šŖThe āAIā Renaissance
[#22] Tale of Chaos: Entire world seems to be in āDeepā trouble. India? Seeks within...
Morning iKyu-riskers! I HAVE A HEART-WRENCHING UPDATE TO SHARE TODAY.
Before we begin, want to reiterate on the vision this handKrafted newsletter intimately holds for all our inKredible readers (and future ones): āOur vision is to become the Antidote of Clickbait Journalism, and for our vision to become limitless ā we will never make short-form/byte-sized/digestable content EVER. We will always forge brutal, handKrafted ādocumentary-styleā business breakdowns and fulfil the mission to eradicate the filth of Clickbait Journalism in the world.ā
šØI deeply wanted to scream this loud: āTo our exclusive readers, if you truly, from the bottom of your heart, appreciate reading to whatās crafted just as you wanted, support our āSubscription-Driven Publicationā business model.ā But it wonāt be possible anytime soon.
ā ļøOur payment gateway is now permanently SHUT DOWN and blocked by Stripe (reason unknown; no explanation provided) and Substack support was of no help either. We wonāt be able to directly onboard any paid subscribers to iKyu. Clearly sabotaging the affluence I have been working so hard on.
The only way moving forward until (if) it ever gets resolved (chances are tending to 0) is ā iff you want to support our vision of making business content fun again and be part of the cult of āAntidote of Clickbait Journalismā with iKyu, then maybe hit us a DM on X and will figure out if thereās a way we can help you.
Till then, I will be transitioning towards crafting iKyuās editions for all of you for FREE. Donāt worry I wonāt be robbing you from our flagship newsletter. Just one of those phase where the odds are against favour are way too much and we need to fight it. After all the fight is not just with the system, but those lost readers who are deprived of options to experience business content is the most intimate way. iKyu for the resKyu.
Yes, You! Youāre the reason we are doing this for. Thank you for reading us till now and supporting us.
Rise above.
Now letās experience the renaissanceā¦
You can hear this in silence:
"You know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go 'according to plan.' Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all 'part of the plan'. But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!
Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It's fair."
Joker, The Dark Knight.
Introduce a little anarchy and the entire world crumbles. Chaos can be felt within. Why such rush to capture the peak? For the answers you want to find is within you.
If only the most powerful AI could pass the turing test and start forming thoughts like us, we could say that we are the middle child of history experiencing the renaissance in makingā¦but we are far from that future.
Be here now and youāll see how fragile the world is. One moment youāll see every single human praising how revolutionary one thing is and *snap* the very next itās world-orderās biggest enemy.
You showcase something big but expensive. It will be applauded; Introduce a alternative, breaking the mould of how the same thing can be done in much more simpler and cheap way. Expensive becomes the new enemy. You become the god.
Something similar has been happening in the AI world.
THE (K)EY NOTES
The (K)urrent: The Reinvention
The (K)rƩme: The Renaissance
The (K)inK: The Revolution
(Not so) OpenAI, in the last 2 years had achieved the foundational benchmark of how AI systems would be slowly integrating within our day to day life. Befitting as our natural extension of thinking, reducing mundane efforts, pushing us to be more of āthinking directorsā and less of dire daily-wage workers. Timeline was: OpenAI is the next big thing. Billions of dollars. Stargate announcement. Sam Altman is the new messiah of AI. Grok, Gemini, Claude others are trailing and competing. OpenAI is becoming untouchableā¦
Until January 22nd, 2025 happened.
What came as a ātechquakeā and disoriented the entire established order of global tech spaceāwith itsā epicentre in China?
Whatās this global tĆŖte-Ć -tĆŖte all about? How can an AI model wipe out billions from the market? How did India came into its line of fire? This techquake caressed India and rather than we learning from it, how did we copulated insider-haters?
Even after having density of developers and startup architects working in AI, we still are lagging way behind in the raceā¦why? Are we just constrained to chew, build and throw away wrappers from these AI disruptors? Will we be left behind in this age of AI?
