Techsmartworld Team - TechSmartWorld

Sony’s PlayStation Network down for nearly 20 hours, now restored, users to get free PS Plus days

February 11, 2025 techsmartworld team PS3, ps4, ps5

Sony’s PlayStation Network (PSN) suffered a global outage on Saturday, February 8. Thousands of gamers faced connectivity issues due to this glitch and were unable to access online services, stores, and multimedia apps.

Users also complained about login issues. The outage started at around 5:20 PM ET and lasted for nearly 20 hours. Server failure complaints peaked at 5:49 PM ET, as Down Detector recorded over 65,000 complaints within approximately half an hour of the issue starting.

Meanwhile, the company itself recognized the issue and informed users about it on X (formerly Twitter). “We are aware some users might be currently experiencing issues with PSN,” PlayStation said in a post.

Speaking of the details, many users encountered error messages, like “PlayStation Network is currently undergoing maintenance (WS-37432-9),” while trying to access PSN services.

These messages repeatedly appeared on their screens, preventing them from logging in or playing online. Users had no option but to either close the message and wait or check PlayStation’s support page for further updates on the issue.

Considering the timing of the outage, the problem became more significant, as the evening hours are generally peak gaming times. Many users were returning home from work or school.

Notably, the PlayStation outage was not limited to a single country or region, it affected players worldwide. This means the disruption spanned multiple time zones, impacting gamers at different times of the day. Both casual players and esports professionals were affected, making the outage a significant issue for all types of users.

The PSN outage severely disrupted essential PlayStation services, preventing users from engaging in various online activities. Many players reported being unable to log into their PSN accounts, access their friends lists, or join multiplayer games.

As a result, online-based titles such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto Online, EA FC 24, and Destiny 2 became inaccessible. This left competitive gamers particularly frustrated, as they rely on stable online connections for ranked matches and team-based gameplay.

The outage affected all PlayStation devices, not just one specific console. Players using the PS5, PS4, PS3, and PS Vita all reported connectivity problems.

Additionally, the disruption wasn’t limited to gaming consoles – it also impacted PlayStation’s web-based services, including PlayStation Direct (the online store) and the PlayStation mobile app, making it difficult for users to access PlayStation services across different platforms. Of course, this is not the first time PlayStation has experienced a major outage. Last year, in October, the PlayStation Network was down for several hours.

Sony has now announced offering free PS Plus days to all affected users.

Also Read:
Related:- OpenAI adds new features to WhatsApp ChatGPT, including voice messages

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Tech News

Elon Musk-led consortium offers $97.4Bn to take control of OpenAI, Altman responds

February 11, 2025 techsmartworld team

Elon Musk and a group of investors have made a $97.4 billion offer to buy OpenAI’s controlling non-profit entity. The bid was submitted to OpenAI’s board, according to a report by WSJ.

However, neither OpenAI nor Musk has publicly commented on it yet. The situation is significant because Musk (who is also leading this consortium of investors) and OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, have a history of conflicts.

Musk was originally involved in OpenAI’s founding in 2015 but has since been critical of its shift from a non-profit to a for-profit model, especially after securing major investments from Microsoft and others.

Musk has accused OpenAI of straying from its original mission of creating AI for the benefit of humanity and has criticized its lack of openness and focus on safety. This, coupled with his public conflicts with Altman, seems to have led to a more serious step from Musk, going as far as buying a controlling stake.

Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, confirmed the development, as per the report. Toberoff submitted the bid to OpenAI’s board on February 10. According to Musk’s statement in the WSJ report, he believes OpenAI has drifted away from its original values, and he wants to restore its commitment to openness and safety.

The bid is backed by Musk’s own AI company, xAI (founded in 2023), which suggests that if the deal goes through, xAI and OpenAI could merge. OpenAI’s Sam Altman however, has publicly come out and rejected the deal with a post on X, saying “No thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want”, thus directly acknowledging that there indeed was an attempt to buy out controlling stake in OpenAI.

The offer comes at a time when several reports suggest that SoftBank is planning to invest around $15-25 billion in the AI trendsetter firm – OpenAI at over $300 billion valuation.

Notably, OpenAI reached a valuation of approximately $157 billion in its last funding round in October 2024, when the company raised nearly $6.6 billion. So far, the ChatGPT maker has raised a total of $17.9 billion in funding over 10 rounds.

