, cyberattacks and so on.