Are we even part of the Renāaiāssance?
Letās brutally breakdownšŖ this entire chaos of how a $6 Million Chinese AI Model shook global Tech industry and what India should and should not do to leverage this as a ladder for the future in todayās edition of inK by iKyu.
But before we deep dive, letās begin with India by iKyuā¦
THE (K)URRENT
THE REINVENTIONā¦
THE DELHI DEBACLE
Delhi, once a beacon of 'change', now reeks of freebie decay under Kejriwal's AAP. With elections looming, the city's fabric is torn by mismanaged waste, toxic air, and a crumbling infrastructure. Public sentiment, once swayed by AAP's giveaways, now echoes distress over governance failures. Who will emerge victorious? We can wait for that verdict; Recent polls show AAP's lead diminishing to a mere 36 seats against BJP's 27, signaling a public yearning for substantive policy over handouts; but both parties are having a head-on collision with romanticising the Freebies culture. Thatās a shame. It's time Delhi votes for competence, not charity; for a government that builds, not just promises. The freebie era must end.
BUDGET BUFFERINGā¦
The Indian budget for FY 2025-26 is Modi's litmus test, potentially his last big economic play before the 2029 elections. In the crucible of Modi's third term, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman faces a budget crucible, her eighth, with taxpayers baying for blood over previous fiscal policies. Amidst global economic turbulence, Nirmala Sitharaman, already under fire for tax policies, faces her toughest challenge. Expectations are sky-high for tax reforms, with taxpayers demanding lower rates and simplified structures. Rumors swirl about bolstering manufacturing, cutting import tariffs, and tech incentives. The budget could pivot India towards becoming the world's third-largest economy by enhancing infrastructure, promoting green energy, and slashing bureaucratic red tape. But without bold, transformative changes, Sitharaman risks being remembered as the Finance Minister who squandered India's moment. A misstep here could tarnish Modiās governance narrative, while bold reforms could see India leapfrog economic ranks, transforming public sentiment from critique to commendation.
VEMBU WIND-DOWNS
Sridhar Vembu Ji , the architect behind Zoho's Rs 8,000 crore empire, has done the unthinkableāthrown away the CEO title into the corporate bonfire to embrace his roots, leading from a village in Tamil Nadu, clad in a lungi. This isn't just career transition; it's a cultural revolution. Vembu Ji, now Chief Scientist, declared his new chapter on X, focusing full-time on R&D amidst AI's seismic shifts. His move from corporate suits to rural simplicity has galvanized millions, proving business doesn't need skyscrapers to soar. By championing rural development and innovation, Vembu redefines success, showing that one can lead a tech giant while reconnecting with cultural roots, inspiring a generation to rethink where and how they can build their dreams.
THE (K)REMĆ
THE RENAISSANCEā¦
āSEEK AND YE SHALL FINDā
Paraphrased from the Bible: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." ~ Gospel of Matthew, chapter 7, verse 7.
Previously when we dissected the AI worldā¦
ā¦our focus was primarily on the understanding this dark intelligence and how this ānew-world orderā is being established.
But this time we wonāt scratch just the surface, we will axe in deep and seek withinā¦
DeepSeek was founded by Liang Wenfeng, a former hedge fund manager, in late 2023. With a background in quantitative finance and a passion for AI, Liang aimed to bridge the technological divide between China and the United States. DeepSeek started under the umbrella of High-Flyer, Liang's pre-existing hedge fund, focusing initially on AI research. By 2024, DeepSeek had already begun to make waves with its initial models, but it was just couple of days back that would truly put them on the map.
DeepSeek, a relatively new player in the AI industry, launched two models, DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1. These models are notable for their performance being on par or better than leading U.S. models, such as those from OpenAI, Meta, and Google, but at a significantly reduced cost. DeepSeek-V3 was trained on 14.8 trillion tokens with innovative techniques like Multi-Head Latent Attention (MLA) to lower training and deployment costs.
