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Top stories today:
- China’s DeepSeek releases new ultra-large, open-weight AI model
- Microsoft, OpenAI said to set $100B profit goal for AGI
- Global businesses scramble as Trump’s tariff threats disrupt markets
- Global funding to AI startups +80% YoY to $99.6B in Dec.
- U.S. PC shipments forecast +2% for 2025, 2026
- Singapore’s stock exchange hits 20-year low in listed companies
0. Data and calendar
All values as of 6 AM ET / 3 AM PT, other than S&P500 and NASDAQ close (4 PM ET / 1 PM PT).
No major events today.
Listen to our AI-generated podcast summarizing today’s newsletter (beware of the few hallucinations):
1. China’s DeepSeek releases new ultra-large, open-weight AI model to rival Meta’s Llama
DeepSeek V3 outperformed other open-weight AI models and OpenAI’s GPT-4o in benchmarks by Artificial Analysis:
Trained on 14.8T tokens.
Generates 60 tokens/ second.
MoE architecture with 671B total parameters (37B active).
DeepSeek V3 code is MIT-licensed on GitHub, but the model uses DeepSeek’s license.
$0.27/ 1M input tokens and $1.10/ 1M output tokens (regular prices), with discounts available until Feb. 8.
DeepSeek V3 has censored certain queries, including those about the Tiananmen Square incident
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3. Microsoft, OpenAI said to set $100B profit goal for AGI
Representational image generated using OpenAI’s DALL-E.
2023: OpenAI and Microsoft reportedly signed a contract defining artificial general intelligence (AGI) as the stage of making $100B in profits.
OpenAI can effectively exit Microsoft’s contract after achieving AGI.
AGI as AI surpassing humans in “most economically valuable work,” per OpenAI’s public definition.
OpenAI reportedly loses billions annually, expecting its first profit by 2029.
Microsoft’s cloud exclusivity is hindering OpenAI’s growth due to limited servers and resale opportunities
Ending Microsoft’s exclusivity could aid OpenAI’s ongoing for-profit goals.
4. Global businesses scramble as Trump’s tariff threats likely to disrupt markets
Tariffs are being discussed more than ever in companies’ conference calls:
