ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has entered the AI competition with a new model, which reportedly surpasses OpenAI's latest reasoning model products. This development marks a significant escalation in the ongoing technological race between the U.S. and China.

Beijing

The release of Open AI's ChatGPT has accelerated the development of artificial intelligence and warnings about its impact on society.

Rise of AI

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has entered the artificial intelligence (AI) competition with a new model, Duobao 1.5 Pro, which reportedly surpasses OpenAI's latest reasoning model products. This development marks a significant escalation in the ongoing technological race between the United States and China. Another Chinese entity, DeepSeek, recently released a model that competes with OpenAI's models on various third-party benchmarks. These new models are notably less expensive to develop and access compared to American counterparts, which has captured the attention of developers and major U.S. tech companies.

The emergence of affordable AI models from ByteDance and DeepSeek highlights a potential paradigm shift in the AI landscape. Chinese firms have managed to produce high-performance models at a fraction of the cost incurred by American companies. OpenAI, for instance, allegedly spends billions annually on its AI ventures, while DeepSeek’s model reportedly cost under six million dollars to develop. This cost efficiency allows Chinese models to be built on existing infrastructure and outputs, originally developed by American companies and startups, enhancing them to deliver competitive performance.

The cost-effectiveness of Chinese AI advancements has sparked discussions about infrastructure investments in the technology sector. Some experts question the sustainability of the current American model, which often involves extensive financial commitments. The ongoing developments in China have prompted U.S. entities, such as Microsoft, to reconsider their partnerships and strategies in AI development. The shifts in AI technology raise important questions about future investment and competition dynamics between the two countries.



Tech CEOs sound alarm on ByteDance, DeepSeek breakthroughs

First, we were reeling from the success of China's A.I. upstart DeepSeek. Now TikTok's parent company ByteDance has just entered the A.I. race in a big way, escalating competition between the U.S. and China. Deirdre Bosa has more in today's tech check. Deirdre. Kelly, I feel a little bit like a broken record this week, but the momentum from Chinese A.I. players has been unrelenting. ByteDance, as you mentioned, now claims that its model Duobao 1.5 Pro outperforms OpenAI's latest reasoning model products. And just days before you mentioned this, an open source model out of Chinese A.I. lab DeepSeek was released that rivals OpenAI's O1 on several third party performance benchmarks. But those two have something else besides performance in common that makes it starkly different than our American ones. And that is cost. They were many times cheaper to build and are many times cheaper to access. So developers are really interested in these models. Big American players, too, at Davos are taking note. We should take the development out of China very, very seriously. What we found is that DeepSeek, which is the leading Chinese A.I. lab, their model is actually the top performing or roughly on par with the best American models. If the United States can't lead in this technology, we're going to be in a very bad place geopolitically. Each of them, extremely influential CEOs working in A.I., they mentioned DeepSeek by name. And so we've been digging into this lab that's very mysterious and also the breakthroughs that has everyone talking. We'll be publishing our long form tech check take tomorrow morning, diving into what it all means. So don't miss that, Kelly. So going back to what TikTok is up to, what's most significant about it, do you think? The cost. I mean, these models coming out of China are just built at a fraction of the price. When you think about open A.I. that's spending five billion dollars a year, burning through billions of dollars a year. These models, the DeepSeek one, for example, they say they built it for less than six million dollars. ByteDance as well, you know, shows that it was built and you can access it at much, much lower prices. So this really turns on sort of this truth that we have thought about generative A.I. for the last few years, that you need hundreds of millions of dollars to develop bigger and better models. What the Chinese labs and companies are doing is they're going straight to the frontier. They're building with sort of infrastructure and outputs that are already out there, built in many cases by American companies and startups. And they're improving on it. They're innovating on it and producing big, producing models that are just as good in some cases at a fraction of the cost. So maybe we don't need to buy the nuclear stocks after all. Maybe we don't need a million GPUs down in in Abilene. Good question. Interesting. And it does raise a lot of questions even about Project Stargate. Right. What kind of infrastructure are we building here? Is it for pre-training like we've had for the last two years or is it for reasoning and inference, which is a different cost proposition? Exactly. And you almost wonder if that's why Microsoft is evolving its partnership with open A.I. as well as these changes happen. Deirdre, thanks. Deirdre Bosa, always appreciate it.

Thieves wielding power tools have struck at the famed Louvre Museum in Paris, stealing priceless jewels in a brazen heist that took just four minutes, according to the government. The thieves struck after the museum had already opened its doors to the public, with a major investigation now underway.

Paris

‘Priceless’ jewels stolen from France’s Louvre Museum in four-minute heist

U.S. President Donald Trump says he is ending aid to Colombia after the country’s president, Gustavo Petro, accused the U.S. of ‘murder’ when it struck a small boat within Colombian territorial waters in September.

Bogotá

Trump ending aid to Colombia after 'murder' accusation

The Israel-Hamas ceasefire is under pressure, as the Israeli military carries out strikes on southern Gaza and accuses Hamas of opening fire on its forces. Meanwhile, Israel alleges Hamas is stalling on returning the remains of deceased hostages.

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Middle East Conflict

Israel, Hamas clash in major test of U.S.-backed ceasefire

The National Guard could soon be on Chicago’s streets after US President Donald Trump took his case to the country’s highest court - the conservative-leaning Supreme Court.  The President says the city is a war zone - and is in the midst of a rebellion, as residents protest his migrant deportation policy.

