China’s DeepSeek: A Game Changer for AI Development in India
How Sanctions and Innovation Are Reshaping the AI Landscape
China’s frugal approach to developing DeepSeek emerges as a direct response to U.S. sanctions limiting the supply of AI chips, challenging the dominance asserted by American hyperscalers and private equity firms. Darshan Hiranandani, the CEO of Hiranandani Group, which leads ventures in real estate, energy, warehousing, and data centers, emphasized this pivotal moment for the global AI arena.
“These companies (like OpenAI) gathered vast amounts of funding and instilled a sense of fear, suggesting that without significant GPU resources, competition in AI would be futile,” Hiranandani noted. The advantage claimed by OpenAI, he argued, was based on the belief that its mathematics was unparalleled—a notion that is now being challenged.
According to Hiranandani, the emergence of DeepSeek has demonstrated that there is still room for innovative mathematical solutions in AI. “With a sensible allocation of resources, they (DeepSeek) can serve ten times the population using the same hardware as ChatGPT,” he remarked during a recent conversation with Economic Times.
The Need for a Paradigm Shift in AI Development in India
Hiranandani believes that India is at a crucial juncture to enhance AI inferencing capabilities while significantly reducing hardware dependency and promoting sustainable energy consumption in AI applications. “This moment is a wake-up call for India to innovate our own foundational models,” he stated.
Despite concerns regarding large GPU investments, particularly for companies like Yotta, Hiranandani reassured that India will require a substantial increase in GPU resources to meet market demand. “So far, only a few million users have been leveraging AI as a productivity tool. Our goal is to expand this reach to billions,” he added.
Comparing AI Growth to India’s Broadband Revolution
Sunil Gupta, CEO of Yotta Data Services, shared insights comparing the potential growth of AI to the transformation seen in India’s broadband market. “The digital revolution in India was unlocked even at one-tenth of global prices. High-quality offerings at low prices will resonate with our digitally adept demographic,” Gupta stated.
Yotta is set to introduce a ChatGPT-like mobile app called ‘MyShakti’ powered by DeepSeek. This app, hosted in Yotta’s data centers in India and utilizing just 128 H100 GPUs, will be available to the public for free. Should demand increase, it can seamlessly scale up to 1,024 GPUs.
Data Privacy and Local Infrastructure
“The core aim is to host China’s model within Indian servers, ensuring that no customer data or prompts leave the local infrastructure,” Hiranandani explained. He emphasized that this service will be free for billions of Indian users.
DeepSeek vs. ChatGPT: Current Trends
When discussing the increasing popularity of DeepSeek, which has outperformed ChatGPT in download numbers in India, Hiranandani mentioned that 9 out of 10 queries on DeepSeek remain unanswered due to server overloads. “ChatGPT offers limited free content, requiring users to subscribe to their Premium plans at $20 a month,” he noted.
Future Prospects Amid Export Controls
Hiranandani addressed concerns regarding U.S. export controls on AI chips impacting India’s ambitions in the sector. He dismissed the notion of these restrictions being detrimental, arguing that the allowance of 50,000 GPUs per year is reasonably high. He further explained that global cloud providers are permitted to allocate 7% of their total computing power to any single country, which would effectively cover the shortfall.
“There is also little chance of the current Biden administration’s policies surviving a shift back to the Trump administration,” he added, suggesting that these export limits may not be as problematic as feared.
Conclusion: Bold Steps Towards an AI-Enabled Future
The emergence of DeepSeek not only signifies a strategic advancement in AI technology but also highlights India’s potential to become a significant player in the global AI landscape. With leaders like Hiranandani and Gupta leveraging innovative solutions while nurturing data privacy and accessibility, India’s AI ambitions are set to flourish even amidst international challenges.
FAQs
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Q: What is DeepSeek?
A: DeepSeek is an AI development that offers an alternative to existing models by utilizing resource-efficient mathematics, enabling it to serve a larger population with less hardware.
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Q: How will DeepSeek impact India’s AI sector?
A: DeepSeek may encourage India to innovate its own foundational models and expand AI accessibility, potentially serving billions of users at a lower cost.
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Q: What is the ‘MyShakti’ app?
A: ‘MyShakti’ is a ChatGPT-like mobile application powered by DeepSeek, set to be offered for free in India, scalable to meet user demand.
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Q: Are U.S. export controls a significant concern for India?
A: According to Hiranandani, these controls are manageable and unlikely to hinder India’s AI objectives due to permissible GPU allocations.
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Q: What makes DeepSeek different from ChatGPT?
A: DeepSeek operates on a more resource-efficient model, allowing for greater scalability while ChatGPT requires paid subscriptions for full access.
