Tuesday, January 28, 2025
China’s DeepSeek takes AI world by storm
China’s DeepSeek takes AI world by storm
ChatGPT-Like AI Language Model Developed At A Fraction Of Its Cost
Supriya.Roy@timesofindia.com 28.01.2025
Bengaluru : DeepSeek’s dramatic impact on tech stocks worldwide on Monday was likely also the result of the huge interest it has generated among consumers. The Chinese artificial intelligence app has soared to the No. 1 spot in Apple’s App Store productivity category across major markets, overtaking ChatGPT.
Among DeepSeek’s rivals building large language models (LLMs), Perplexity founder & CEO Aravind Srinivas was the only one to make a public comment on the Chinese company’s accomplishment. He congratulated DeepSeek, and noted on X: “For a while, it wasn’t clear who would beat ChatGPT for the first time. The best we (Perplexity) could manage was #8, a year ago. Look forward to using all their (DeepSeek’s) models for search, assistant, and agents this year.” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made an indirect reference to it. Speaking at the World Economic Forum, he said, “We should take the developments out of China very, very seriously.”
PCI implementation of Aadhaarlinked IDs, biometric attendance to curb ghost faculty
PCI implementation of Aadhaarlinked IDs, biometric attendance to curb ghost faculty
Pharmacy institutions have been directed to procure certified biometric authentication devices to ensure proper attendance
Priyadarshini.Gupta@timesofindia.com
In a move to enhance transparency and address malpractices in the pharmacy education sector, the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) will be soon implementing Aadhaarbased authentication for the unique ID registration numbers issued to pharmacy teachers and students. The initiative, expected to begin in February, will curb creation of duplication and ghost faculty profiles. To strengthen this further, the PCI is also in the process of initiating the implementation of Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) in all approved pharmacy institutions from the 2025-2026 academic session in a phased manner. '
There have been growing concerns over the lack of transparency in maintaining accurate records of pharmacy educators. Institutions sometimes fail to keep proper records of their teaching staff, often hiring guest lecturers or assigning ‘ghost faculty’ to avoid regular payroll. All institutions are directed to procure Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC)-certified biometric authentication devices. With this, the PCI will monitor the attendance of all faculty staff at the institutions. The Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) are required to maintain internet connectivity for the effective functioning of this system.
Experts feel the new system will enhance the credibility of pharmacy education and facilitate better policymaking. Montukumar Patel, president, PCI, says, “Introduction of Aadhaar-linked unique IDs will create a more reliable and secure way to manage the database of pharmacy educators and students. As of now, more than 1,00,000 teachers have applied for their unique ID registration number.
We expect to receive more registrations soon.” Chance to re-register The unique ID registration system involves the issuance of an ID card with a QR code, which contains the central registration number of the teacher or student. These smart cards not only serve as an identification tool but also enable easy verification via QR codes. The link between Aadhaar and the unique ID will ensure that each registered teacher or student has a verifiable identity, preventing the creation of multiple fraudulent profiles. The process will be managedthrough the PCI website, where teachers and students can initiate the process of lin king their Aadhaar numbers with their respective IDs.
“Previously, there were no checkpoints to ensure the validity of registrations, leading to the creation of multiple profiles by the same individual, often using different email addresses. The new system will eliminate such discrepancies,” adds Patel. The PCI usually faces a challenge in maintaining the DIGI-PHARMedportal due to the prevalence of duplicate or invalid profiles. Recently, it blacklisted over 91,000 such profiles on the portal. “The council has now asked individuals to re-register using their Aadhaar-linked mobile numbers. This will ensure that only valid candidates are allowed access to the system, and prevent further cases of duplicate profiles,” says the PCI president.
Boost accountability The initiative aims to enhance its teacher identification system and create accountability. Daksh Bhatia, professor, KIET School of Pharmacy, Ghaziabad, says, “The PCI has been collecting details of teachers and issuing ID cards for some time now, however, the process lacked authentication. There have been instances of duplication, where some teachers created multiple IDs using different email addresses linked to the same Aadhaar number. Delays in generating OTPs further led to errors and duplication. Faculty members will now also be able to shift from one institution to another with relative ease. The new system will allow the faculty to submit transfer requests to their current institution, and once the transfer is approved, they can officially join the new institution, ensuring that their teaching records remain up to date.” Real-time insights By linking the Aadhaar, the PCI is trying to ensure that every pharmacist is identified and associated with a specific workplace — whether a hospital, retail pharmacy, or academic institution. Anuradha Majumdar, HoD, Department of Pharmacology, Bombay College of Pharmacy, Mumbai, says, “This centralised database will not only serve as a verification tool but will also provide real-time insights into the distribution of pharmacists across sectors. Such data can be crucial during emergencies, central/state/ region/rural-urban-wise decision-making, while forming and implementing new government policies and methodologies in healthcare as well as in pharmacy higher education.
