Two Chinas inhabit the American imagination: One is a technology and manufacturing superpower poised to lead the world. The other is an economy that’s on the verge of collapse. Each reflect a real aspect of China. One China — let’s call it hopeful China — is defined by companies like the A.I. start-up DeepSeek, the…
Last month, an A.I. bot that handles tech support for Cursor, an up-and-coming tool for computer programmers, alerted several customers about a change in company policy. It said they were no longer allowed to use Cursor on more than just one computer. In angry posts to internet message boards, the customers complained. Some canceled their…
The Chinese internet giant ByteDance has made some of the world’s most popular apps: TikTok and, in China, Douyin and Toutiao. In the United States, TikTok claims 170 million users. But in China, about 700 million use the domestic version, Douyin, and 300 million scroll the headlines on Toutiao, a news app. Every video that…
Since the founder of the Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek shook hands with Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, last month, officials around the country have been racing to show how they are using the company’s technology. Courthouse officials are using DeepSeek to draft legal judgments within minutes. Doctors at a hospital in Fuzhou, in eastern…
When Nvidia lost $600 billion in market value in a single day last month, it was because some investors feared for the future of the artificial intelligence chipmaker. DeepSeek, a Chinese start-up, said it had made its A.I. systems with a small fraction of the A.I. chips used by other companies, and at a small…
When Xi Jinping, China’s leader, made his entrance at a symposium with a group of top entrepreneurs this week, he seemed to be in good spirits. China has had a few good weeks. The artificial intelligence models by the start-up DeepSeek sent U.S. stocks tumbling and Western commentators screaming, “Sputnik moment.” Then an animated film…
Almost every day, Grant Lee, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, hears from investors who try to persuade him to take their money. Some have even sent him and his co-founders personalized gift baskets. Mr. Lee, 41, would normally be flattered. In the past, a fast-growing start-up like Gamma, the artificial intelligence start-up he helped establish in…
The South Korean government said on Monday that it had temporarily suspended new downloads of an artificial intelligence chatbot made by DeepSeek, the Chinese company that has sent shock waves through the tech world. On Monday night, the app was not available in the Apple or Google app stores in South Korea, although DeepSeek was…
Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, met on Monday with a group of corporate chieftains, including the entrepreneur Jack Ma, who was sidelined by the government four years ago, in a show of support for private business at an economically precarious time. The heads of the electronics companies Huawei and Xiaomi, the battery maker CATL and…
Last month, U.S. financial markets tumbled after a Chinese start-up called DeepSeek said it had built one of the world’s most powerful artificial intelligence systems using far fewer computer chips than many experts thought possible. A.I. companies typically train their chatbots using supercomputers packed with 16,000 specialized chips or more. But DeepSeek said it needed…