What is more important on the path to AGI – scaling and more training data, or fundamental breakthroughs in AI software developed by humans?
Many people believe it is the former, though Deepseek itself arose from the latter.
If training data is to be significant then Tencent may have given itself a huge boost. WeChat is the biggest and most used app on the planet. The Google suite of products is the only thing comparable in western countries. However, Western countries are starting to split into AI walled gardens, so Google won't be able to take full advantage of all its users.
It may not matter. Some people believe scaling alone won't be enough to get to AGI. Some smart humans somewhere will need to figure out breakthroughs in AI software – and that could happen anywhere.
By integrating the open-source AI Deepseek into the WeChat app used by 840 million people in China, Tencent may be about to pull ahead in the global AI race.
byu/lughnasadh inFuturology
3 Comments
An isolated and censured sample margin vs the whole rest of the world. Yeah, we’re screwed /s
It’s definitely a step-function change to increase the impact of tech like LLM to people’s life. But I don’t think it will dramatically speed up the progress though. As you mentioned, fundamental breakthroughs are needed to move things forward in this domain (the model needs to be more intelligent), not the massive data volume (which is helpful to improve the personalization, but not intelligence).
Dunno about WeChat but if it is in ANY way like WhatsApp or Messenger DeepSeek is about to become the edgiest meme-lord in the universe. Dunno if that will classify is as an AGI thought.