Chicago

Supreme Court to decide on sending the National Guard to Chicago

China's second-highest ranking general and eight other senior officials have been expelled from the ruling Communist Party and the military on suspicion of serious misconduct linked to corruption.

China expels nine senior officials from Communist Party

The United States is sending the two survivors of a Thursday (October 18) strike in the Caribbean to their home countries of Colombia and Ecuador to be detained and prosecuted, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday.

Washington

U.S. will repatriate survivors of Caribbean strike, Trump says

The two sides have agreed to hold follow-up talks in Qatar to establish conditions and a framework for lasting peace, bringing an end to a week of deadly cross border skirmishes, which have killed dozens of people.

Doha

Afghanistan, Pakistan agree to immediate ceasefire, Qatar says

France's world-famous Louvre museum in Paris was forced to close on Sunday after thieves broke into Apollo Gallery and stole valuable crown jewels.

Jewels of 'inestimable' value stolen from Louvre in major heist

U.S. President Donald Trump's critics took to the streets Saturday, with millions nationwide participating in "No Kings" rallies, protesting Trump's demonstrations of power.

Anti-Trump "No Kings" protests held across U.S.

The Trump administration is awaiting word from the Supreme Court after asking it to allow the immediate deployment of National Guard troops to Illinois to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. A lower court blocked the move.

Portland

Tensions rising in Portland, Oregon over immigration tactics

President Trump posted a video of a U.S. military strike on a submersible suspected of smuggling drugs. Two people were killed in the strike but the survivors were brought to a Navy ship. Trump says the U.S. will send the them back to their home countries for prosecution.

Trump says survivors of U.S. drug submersible will be sent home

The U.S. State Department issued a warning that Hamas appeared to be planning an attack 'against Palestinian civilians,' warning that such an attack would 'constitute a direct and grave violation of the ceasefire agreement'.

State Dept. flags ceasefire violation by Hamas

Britain's Prince Andrew said on Friday he would give up using his title of Duke of York following years of criticism about his behavior and connections to the late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Windsor

Prince Andrew gives up title of Duke of York

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy came to the White House on Friday looking for weapons to keep fighting his country's war with Russia, but met an American president who appears more intent on brokering a peace deal than upgrading Kyiv’s arsenal.

Ukraine Invasion

Trump pauses on sending Tomahawks to Ukraine

Tension is rising between the U.S and Venezuela. The latest threats from the US warning of stronger measures against Nicolas Maduro’s government — have sparked both fear and fragile hope across Venezuela.

Caracas

Venezuela on high-alert amid U.S strikes

In the aftermath of a destructive Typhoon Halong, historic floodwaters have destroyed remote communities across western Alaska, forcing hundreds of evacuations that could continue for days.

Kipnuk

Mass evacuations in Alaska after record floodwaters

Mr. Trump seemed open to trading U.S.-made Tomahawk's for Ukrainian-made drones, but then he argued Ukraine might not even need new weapons if he can broker a swift end to the invasion.

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President Trump announced that he has commuted former New York Rep. George Santos' sentence on Friday in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.

President Trump commutes George Santos' sentence

The head of the World Trade Organization said on Thursday (October 16) she is urging the U.S. and China to de-escalate trade tensions, warning that a decoupling between the world's two largest economies could reduce global economic output by 7% over the longer-term.

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John Bolton pleaded not guilty at a Maryland federal court on Friday (October 17). This comes after the former Trump administration national security adviser was indicted on 18 counts for his alleged mishandling of classified information.

Greenbelt

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Buckingham Palace announced Friday that Prince Andrew is giving up his royal titles. This comes after a posthumous memoir by Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre emerged.

London

Prince Andrew giving up his royal titles, Buckingham Palace says

U.S. President Donald Trump is meeting at the White House with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Friday as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues. On Thursday, Trump spent more than two hours on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump set to meet with Zelenskyy

Ahead of a meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky, Trump cast doubt on supplying Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv, citing U.S. stock concerns. He also discussed the issue with Russian President Putin, who opposed the idea, raising questions about future Ukraine aid.

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At least one person was killed and dozens of police officers injured in widespread protests overnight in Peru against President Jose Jeri, who assumed power just days ago. The government will declare a state of emergency in Lima within hours and is preparing a package of measures to tackle rising insecurity.

Lima

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The espionage case against Christopher Berry and Christopher Cash collapsed after government officials refused to testify under oath that China posed a threat to national security.

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NATO is increasing its capabilities on its eastern flank after recent Russian drone incursions. At the same time the EU has announced a major defence policy roadmap aimed at deterring threats from Russia.

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The U.S. military flew three B-52 bombers on missions near the coast of Venezuela, according to a Global Strike Command spokesperson and a U.S. official, as the Trump administration continues to exert pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's government.

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A federal judge overturned a Homeland Security decision to cut anti-terrorism funding for New York City. The ruling comes as the Trump administration faces lawsuits from Democratic governors over similar cuts.

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China has accused the U.S. of stoking panic over its rare earth controls and said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had made "grossly distorted" remarks about a top Chinese trade negotiator, rejecting a White House call to roll back the curbs.

Global Tariffs

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U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he had a "productive" phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and announced plans for a meeting with Putin in Hungary.

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Rise of AI