John Bansemer and Kyle Miller shared their expert analysis in a report published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. In their piece, they highlight the release of DeepSeek’s open-weight AI model “R1” in January 2025 and its major impact on global AI competition, especially between China and the United States. The Chinese company’s R1 model performs nearly as well as the top U.S. closed models but was developed at a much lower cost, raising questions about whether China is closing the AI gap with the U.S. despite strict American export controls on advanced technology.
It appears that export controls forced DeepSeek to seek optimisations … such as memory management and the use of synthetic data. Thus, computational constraints likely catalysed some of these innovations, creating incentives for Chinese firms to find algorithmic workarounds.John Bansemer, Director of the CyberAI Project and Kyle Miller, Research Analyst.
Bansemer and Miller emphasized how limitations can drive innovation, noting, “It appears that export controls forced DeepSeek to seek optimisations … such as memory management and the use of synthetic data. Thus, computational constraints likely catalysed some of these innovations, creating incentives for Chinese firms to find algorithmic workarounds.”
To read the full report, visit International Institute for Strategic Studies.