OpenAI is also a prominent part of the recently announced Stargate Project in the United States, which primarily aims to develop new data centers to support AI advancements and generate over 100,000 jobs across the country.

Just after Donald Trump’s inauguration as the new US president, SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX announced the initiative. Under this project (more precisely, the joint venture) these companies intend to allocate around $500 billion over the next four years to strengthen AI infrastructure in the US.

Coming back to the row between Elon Musk and OpenAI, last year, Musk sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman. He alleged that OpenAI was initially founded as a non-profit project rather than for financial gain.

He argues that now the ChatGPT maker has only focused on profit-making. In December 2024, a non-profit organization, Encode also joined Elon Musk’s effort to block OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit entity.

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ChatGPT Search now available to everyone without login

Tech News

ChatGPT Search now available to everyone without login

February 8, 2025 techsmartworld team

The next time users want to check out ChatGPT’s web search tool, they will be able to do so even if they do not log in or sign up first. OpenAI has announced that its ChatGPT Search feature is now accessible to all users, with no login required. The announcement, made on Wednesday via X (the erstwhile Twitter), marks a major expansion of OpenAI’s AI-powered web search capabilities.

By December, the feature had been extended to all logged-in free-tier users, but an account was still necessary to use the search functionality. Now, the AI research firm is taking it one step further and has removed the sign-in barrier entirely, allowing anyone to access ChatGPT’s real-time search capabilities simply by visiting ChatGPT.com.

Unlike Google and other conventional search engines that primarily display ranked lists of web links, ChatGPT Search presents users with AI-generated summaries alongside sourced citations.

The move could well be a direct result of the havoc that China-based Deepseek wrecked across the largely US-dominated, multi-billion AI sector. Deepseek provided credible proof that it is indeed easy to develop large, complex LLMs at a fraction of the cost that OpenAI and others project.

This has made it necessary for the likes of OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and others to speed up their own AI efforts even further and make their offerings more accessible to a wider user group.

Originally branded as SearchGPT, ChatGPT’s search feature aimed to bridge the gap between AI-generated responses and real-time web data.

Traditional AI chatbots, including earlier versions of ChatGPT, were restricted to knowledge from their last training update, limiting their ability to provide current and time-sensitive information.

The launch of ChatGPT Search addressed this issue by allowing the chatbot to retrieve live information on topics such as sports scores, financial markets, news updates, and weather forecasts.

The next major update arrived later, in December when OpenAI expanded the feature to all free-tier users—though they still had to log into their OpenAI accounts.

By eliminating the need for user authentication, ChatGPT Search seems to be shaping up as a potential competitor to Google — the world’s most dominant search engine.

As mentioned earlier, while Google relies on keyword-based searches and ranked web pages, ChatGPT Search uses natural language processing to generate summarized responses based on real-time web data. For users, this means that they can spend less time sifting through multiple links and gain more direct answers to queries.

OpenAI states that ChatGPT Search will automatically fetch live web results when needed, though users can also manually trigger searches by selecting the search icon below the chat input field.

In addition to this, the firm has refined the user interface to make ChatGPT Search feel more like a traditional search engine. The latest updates introduce maps, images, and structured descriptions, making it easier for users to find information on local businesses, tourist attractions, and geographic locations — a feature that directly competes with Google’s local search capabilities.

Still, OpenAI and ChatGPT have a long way to go before they stand a chance of dethroning Google’s place in the online search market ecosystem. Google’s search engine maintains its dominance in the sector, and already profits from a massive web indexing infrastructure and proprietary algorithms that rank and filter search results.

ChatGPT, on the other hand, remains dependent on external sources for live data, which may limit its ability to provide search results at the same scale as Google. Google itself has been actively incorporating AI into its own search experience in recent times as well – its Search Generative Experience (SGE) maintains Google’s traditional link-based approach and comes with AI-powered enhancements to refine search queries and highlight key insights.

Source

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Related:- OpenAI adds new features to WhatsApp ChatGPT, including voice messages

US lawmakers seek to ban DeepSeek on government devices

Tech News

US lawmakers seek to ban DeepSeek on government devices

February 7, 2025 techsmartworld team DeepSeek

A new bipartisan bill introduced in the House Intelligence Committee now seeks to halt the use of DeepSeek’s AI chatbot on all US government-issued devices, citing national security risks and concerns over potential links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The legislation, known as the No DeepSeek on Government Devices Act, is being co-sponsored by Representative Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Representative Darin LaHood (R-IL). The lawmakers argue that DeepSeek’s AI system could expose data to Chinese state-controlled entities.