DeepSeek claims to have developed its AI model, R1, for just $5.6 million in computing power, contrasting sharply with the billions spent by American tech companies on similar AI technologies. This cost efficiency has been a shock to the market, particularly given that DeepSeek's models use less advanced chips due to U.S. export restrictions on high-end chip technology to China.
OpenAI, known for its high-cost, closed-source models like ChatGPT, faces a new competitive landscape where cost-effective, open-source alternatives could challenge its market dominance. The emergence of DeepSeek has raised concerns about the sustainability of OpenAI's business model, which relies heavily on high investment for AI development. The focus on cost could potentially undermine OpenAI's market position if more companies lean towards cheaper, yet effective AI solutions. There's an underlying fear that if AI can be developed at a fraction of the cost without sacrificing performance, the justification for OpenAI's valuation and its extensive spending might come under scrutiny. This has led to a broader debate on AI investment efficiency.
WIPEOUT WARP
NVIDIA, a leader in providing GPU chips essential for AI training, saw a dramatic $593 billion loss in market capitalization, marking the largest one-day loss for a Wall Street stock in history. This was primarily due to fears that DeepSeek's models could reduce the demand for NVIDIA's high-end AI chips if AI development becomes less chip-intensive. The introduction of models that perform well on less advanced chips has led investors to question the necessity of NVIDIA's current market premium, causing a significant sell-off in tech stocks, particularly those associated with AI infrastructure. The Philadelphia semiconductor index fell 9.2%, with NVIDIA being one of the biggest losers.
The news from DeepSeek triggered a sell-off not only in the U.S. but also in markets like Japan and Europe, where companies like ASML Holding and Tokyo Electron also saw their shares decline due to similar concerns about their role in the AI hardware supply chain. The narrative around AI has shifted. Previously, the focus was on scaling AI with more resources; now, there's a growing appreciation for efficiency and innovation in resource management, which DeepSeek embodies. This change questions the sustainability of the AI boom driven by companies like OpenAI, NVIDIA, and others that have benefited from the previous narrative.
DeepSeek's rise has also prompted discussions on data privacy, especially in Europe, with Italy's data protection authority seeking more information on how DeepSeek uses personal data. This adds another layer of complexity to the AI industry's landscape.
NVIDIA's market value dropped from $3.5 trillion to $2.9 trillion, marking a 17% plunge in stock price. The Nasdaq composite index fell more than 3% due to this event, reflecting the broader tech sector's reaction. DeepSeek claims its models match or exceed U.S. counterparts in tasks like math, coding, and natural language processing, evidenced by DeepSeek-V3's performance metrics and the rapid rise of its AI assistant to the top of Apple's App Store.
TL;DR
The Indian stock market, particularly tech-related stocks, experienced volatility following DeepSeek's announcement. Companies like TCS, Infosys, and Wipro saw their stocks dip, reflecting global concerns about the future of AI investment and market share.
THE āBEARā HUG
The NIFTY IT index, which tracks Indian IT companies, saw a decline of nearly 4% in the days following the news, as investors recalibrate their portfolios in light of new AI cost paradigms. There was a noticeable shift in investor sentiment towards Indian tech firms, with a focus on how these companies can adapt to a world where high-cost AI might not be the only path to innovation. This has led to a reevaluation of investment in domestic AI ventures.
Indian tech analysts and industry leaders have been vocal. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, former minister of state for electronics and IT, suggested that DeepSeek's success should be a wake-up call for India to accelerate its AI development. He emphasized that AI progress isn't solely dependent on massive capital investment but on smart strategies and government support.
There's apprehension about the implications of adopting foreign AI models, particularly in terms of data privacy and security. The success of DeepSeek has sparked debates on data sovereignty and the potential risks of relying on technology from nations with different geopolitical interests.
