The Download: DeepSeek’s latest AI breakthrough, and the race to build world models
The Download: DeepSeek’s latest AI breakthrough, and the race to build world models Plus: China has blocked Meta’s $2 billion acquisition of AI startup Manus. This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Three reasons why DeepSeek’s new model matters On Friday, Chinese AI firm DeepSeek released a preview of V4, its long-awaited new flagship model. Notably, the model can process much longer prompts than its last generation, thanks to a new design that handles large amounts of text more efficiently. While the model remains open source, its performance matches leading closed-source rivals from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google. It is also DeepSeek’s first release optimized Huawei’s Ascend chips—a key test of China’s dependence on Nvidia. Here are three ways V4 could shake up AI. —Caiwei Chen The rise of world models AI systems have already gained impressive mastery over the digital world, but the physical world remains humanity’s domain. As it turns out, building an AI that composes novels or code apps is far easier than developing one to fold laundry or navigate city streets. To bridge this gap, many researchers believe you need something called a world model. Proponents like Stanford professor Fei-Fei Li and AMI Labs founder Yann LeCun argue these models can overcome the well-known limitations of LLMs—and realize AI’s promise for robotics. Find out why they’ve brought world models to the forefront of the field. —Grace Huckins World models are on our list of the 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now, our essential guide to what’s really worth your attention in the field. Subscribers can watch an exclusive roundtable unveiling the technologies and trends on the list, with analysis from MIT Technology Review’s AI reporter Grace Huckins and executive editors Amy Nordrum and Niall Firth. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 China has blocked Meta’s $2 billion acquisition of AI startup Manus Regulators cited national security grounds. (WSJ $) + Beijing called the deal a “conspiratorial” attempt to hollow out its tech base. (FT $) + The country is tightening its grip on AI firms that try to leave. (TechCrunch) + The decision escalates China’s AI rivalry with the US. (Bloomberg $) + But there will be no winners in their competition. (MIT Technology Review) 2 Google is investing up to $40 billion in Anthropic In a deal valuing the AI firm at $350 billion. (CNBC) + The funding will support the firm's growing computing needs. (TechCrunch) + Anthropic and OpenAI are fighting for compute capacity. (Axios) 3 President Trump just fired the entire National Science Board The NSF has played a crucial role in developing technology. (The Verge) + The move heightens fears over political interference in US science. (Nature) 4 Conspiracy theories about the Washington shooting are proliferating online Over 300,000 posts appeared on X using the keyword “staged.” (NYT $) + The theories are also…