“The Chinese Communist Party has made it abundantly clear that it will exploit any tool at its disposal to undermine our national security, spew harmful disinformation, and collect data on Americans,” Gottheimer commented on the matter. “We simply can’t risk the CCP infiltrating the devices of our government officials and jeopardizing our national security.”

If passed, the bill would require all federal agencies to remove DeepSeek from government networks within 60 days and prevent any future installations of the chatbot on official devices.

The proposed DeepSeek ban closely mirrors previous actions taken against TikTok, the Chinese-owned social media app that was banned from federal government devices in 2022 due to security concerns.

In that case, lawmakers argued that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, had the potential to share US user data with Chinese authorities, prompting a wave of legislative actions to limit the app’s influence in the US.

For those who missed it, DeepSeek, the Chinese AI startup, has quickly gained global recognition for its advanced large language models (LLMs), such as DeepSeek-V3 and R1.

These models rival AI systems developed by OpenAI, Google, and Meta, and can provide high-quality responses at a lower computational cost. DeepSeek’s latest model, R1, has drawn attention for reportedly outperforming OpenAI’s GPT-4o in reasoning tasks as well.

However, despite DeepSeek’s success, its alleged ties to the Chinese government have triggered security concerns. According to media reports, a recent cybersecurity analysis by Feroot Security, a Canadian security firm, revealed that DeepSeek’s chatbot application contains hidden scripts that transmit user data to China Mobile, a state-owned telecom company with documented ties to the Chinese military.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has already banned China Mobile from operating in the US. DeepSeek’s chatbot is said to store sensitive user data, including conversations, uploaded documents, and proprietary business information, creating the possibility that this data could be accessed by the Chinese government under China’s strict cybersecurity laws.

While the proposed legislation is still in its early stages, several US federal agencies and military branches have already moved to block DeepSeek from their networks.

The Pentagon recently restricted access to the AI chatbot after discovering that employees had connected government computers to DeepSeek’s servers for at least two days before security officials intervened.

To add to this, the Defense Information Systems Agency, which oversees Pentagon cybersecurity operations, took immediate action to block DeepSeek’s website, preventing further access. Similarly, both the US Navy and NASA have issued internal bans on the chatbot, following their security assessments. At the state level, Texas has become the first US state to enact a ban on DeepSeek across all government-owned devices.

The US is not alone in taking steps to mitigate the security risks presented by DeepSeek. Italy, South Korea, and Australia have all implemented government-wide bans on DeepSeek, restricting public officials from using the chatbot on government-owned devices.

Meanwhile, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has issued an official warning to government officials, advising them to “strictly avoid” using AI tools like DeepSeek and ChatGPT for official tasks, fearing that sensitive data could be compromised.

Source

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DeepSeek’s AI models trigger historic US tech stock sell-off

Tech News Smart World

DeepSeek’s AI models trigger historic US tech stock sell-off

February 7, 2025 techsmartworld team AI, OpenAI

DeepSeek, the two-year-old Hangzhou-based startup, recently released its DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 models. The AI sector has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, fueled by advancements in AI tech, the demand for popular chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini, and the millions that have been invested in the sector by investors across the globe.

Now, the exact opposite has happened – China-origin DeepSeek’s foray into AI has resulted in a massive upheaval in the global tech sector – the company’s low-cost, high-performance AI models have now challenged established players in the sector and triggered an unprecedented sell-off in tech stocks, wiping out billions of dollars in market value.

DeepSeek, the two-year-old Hangzhou-based startup, recently released its DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 models. These AI platforms, according to the company, rival the capabilities of leading Western competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT but operate at a fraction of the cost.

What makes these developments all the more enticing is that DeepSeek’s AI models were reportedly developed on Nvidia’s less powerful H800 chips at a cost of under $6 million—significantly less than what competitors typically spend. In other words, you can have fast, efficient performance at a fraction of the cost.

The DeepSeek-R1 model introduced just a week ago, is said to be 20 to 50 times more cost-efficient than similar offerings from industry giants. Independent third-party evaluations have corroborated the company’s claims, confirming that DeepSeek’s models outperform in several key areas.

