THANKYOU @jvl.bsky.social for laying this out, and the reminder that the simplest answer (Taiwan, etc) is usually the right answer when it comes to the bugaboo CCP
For its part, Big Tech has spent 20 years telling the gov't:
"Don't regulate us, b/c if you do, then we won't be able to compete with the Chinese and that will hurt natsec. Let us get as big/powerful as we can get. It's good for America!"
Trying to balance these needs vis-a-vis the AI race, the gov't banned the most advanced chips from China.
The hope was: If you can slow Chinese AI by making them work with weak tools, then we have the breathing room to regulate Big Tech enough to promote economic dynamism.
DeepSeek didn't build a better mousetrap. It's a janky, Temu-version of state-of-the-art American LLMs.
Instead, DeepSeek figured out how to mass produce disposable mousetraps while US companies were painstakingly making beautiful, bespoke mousetraps, by hand.
Couldn’t agree more. As a tech guy, I tell developers to build and design on slower hardware and optimize until it runs well. Then, when you throw hardware at it, it will fly.
True. @jvl.bsky.social point is well taken that the inefficiency of the current AI market offerings are inefficient by either design or sloppiness with an eye on primarily profits.
That’s a long-term losing strategy.
1st thought on development cost comparison to other platforms:
"A civics lesson from a slaver, hey neighbor
Your debts are paid 'cause you don't pay for labor
"We plant seeds in the South. We create." Yeah, keep ranting
We know who's really doing the planting."
Comments
We want US Big Tech to be at the leading edge, b/c having a domestic S-tier tech sector is a strategic resource.
But we don't want Big Tech to get so big that it creates market distortions and cripples long-term growth/innovation.
"Don't regulate us, b/c if you do, then we won't be able to compete with the Chinese and that will hurt natsec. Let us get as big/powerful as we can get. It's good for America!"
The hope was: If you can slow Chinese AI by making them work with weak tools, then we have the breathing room to regulate Big Tech enough to promote economic dynamism.
Being forced to see compute power as a scarce resource, the Chinese focused on optimization and efficiency—which is DeepSeek's big breakthrough.
Instead, DeepSeek figured out how to mass produce disposable mousetraps while US companies were painstakingly making beautiful, bespoke mousetraps, by hand.
Oops.
That’s a long-term losing strategy.
"A civics lesson from a slaver, hey neighbor
Your debts are paid 'cause you don't pay for labor
"We plant seeds in the South. We create." Yeah, keep ranting
We know who's really doing the planting."