AI Watch: Big Moves from Major Players
DeepSeek Makes a Splash
- Chinese AI company DeepSeek shocked the world last week with what Marc Andreessen called “a Sputnik moment.”
- DeepSeek is an AI model that has achieved comparable performance to leading AI models at significantly lower costs.
- They claim their AI can run with much less computing power and was trained for a mere $6M (compared to the $100M cost for GPT-4).
- Experts believe energy-saving innovations like DeepSeek’s are necessary for AI’s continued progress, especially on mobile devices.
- DeepSeek’s release comes as a shock, as both Meta and Microsoft recently announced multi-billion dollar AI infrastructure investments as part of the Trump administration’s plans for AI.
DeepSeek or DeepSunk?
- Shortly after it’s release, DeepSeek was hit with a series of cyberattacks that required suspension of new account creation.
- While it’s AI might be innovative, its security protocols were not – researchers easily discovered a database containing sensitive information “within minutes.”
- The database was “completely open” and exposed API keys, chat histories, and millions of lines of system logs.
- Excellent further reading in this article: “How DeepSeek crashed the AI party“
- In addition to the cyberattacks, DeepSeek experienced a media attack from OpenAI who accused them of scraping their data to create the new AI tool (high irony since many accuse OpenAI of using the data of others to create their own models).
- Both OpenAI and Microsoft have launched probes to determine if and how their AI data was obtained by DeepSeek.
- Check out “The Truth Behind DeepSeek” from the 404 Media Podcast.
OpenAI Surprises the World with an Autonomous AI
- OpenAI has launched Operator, an AI agent that can autonomously perform web-based tasks like booking travel and shopping.
- Operator uses GPT-4’s vision capabilities and reasoning to interact naturally with websites.
- Initial access is limited to US-based Pro subscribers, with plans for expansion to other tiers.
Meta Doubles Down on AI Infrastructure
- Meta has announced plans to build a data center, “so large it would cover a significant part of Manhattan.”
- This is part of a $60-65B investment in Meta’s AI infrastructure, as they believe 2025 “will be a defining year for AI.”
- They expect the 2-gigawatt will produce 1.3M AI chips by the end of the year to “unlock historic innovation, and extend American technology leadership.”
“World ID” to Bridge Human Identity with AI Agents
- World, a venture run by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman aims to create a digital “proof of human” tool.
- Altman believes that it will soon be impossible to distinguish humans from AI agents.
- World ID use iris scans to authenticate humans online reliably, and allow (among other things) to verify that an AI agent can complete tasks on their behalf.
Equalize Digital Reveals the Top Accessibility Issues of 2024
- Web accessibility audits conducted in 2024 uncovered over 255 issues across WordPress sites, plugins, and web apps.
- Manual testing proved critical, as 84% of identified issues could not be detected by automated tools.
- Color contrast issues, missing labels, and lack of keyboard operability were among the most frequent problems.
- High-severity issues accounted for nearly half of identified flaws, including things like inaccessible navigation or hidden content, .
- WordPress plugin developers are increasingly prioritizing accessibility ahead of the 2025 European Accessibility Act deadline, but it looks like there is still a long way to go.
- Automated tools like AXE or Accessibility Checker help, but manual testing remains necessary for reliable results.
- Read more about the audits, results, solutions and helpful infographics on Equalize Digital.
Worth a Look
- BigByte has released the results of their State of Enterprise WordPress Security 2024 survey.
- Festinger Vault has reopened after settling its dispute with Automattic and removing items containing Woo and WordPress trademarks, and all Automattic products.
- A2 Hosting has been acquired by World Host Group, and plans to upgrade infrastructure and support.