Moreover, the decision to make these models open-source means that developers worldwide have access to, and can deploy, these tools without substantial investment on their part.

DeepSeek’s gain has proved to be the detriment of other tech companies, though. Nvidia, a dominant force in AI hardware, saw its stock plunge by nearly 17%, translating to a loss of $593 billion in market capitalization. This marked the largest single-day loss in the history of Wall Street, surpassing even its previous record of $279 billion in September.

“DeepSeek demonstrates an alternative path to efficient model training than the current arm’s race among hyperscalers by significantly increasing the data quality and improving the model architecture.

DeepSeek is now the lowest cost of LLM manufacturing, allowing frontier AI performance at a fraction of the cost with 9-13x lower price on output tokens vs. GPT-4o and Claude 3.5,” Morgan Stanley commented on the development.

Other semiconductor companies were similarly affected. Broadcom’s shares fell by 17.4%, while Marvell Technology suffered a 19.1% decline. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, a key benchmark for the sector, dropped by 9.2%, its steepest decline since the onset of the pandemic back in 2020.

According to analysts, this widespread fall can be attributed to fears that the demand for high-performance AI chips could be significantly reduced by the rise of more efficient alternatives like DeepSeek’s models.

The Nasdaq Composite Index, heavily populated with tech and AI-focused firms, fell by 3.1%, marking one of its most significant single-day declines in recent years. At its lowest point during the trading session, the index had lost more than $1 trillion in valuation. Similarly, major Big Tech companies like Microsoft and Alphabet, which have invested heavily in proprietary AI technologies, also experienced notable declines.

Microsoft, a key backer of OpenAI, saw its shares drop by 2.1%, while Alphabet, Google’s parent company, fell by 4.2%. Outside the U.S., global markets mirrored this downturn. Japan’s SoftBank Group closed 8.3% lower, and European semiconductor firms like ASML reported losses of over 7%.

Source

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OpenAI adds new features to WhatsApp ChatGPT, including voice messages

Smart World

OpenAI adds new features to WhatsApp ChatGPT, including voice messages

February 6, 2025 techsmartworld team OpenAI

Last year, ChatGPT debuted on the popular messaging app WhatsApp, which can be accessed by using the number 1-800-CHATGPT (1-800-242-8478). Now, this service has received several new upgrades and features that are similar to those on the official website or app version of the chatbot. One of the most prominent new features is that the WhatsApp version of ChatGPT now accepts image inputs, in addition to text.

Speaking of details, going forward, using the WhatsApp version of ChatGPT users can now send/add a photo (either by taking one with the phone’s camera or selecting an image from the gallery) and ChatGPT will analyze it and respond with a text-based answer.

In addition to sending text and images, users can now send voice messages to ChatGPT on WhatsApp. ChatGPT will listen to the spoken message, process it, and respond with a text-based answer within the chat. This feature is particularly useful when users are on the go and might not have the time or ability to type out a message.

Starting January 5, OpenAI also introduced account linking for ChatGPT users on WhatsApp. Now, users with Plus, Free, and Pro subscriptions can link their existing ChatGPT accounts directly to WhatsApp. For those with a paid subscription (Plus or Pro), this gives access to higher usage limits and possibly more advanced models, depending on the tier.

Even Free-tier users can benefit, as OpenAI recently made some advanced reasoning models available to them. Essentially, account linking ensures that the features and capabilities tied to users’ ChatGPT subscriptions are available while using the Meta-owned instant messaging app.

However, OpenAI’s ChatGPT is not the only AI assistant available on WhatsApp. Meta’s own AI chatbot is also available on the app. Many other AI chatbot makers have also entered the messaging app, including Microsoft’s Copilot.

Regarding availability, recent updates have been made available to all users, including those in India, which is one of the largest user bases for WhatsApp. OpenAI states that these updates are designed to promote inclusivity, making ChatGPT accessible to more users, especially in countries like India. Interestingly, OpenAI seems to be aggressively pushing its AI capabilities across various modes and models as a new competitor from China emerges, called “DeepSeek,” which claims to be a low-cost alternative to the US-based firm.

