Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, told the FT that the rapid adoption of Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek’s technology in emerging markets such as Africa underscores the competition American firms face around the world.
His comments come as new research from Microsoft found that the release of DeepSeek’s R1 large language model a year ago helped accelerate the uptake of AI worldwide, particularly in the global south, due to its “accessibility and low cost”.
That has also led to China overtaking the US in the global market for so-called “open” AI models, which are often free to use, modify and integrate by developers.
He needs to go there personally to break ground though.