Indian startups like Sarvam AI and Krutrim AI have been at the forefront of developing language models tailored for Indian contexts. Sarvam's models focus on understanding and generating content in multiple Indian languages, while Krutrim is aiming to create AI solutions that are culturally resonant and linguistically diverse.
The IndiaAI Mission, backed by a government investment of INR 10,000 crore, aims to foster an AI ecosystem. But the tangible outcomes in terms of foundational AI models are yet to match the ambition.
The (K)inK.
āInternet piK of the weekā
Maha Kumbh as seen from space.
THE REVOLUTIONā¦
2 yrs ago, When Sam Altman came to India and our āesteemedā tech leaders met him, the entire conversation was such a disaster to even revisit it.
I tweeted something in rage and it was resonated among a lof of folks:
Indian techies just disappointed themselves in front of the world.
Sam Altman must be laughing at us.
We just labelled ourselves hollow from the inside.
Sam might think this "world leader" title to India, is simply fluff.
Are we so fucked, that the true colours of our Tech events in India are all about free food and drinks?
Go and check the type of questions being asked to Sam, you would choose to drink your own piss, rather entertain those questions.
Such a shit show. How come?
We don't have one prominent face in the tech industry that can retain a crowd's attention and share some substantial insight.
(YES, all of you might wrestle in the comments & verbally puke your justification that we have great leaders. But let me break some sweet perceptions for all of you. You all are so wrong)
Old folks pretend to be gold and young folks are too busy with the Genderisation of their identity resulting in them being impotent (literally and metaphorically).
Fucking cringy event. Pathetic.
Embarrassed to be part of this community, and felt pity for everyone who attended the event.
"Never again", this would have been the only thought for Sam Altman.
That was the state of how we looked at AI. When someone chucklingly mocked us on not competing with some foreign company, we smiled, we giggled and dusted it off like it was nothing.
An entire nation was insulted that day. Insulted.
When this chap from foreign soil came and just bashed our system. No one dared do actually build something in response to that. No one in the AI space. (Too busy juggling between 10min gaps)
Alright, letās not vault away; letās seek within and see how are we being encouraged.
Nandan Nilekani. A nation builder in some sense. Encourages Indians to NOT focus on building LLMs in India. To quote: āOur goal should not be to build one more LLM. Let the big boys in the (Silicon) Valley do it, spending billions of dollars. We will use it to create synthetic data, build small language models quickly, and train them using appropriate data.ā
Now if people who have contributed to some revolutionary state-of-the-art technological shift for the nation and when they talk in this pessimistic tone, itās simply showcases how much narrow-minded any individual can drop down to. In an aspirational class driven economy you canāt bog down in public sentimentāthe same public that made you messiah, to which you now think of as dumbāwill drag you to streets, if not metaphorically.
The integration of any new technology into the spirit of the nation begins on this level where these so called elites, who have contributed in fragments.
And to be honest, my blood boils whenever I hear Sam Altman saying that āItās stupid to compete with us training foundational models, you can try, but you wonāt be able to beat usā. Well itās like that Thor meme (*you canāt defeat me > I know, but he can > boom, DEEPSEEK).
We have a lot to learn from China.
With this entire bullshit commentary on the internet about whoās whooping whose ass in the AI race ā Not surprised.
China has showed the entire world how foundational models can be build from scratch and that too with not so much money infusion.
This entire narrative of only supercomputer GPUs can help you build the AI system has been disrupted.
AI renaissance is beautiful.
The revolution is not what it becomes after, but what it is, within.
India is slowly transforming into its Japan phase.
Simply genius.
We have become avid tool builders for the world, slowly from Service to SaaS to consumer and the journey has just began; We have to conquer manufacturing, hard-tech, deep-tech, semiconductors, renewable energy etc.
With our Indian culture, we are slowly aiming to provide what the worldās has been missing.
Density of great talents.
Engineers, doctors, researchers, scientists, Inventors & Entrepreneurs.
When every startup founder is saying itās time to build in India. They aināt wrong.
We are en route to heal the world.
Are you ready?
~vivan.