Source

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Alphabet highlights aggressive AI spending in Q4 earnings, revenue grows 12%

Tech News

Alphabet highlights aggressive AI spending in Q4 earnings, revenue grows 12%

February 5, 2025 techsmartworld team AI, Alphabet, Google

Google parent Alphabet saw its shares drop significantly following the release of its fourth-quarter earnings report for 2024. While the company reported strong earnings growth, its revenue fell short of Wall Street expectations.

The company reported a revenue of $96.47 billion for the fourth quarter, marking a 12% year-over-year increase from $86.31 billion in the same period the previous year. However, this figure came in slightly below analysts’ estimates of $96.56 billion.

Despite the revenue miss, Alphabet’s earnings per share (EPS) exceeded expectations, coming in at $2.15 compared to the anticipated $2.13. The company’s net income rose sharply to $26.54 billion, marking a growth of 28% from the $20.69 billion reported in the same quarter a year earlier.

Operating income also showed a healthy uptick, growing by 31% to amount to $30.97 billion for the three months ended December 2024. For the entire fiscal year, Alphabet’s revenue amounted to $350 billion, while its net income and diluted EPS for the same period amounted to $100 billion and $8.04 respectively.

“Q4 was a strong quarter driven by our leadership in AI and momentum across the business. We are building, testing, and launching products and models faster than ever, and making significant progress in computing and driving efficiencies. In Search, advances like AI Overviews and Circle to Search are increasing user engagement.

Our AI-powered Google Cloud portfolio is seeing stronger customer demand, and YouTube continues to be the leader in streaming watchtime and podcasts.

Together, Cloud and YouTube exited 2024 at an annual revenue run rate of $110 billion. Our results show the power of our differentiated full-stack approach to AI innovation and the continued strength of our core businesses.

We are confident about the opportunities ahead, and to accelerate our progress, we expect to invest approximately $75 billion in capital expenditures in 2025,” Sundar Pichai, Alphabet CEO, commented on the matter.

For the first quarter of 2025 alone, Alphabet expects capital expenditures to range between $16 billion and $18 billion, surpassing the $14.3 billion forecasted by analysts. In the fourth quarter of 2024, Alphabet’s capital expenditures totaled $14 billion, slightly above the $13.26 billion estimated by analysts.

Google’s advertising segment, which remains the largest contributor to Alphabet’s overall revenue, reported $72.46 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter. This represented a year-over-year increase of 10.6%, slightly below the 11% growth recorded during the same period in 2023. Revenue from Google Search, a key component of Google’s advertising business, rose by 12.5% (narrowly missing the 12.7% growth rate achieved in the previous year) to amount to $54 billion for Q4 2024. For the same period, YouTube’s advertising revenue reached $10.47 billion, surpassing analysts’ expectations of $10.23 billion.

However, this marks a slowdown from the 15.5% growth recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023, as YouTube ad revenue increased by 13.8% year over year to reach $10.473 billion (exceeding the $10 billion mark for the first time).

Similarly, Alphabet’s Google Cloud division, which has been a focal point of the company’s growth strategy, reported revenue of $11.96 billion for the fourth quarter.

This marked a 30% increase from the previous year but fell short of Wall Street’s expectations of $12.19 billion. Alphabet’s Other Bets segment, which includes ventures such as the life sciences unit Verily and the autonomous driving unit Waymo, continued to struggle in the fourth quarter.

The segment reported revenue of $400 million, significantly below the $616.4 million expected by analysts and a sharp decline from the $657 million reported in the same quarter the previous year. The segment also posted a loss of $1.17 billion, compared to a loss of $863 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.

“We had strong demand for AI products in the fourth quarter and exited the year with more demand than we had available capacity,” Anat Ashkenazi, Alphabet CFO, commented on the matter during the earnings call, adding that the company is “in a tight supply-demand situation.”

Source

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DeepSeek: The Chinese AI app that has the world talking

Tech News

DeepSeek: The Chinese AI app that has the world talking

February 5, 2025 techsmartworld team AI, DeepSeek

DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup, made headlines worldwide after it topped app download charts and caused US tech stocks to sink.

In January, it released its latest model, DeepSeek R1, which it said rivaled technology developed by ChatGPT-maker OpenAI in its capabilities while costing far less to create.

Its popularity and potential rattled investors, wiping billions of dollars off the market value of chip giant Nvidia – and called into question whether American firms would dominate the booming artificial intelligence (AI) market, as many assumed they would.