It will allow the PCI to map specialised skillsets such as pharmacists working as teachers with value-added information on specialisations and research areas; pharmacists manning retail outlets, hospital pharmacies with expertise in intensive care units or those involved in advanced therapies like cell-based therapy or specialty areas enabling better utilisation of registered pharmacists as manpower. The step will generate a central pharmacist database covering all states.”
Add Prayagraj flights, curb fares, says govt
Add Prayagraj flights, curb fares, says govt
28.01.2025
New Delhi : Centre has directed airlines to add flights to Prayagraj in the wake of some roundtrip fares surging to over ₹50,000 around Maha Kumbh’s important snan dates — Jan 29 and Feb 3, 4, 12 & 26. The directive from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) followed a TOI report on Monday on the skyrocketing fares to Prayagraj around these dates.
Accordingly, it “advised airlines to ensure sufficient capacity to accommodate passengers”. Soon after, the aviation ministry said in a statement on Monday that Akasa would operate flights to Prayagraj on Jan 28 and 29 from Ahmedabad. Next month, the airline “plans to operate nine flights from Ahmedabad and 12 from Bangalore to Prayagraj, adding about 4,000 seats. “SpiceJet” is set to launch flights to Prayagraj from Delhi, Chennai, Guwahati, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Jaipur and Hyderabad, adding about 43,000 seats in Feb,” the statement says. TNN
Why China’s DeepSeek Has US Wowed, And Worried
Why China’s DeepSeek Has US Wowed, And Worried
TOI Explains Chinese-built large language model — DeepSeek-R1 — is significantly cheaper than comparable AI models of Open AI’s ChatGPT or Google Gemini, almost as good at most tasks (in initial checks) and is open for all. Has China levelled the field with US tech giants and even stolen a march on them on the most significant technology of our times?
TIMES NEWS NETWORK: 28.01.2025
In 2023, at an event organised by The Times Of India, OpenAI founder was dismissive about a challenger emerging to something like ChatGPT. When former Google India head Rajan Anandan asked him whether it was possible to come up with a large language model on a relatively low budget, Sam Altman said: “We will explicitly tell you that it’s completely hopeless to challenge us in training foundational models, and you shouldn’t even attempt it.
” Two years later, Altman is probably reassessing what he had said. In a breakthrough that could reshape the future of artificial intelligence, Chinese-built large language model, DeepSeek-R1, is emerging as a cost-effective and open-source rival to advanced AI systems like OpenAI’s o1. Designed to mimic human reasoning, this model processes information step-by-step, making it skilled at tackling complex scientific problems. From chemistry and mathematics to coding, DeepSeek-R1’s early performance, unveiled on Jan 20, has surprised researchers by matching the capabilities of OpenAI’s o1, which had set a high bar for AI innovation just months ago. One of DeepSeek’s most noticeable achievements is its cost-effectiveness.
While industry leaders like OpenAI and Google invest billions annually to develop advanced AI models, DeepSeek version 3 was built for a mere $5.6 million. This stark contrast has turned heads across the AI community, with experts questioning how a relatively modest budget produced results that rival the most advanced AI systems on the market. DeepSeek claims to have outperformed major models, including OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Meta’s LLaMA, on various benchmarks such as maths, coding, and reasoning evaluations. This performance stems from its innovative approach to model training.
By leveraging older-generation Nvidia H-800 GPUs instead of cutting-edge hardware like the H-100 GPUs, DeepSeek sidestepped US semiconductor export restrictions, demonstrating that necessity drives invention. Open-Source Revolution Unlike many proprietary AI models like ChatGPT and Google Gemini, DeepSeek is open source, allowing developers worldwide to access, modify, and build upon its architecture. This openness enables cost effective app development and democratises AI innovation. It is reported that while OpenAI charges $4.40 per million tokens for its API, DeepSeek offers similar services at just 10 cents, making it a highly attractive option for developers. This move toward open-source models could redefine the AI landscape. Historically, once open-source solutions achieve parity with or surpass proprietary models, developers tend to migrate en masse. DeepSeek’s open-source model has the potential to establish China as a leader in the AI space, embedding its technology into global infrastructures and ecosystems. Innovation Under Constraints DeepSeek’s development showcases how innovation flourishes under constraints. US export restrictions on ad vanced semiconductors were intended to slow China’s AI progress. However, these limitations forced Chinese researchers to innovate, resulting in more efficient model training processes.
