The Chinese AI model, DeepSeek, has amazed the world by achieving high performance at a low cost, which some people have called a "Sputnik moment." DeepSeek has come close to matching the performance of OpenAI's ChatGPT, but it uses more efficient coding and simpler computer hardware. The creation of DeepSeek showcases a glimpse of Chinese-style innovation, which has been developed over decades through building an educational system and is one of the many results of China's strategic focus on STEM education and entrepreneurship. DeepSeek should serve as a wake-up call for the United States, as while China is strengthening its universities, funding for higher education and research in the U.S. is under attack.
**Education of DeepSeek's Founder, Liang Wenfeng**
Liang Wenfeng, the founder of DeepSeek, was the son of a primary school teacher and was a gifted child in Guangdong, southern China. He mastered advanced mathematical concepts by junior high school. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in Electronic Information Engineering and Communication Engineering from Zhejiang University, a mid-tier Chinese university that ranks within the global top 100. After graduation, he launched a new company, High-Flyer, which used machine learning models to track investments. By 2019, High-Flyer managed over $10 billion in assets, and Liang built a cluster of 10,000 Nvidia A100 GPU chips before being affected by U.S. export restrictions in 2022. In 2023, Liang created DeepSeek, which operates like a Chinese version of Google, where a creative team of recent graduates from China's top universities, such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Zhejiang University, can pursue their curiosity in developing advanced AI technologies. Liang not only sought outstanding graduates in mathematics and STEM fields, many of whom had won awards at international conferences, but also included some poets and humanities graduates.
0 Comments