President Donald Trump described it as a “wake-up call” for US companies.

What is artificial intelligence?

To understand why DeepSeek has made such a stir, it helps to start with AI and its capability to make a computer seem like a person.

A machine uses technology to learn and solve problems, typically by being trained on massive amounts of information and recognizing patterns.

The result is software that can have conversations like a person or predict people’s shopping habits.

In recent years, it has become best known as the tech behind chatbots such as ChatGPT – and DeepSeek – also known as generative AI.

These programs again learn from huge swathes of data, including online text and images, to be able to make new content.

But these tools can also create falsehoods and often repeat the biases contained within their training data.

Millions of people use tools such as ChatGPT to help them with everyday tasks like writing emails, summarising text, and answering questions – and others even use them to help with basic coding and studying.

What is DeepSeek?

DeepSeek is the name of a free AI-powered chatbot, which looks, feels, and works very much like ChatGPT.

That means it’s used for many of the same tasks, though exactly how well it works compared to its rivals is up for debate.

It is reportedly as powerful as OpenAI’s o1 model – released at the end of last year – in tasks including mathematics and coding.

Like o1, R1 is a “reasoning” model. These models produce responses incrementally, simulating how humans reason through problems or ideas.

Deepseek says it has been able to do this cheaply – researchers behind it claim it cost $6m (£4.8m) to train, a fraction of the “over $100m” alluded to by OpenAI boss Sam Altman when discussing GPT-4.

It has also seemingly been able to minimize the impact of US restrictions on the most powerful chips reaching China.

DeepSeek’s founder reportedly built up a store of Nvidia A100 chips, which have been banned from export to China since September 2022. Some experts believe he paired these chips with cheaper, less sophisticated ones – ending up with a much more efficient process.

DeepSeek also uses less memory than its rivals, ultimately reducing the cost of performing tasks for users.

That combination of performance and lower cost helped DeepSeek’s AI assistant become the most downloaded free app on Apple’s App Store when it was released in the US.

The same day, it was hit with “large-scale malicious attacks”, the company said, causing the company to temporarily limit registrations.

Its website also experienced outages.

Like many other Chinese AI models – Baidu’s Ernie or Doubao by ByteDance – DeepSeek is trained to avoid politically sensitive questions.

When the BBC asked the app what happened at Tiananmen Square on 4 June 1989, DeepSeek did not give any details about the massacre, a taboo topic in China, which is subject to government censorship.

Who is behind DeepSeek?

DeepSeek was founded in December 2023 by Liang Wenfeng and released its first AI large language model the following year.

Not much is known about Mr Liang, who graduated from Zhejiang University with degrees in electronic information engineering and computer science. But he now finds himself in the international spotlight.

He was recently seen at a meeting hosted by China’s premier Li Qiang, reflecting DeepSeek’s growing prominence in the AI industry.

Unlike many American AI entrepreneurs who are from Silicon Valley, Mr Liang also has a background in finance.

He is the CEO of a hedge fund called High-Flyer, which uses AI to analyze financial data to make investment decisions – what is called quantitative trading. In 2019 High-Flyer became the first quant hedge fund in China to raise over 100 billion yuan ($13m).

In a speech he gave that year, Liang said, “If the US can develop its quantitative trading sector, why not China?”

In a rare interview last year, he said China’s AI sector “cannot remain a follower forever” of US AI development.

Asked why DeepSeek’s model surprised so many in Silicon Valley, Liang said: “Their surprise stems from seeing a Chinese company join their game as an innovator, not just a follower – which is what most Chinese firms are accustomed to.”

But it has drawn scrutiny from global leaders.

Australia has banned DeepSeek on government devices and systems, saying it poses a national security risk.

Several data protection authorities around the world have also asked DeepSeek to clarify how it handles personal information – which it stores on China-based servers.

Italy blocked DeepSeek’s app on 30 January and ordered the company to stop processing the personal information of its citizens over data protection concerns.

Why were US companies like Nvidia hit?

DeepSeek’s achievements undercut the belief that bigger budgets and top-tier chips are the only ways of advancing AI, a prospect that has created uncertainty about the future of high-performance chips.

“DeepSeek has proven that cutting-edge AI models can be developed with limited compute resources,” says Wei Sun, principal AI analyst at Counterpoint Research.

