How do the offerings of new Chinese large language model maker DeepSeek stack up? AI expert Simon Thorne puts them to the test against more established rivals.

No matter the motivation of DeepSeek’s founder for releasing the low-cost large language model as an open source project, it promises to trigger a flurry of innovation in more efficient AI and break the doom-loop narrative that high performance AI is only for the big boys.

As New Zealand (among others) has discovered in the past decade, influencing the behaviour of these companies is easier said than done. It has repeatedly found itself struggling to effectively manage big tech’s impact on its society and economy.

A long overdue plan for the science sector was released this week with plans for a new research institution to focus on AI, quantum and synthetic biology. But Callaghan Innovation will disappear in the biggest innovation shake-up in 30 years.

If we thought 2024 was challenging, wait until we see what 2025 has in store for us with significant change ahead on a local and global scale. How we rise to the challenges will define us.

The Financial Markets Authority will next yeah pilot a regulatory sandbox for fintechs to safely experiment with products and services while gaining feedback from the regulator that will help them stay compliant as they prepare for a broader launch.