For example, DeepSeek employed techniques like “distillation”, where a smaller model learns from a larger one, enabling cost and computing efficiency. DeepSeek’s success, once verified and tested more comprehensively, challenges the narrative that US companies maintain an insurmountable lead in AI. Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, recently revised his stance, acknowledging that China’s AI capabilities have caught up remarkably in just six months. The rise of open-source models like DeepSeek also poses a strategic dilemma for closed-source giants such as OpenAI and Google. As opensource platforms gain traction, proprietary models may struggle to justify their higher costs. DeepSeek’s emergence signals a broader shift in the AI landscape.
With other Chinese companies, like Kai Fu Lee’s Zero One Dot AI and Alibaba’s Qwen, also achieving cost-effective innovations, the global AI race is becoming increasingly competitive. How Open Can DeepSeek Be? However, DeepSeek’s ascent is not without controversy. Critics point out that opensource models developed in China are subject to govt-mandated “core socialist values”, raising concerns about censorship and the dissemination of biased information. For instance, Chinese AI models have been shown to censor discussions on sensitive topics like Tiananmen Square and human rights abuses. These developments raise critical questions about the future of AI governance. Will the global AI ecosystem adopt democratic, transparent principles, or will it lean toward centralised, state-controlled models? Lessons For India For India and other emerging AI hubs, the rise of DeepSeek offers valuable lessons.
It demonstrates that strategic investments in talent, infrastructure, and efficient methodologies can yield transformative results, even in the face of resource constraints. Clearly, the AI race is accelerating, and the rules of the game are being rewritten.
What is DeepSeek? Chinese AI model outshining ChatGPT and shaking up the AI world
What is DeepSeek? Chinese AI model outshining ChatGPT and shaking up the AI world
ByMuskaan Sharma
Jan 27, 2025 07:53 PM IST
DeepSeek's AI Assistant outshines ChatGPT, becoming the leading free app on Apple's App Store in the US.
A Chinese AI startup has shaken the Silicon Valley after presenting breakthrough artificial intelligence models that are now overtaking world's best AI models at a fraction of the cost.
DeepSeek’s AI models have reportedly been developed at a fraction of the cost compared to OpenAI and Meta.(AFP)
DeepSeek's AI Assistant has take over rival ChatGPT to become the top-rated free application available on Apple's App Store in the United States.
What is DeepSeek?
DeepSeek was founded in 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, an engineer and entrepreneur who specialises in artificial intelligence and quantitative finance. Before creating DeepSeek, he led a hedge fund known for using AI to analyse financial data.
Now Liang’s team includes fresh graduates from top Chinese universities. The company has now developed AI models that are open-source and helping developers across the world to improve their technologies.
How is DeepSeek different from OpenAI?
With its sudden rise, comparisons are being made between DeepSeek and OpenAI. The one thing that sets DeepSeek R1, which is said to mimic human thinking, apart from other AI models is that it also provides its reasoning before delivering a response to a prompt. The company claims its performance is on par with OpenAI’s latest technology.
DeepSeek’s AI models are developed at a fraction of the cost compared to leading products from OpenAI and Meta, raising questions about the need for huge investments in high-end AI accelerators like those from Nvidia.
DeepSeek claims its R1 is better than rival models for mathematical tasks, general knowledge and question-and-answer performance. It also ranks among the top performers on a UC Berkeley-affiliated leaderboard called Chatbot Arena.
What is US worried?
To stop China from getting ahead in the tech supremacy race, US had banned the export of high-end technologies like GPU semiconductors to China. But DeepSeek’s progress now shows that US' tactics to stall AI advancement in China have not had a significant impact. It seems Chinese AI engineers have worked their way around the restrictions.
With DeepSeek’s success, OpenAI and other US companies like Meta will have to lower their pricing even as their vast spending is being questioned. Both Meta and Microsoft committed to $65 billion or more this year for AI infrastructure.
What are DeepSeek's shortcomings?
DeepSeek, like other Chinese AI models, exhibits self-censorship on sensitive topics in China. It avoids addressing queries about events such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests or a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The bot also refuses to comment on Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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