“In contrast, OpenAI, valued at $157 billion, faces scrutiny over its ability to maintain a dominant edge in innovation or justify its massive valuation and expenditures without delivering significant returns.”

DeepSeek’s lower costs roiled financial markets on 27 January, leading the tech-heavy Nasdaq to fall more than 3% in a broad sell-off that included chip makers and data centers around the world.

Nvidia’s stock price plunged 17% on Monday before it began to recover on Tuesday.

The chip maker had been the most valuable company in the world when measured by market capitalization.

But it fell to third place after Apple and Microsoft on Monday, when its market value shrank to $2.9tn from $3.5tn, Forbes reported.

DeepSeek is a privately owned company, which means investors cannot buy shares of stock on any of the major exchanges.

How has China reacted to DeepSeek’s impact?

DeepSeek’s rise is a huge boost for the Chinese government, which has been seeking to build tech independent of the West.

While the Communist Party is yet to comment, Chinese state media was eager to note that Silicon Valley and Wall Street giants were “losing sleep” over DeepSeek, which was “overturning” the US stock market.

“In China, DeepSeek’s advances are being celebrated as a testament to the country’s growing technological prowess and self-reliance,” says Marina Zhang, an associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney.

“The company’s success is seen as a validation of China’s Innovation 2.0, a new era of homegrown technological leadership driven by a younger generation of entrepreneurs.”

But she also warned that this sentiment may also lead to “tech isolationism”.

Table of Contents

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Related:- Vivo T3X receives an official price cut: Check What it costs now

Vivo T3X receives an official price cut: Check what it costs now

MOBILE Tech News

Vivo T3X receives an official price cut: Check what it costs now

January 3, 2025 techsmartworld team

If you have been looking to buy the Vivo T3X for a while now, there is good news for you as Vivo has officially discounted the price of all variants in India by up to ₹1,000.

This comes in the middle of increasing competition in the more than 15,000 price range, where many new entrants such as Poco M7 Pro and others have emerged. Read on for details.

Vivo T3X: Here’s the new price

If you’re interested in the phone’s current price, the Vivo T3X 4GB + 128GB model will set you back £12,499. If you choose the 6GB + 128GB model, it will cost you 13,999 euros. The top-of-the-line model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage costs £15,499.

The price has been reduced and is being seen on all major platforms where the phone is sold, including Flipkart, other retail partners and Vivo’s own website.

Vivo T3X 5G: Features

Vivo T3X 5G is powered by Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chipset. It is paired with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. You can also expand it up to 8 GB using virtual RAM.

For optics, a 50-megapixel primary camera is paired with a 2-megapixel secondary shooter. It has an 8-megapixel front camera for selfies.

For the display, it has a 6.72-inch 120Hz IPS LCD panel that supports Full HD + resolution.

Coming to the battery, there is a 6000mAh battery with 44W fast charging.

The phone also comes with IP64 dust and water resistance, dual stereo speakers, and runs on Funtouch OS 14 based on Android 14. It’s a dual SIM phone that supports two nano SIMs or one nano SIM and SD card.

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OnePlus 13 series to launch in India on January 7: Price, specifications and live streaming details

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OnePlus 13 series to launch in India on January 7: Price, specifications and live streaming details

January 2, 2025 techsmartworld team

OnePlus, one of the popular names in the smartphone market, will hold a winter event on January 7 (2025). The company is all set to launch its flagship smartphones called OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 13R in the Indian market.

After a successful launch in China, this premium phone has created a huge response among Indian buyers. In addition, OnePlus will introduce the new OnePlus Buds Pro 3, which promises the latest technology and innovation.

OnePlus 13: Estimated Price in India

The OnePlus 13 is expected to be priced between Rs 67,000 and Rs 70,000 in the premium segment.

Compared to its predecessor, the OnePlus 12 was launched at $64,999. The slight price increase reflects significant hardware and feature upgrades, making it competitive in the flagship smartphone market.

How to watch the OnePlus Winter event live?

The much-anticipated OnePlus Winter event will go live on January 7.

Enthusiasts and tech enthusiasts can tune in to the company’s official website or YouTube channel to witness the launch of the advanced device. With cheap ticket prices and easy booking options, this is your chance to witness the glory of India’s Republic Day celebrations.

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